To receive any questions from Members on the Greater Cambridge City Deal.
Minutes:
Councillor John Williams referred to City Deal funding and asked whether there was a contingency plan should the objectives of tranche one not be met, resulting in further funding not being granted by the Government for further tranches of the Deal.
Councillor Ray Manning, Leader of the Council, shared Councillor Williams’ concerns and was himself disappointed with the pace that the City Deal’s projects were moving at. He explained, however, that with transport infrastructure schemes there was a large amount of public consultation that had to be undertaken which did take time. He added that schemes within tranche one would be judged by the Government as to whether they were being delivered on budget and on time. Schemes scheduled to commence in the later stages of tranche one, such as 2019 for example, would be judged by the Government at this stage as being on target.
Councillor Aidan Van de Weyer asked how the relationship was between the Joint Assembly and Executive Board and how the two bodies were functioning.
Councillor Manning said he thought the two bodies were working well together, with the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Joint Assembly invited to make a report as a standing item to meetings of the Executive Board and present the Assembly’s recommendations.
Councillor Bridget Smith, Leader of the Opposition, referred to the City Deal project seeking to address congestion in the centre of Cambridge. She said that through the media she had heard of lots of positive, innovative ideas and solutions from local people and asked how the Executive Board would give proper consideration to them.
Councillor Manning said that the Executive Board would welcome those people coming forward and sharing their ideas with Members of the Board and supporting officers from partner organisations.
Councillor Nigel Cathcart raised the issue of rural exception sites and sought an assurance that all sites would be looked upon equally in terms of affordable housing.
Councillor Manning confirmed this would be the case and reminded Members that the Greater Cambridge City Deal included the area of South Cambridgeshire as well as the City of Cambridge.
Councillor Sebastian Kindersley asked whether the Leader felt the City Deal, so far, had been a success or failure and whether his views would be shared by the majority of Members from South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council.
Councillor Ray Manning thought it was a shame that the City Deal had been given the title ‘Greater Cambridge City Deal’ as this implied that it was focused on the City of Cambridge, which was not the case, and on reflection he thought that the people of South Cambridgeshire probably did not appreciate how much it would impact them. Councillor Manning added that he did not think people had engaged with the process so far, but acknowledged that it was still in the early stages and that nothing physically had yet been delivered. He felt that this would happen more as specific projects developed.
In terms of whether the City Deal had been a success to date, Councillor Manning said that it had made the three partner Councils, the University and the Local Enterprise Partnership work better together as partners, bringing with it improved forward planning and cooperative working that may not have occurred without the City Deal.