Agenda item

To consider the attached report.

The Executive Board AGREED unanimously to:

a)    Approve a net increase in the operational budget of £104k to be funded from drawing additional funding from the New Homes Bonus resource [Para. 3-5 of the report];

b)    Approve an increase of the budget for the independent economic assessment panel work by £30k from drawing additional funding from the New Homes Bonus resource [Appendix 4 to the report]; and

c)    Delegate authority to the Interim Chief Executive, in consultation with the Chairperson of the Executive Board and the Economy and Environment Portfolio Holder, to sign off the Locality Evaluation Framework and Outline Evaluation Plan [Appendix 4 to the report].

The Executive Board considered a report on progress across the GCP programme since March 2017.  The report covered:

·         The 2016/17 end of year financial outturn report;

·         Financial monitoring to May 2017;

·         A six-monthly report on Smart Cambridge;

·         An update on the independent economic assessment panel;

·         An update on the implementation of the Mouchel report recommendations; and

·         The Executive Board forward plan of decisions.

The Chairperson drew attention to progress with accelerating housing delivery.  274 new homes were completed in 2016/17, which exceeded the Housing Development Agency target of 250.  With reference to the delivery of additional affordable homes it was estimated that the target of completing 1,000 by 2031 would be met, as 792 had already been identified on the basis of decisions on specific planning applications.  As potential Housing Portfolio Holder, Councillor Herbert welcomed progress made.  He also drew attention to the Combined Authority’s plan to set aside £150,00 for a strategic non-statutory Spatial Plan for the whole of Cambridgeshire.  It was important to clarify how Greater Cambridge would fit within that.  Clearly  there was a lot of integration to do with this and also the Transport Strategy.  Councillor Bates welcomed the Combined Authority’s decision to put that amount of money into strategic planning, which he considered crucial going forward.  Professor Allmendinger stated that what was not mentioned here was the work done by the task and finish group on the governance work.  He had been involved in the group looking at housing which had examined what the GCP’s role was and clarified there was a real role to play.  This included helping unlock difficult sites and remove barriers to delivery, helping the market deliver affordable housing.

With reference to skills, good progress was being made against agreed targets, although use of SETUP had not been as successful as was hoped.  Work was being done to see how to address this.  The Chairperson drew attention to the need to look at progress with monitoring apprenticeships and suggested this was something the Skills Task and Finish Group should address urgently. Councillor Bates asked when a more detailed report on skills would be presented to the Joint Assembly and Board.  He also referred to an LGA report on skills which had recently been published and asked that this be addressed as part of the next update. In response the Chairperson confirmed the six monthly report was due to come to the September meeting.  He suggested that it may be appropriate for future reports to be submitted every three months. 

The Programme Director for the Connecting Cambridgeshire and Smart Cambridgeshire Programme reported that overall progress was good and work was within budget.  There had been a significant amount of activity over a relatively short period of time.  She drew attention to the Intelligent City Platform, launched in March, which was being used to provide real time information for a variety of applications.  Wide support across all sectors had enabled the programme to progress quickly.  The MotionMap travel app, commissioned by GCP was being trailed by volunteers with a wider trial planned for September 2017, with a view to having it openly available by the end of the year.  Feasibility studies for Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) on the Guided Busway and Affordable Very Rapid Transit had been completed and funding secured for a third which would explore AVs on the Greater Cambridge research campuses.   The Chairperson, as potential Portfolio Holder for this work stream paid tribute to the work being done and highlighted the importance of embracing new technology.

The Chief Executive reported on plans to improve the M11 and highlighted the importance of engaging with other agencies that had an influence on the area.  GCP was in an active conversation with Highways England about their strategic route network and investment plans.  It was hoped to persuade them to include in their recommendations to the Department of Transport, plans to upgrade the   M11 to a smart motorway, which effectively meant using the hard shoulder as an additional lane in peak times.  A proposal would be brought to the Board in September seeking endorsement of plans to put forward a proposal to this effect.  Discussions were also taking place on short term improvements to Girton interchange and as part of the longer term expressway and details would also be reported to a future meeting.

With reference to the Mouchel report, it was noted that 38 of the 40 actions had commenced.  One of the remaining two, recruitment of a permanent Transport Director was not scheduled to start until later in 2017 and the final one, a refresh of the Transport Strategy could not start until other actions  had been completed.

The Chairperson referred to the programme budget [page 109 of the agenda pack] and queried plans to spend £163m when the total budget was £108m.  The Finance officer referred to the 2017/18 budget setting report and explained that the total expenditure budgets across infrastructure and operations were £175m.  Total income funding was £100m from the City Deal grant, but it was also assumed that there would be a new homes bonus of £25m and Section 106 receipts of £45m.  The total budgeted spend was £175m against income funding of £170m and it had been agreed that the £5m deficit would be a managed risk and kept under review as the cost of schemes was confirmed and additional funding secured.  The Chairperson pointed out that it was not possible to merge the New Homes Bonus, the Board has specifically said it could be looked at together but not merged.  In relation to Section 106 monies, he asked hoe much Section 106 money had been identified.  In response it was confirmed that at this stage it was only an estimate for the future, but it was considered a realistic estimate.  Councillor Bates undertook to look into this in more detail and provide an update as this fell within his County Council role.

With reference to the forward plan, the Chairperson noted earlier reference to an update on the M11 and the Girton Interchange being added to the agenda for the September meeting.  In response the Chief Executive explained this may be incorporated into the progress report.  In response to a question, it was confirmed that the Western Orbital report would also include options for park and cycle at junction 12.  The November meeting would include items on rural transport hubs and a report back on the mass transit study.

Councillor Herbert pointed out that it was planned to work differently from September through the Working Groups and would welcome an indication of those items that could be brought forward for consideration.  He also thought it would be helpful to timetable for November an update on joint working with the Mayor and the Combined Authority.   In response, the Chief Executive confirmed she would be happy to bring a report on joint working.  With reference to new ways of working, assuming the proposals were approved, the plan was to introduce a longer gap between Joint Assembly and Board meetings from November.  The work that the task and finish groups had been doing would feed into the new working groups and the plan was to feed back on where those groups had got to on their thinking in November, which would influence decision making as part of the investment strategy.  

The Executive Board AGREED unanimously to:

a)    Approve a net increase in the operational budget of £104k to be funded from drawing additional funding from the New Homes Bonus resource [Para. 3-5 of the report];

b)    Approve an increase of the budget for the independent economic assessment panel work by £30k from drawing additional funding from the New Homes Bonus resource [Appendix 4 to the report];

c)    Delegate authority to the Interim Chief Executive, in consultation with the Chairperson of the Executive Board and the Economy and Environment Portfolio Holder, to sign off the Locality Evaluation Framework and Outline Evaluation Plan [Appendix 4 to the report];

d)    Approve a revision to the start date for the Links to East Cambridgeshire and NCN11 Fen Ditton Scheme from September 2017 to January 2018.