Agenda item

To receive any questions on the Greater Cambridge City Deal.

A copy of the workstream update report considered by the Greater Cambridge City

Deal Executive Board at its meeting on 15 January 2016 is attached, for

information.

Council received a briefing note which provided updates for each of the Greater Cambridge City Deal workstreams.

Councillor Aidan Van de Weyer referred to the Motion passed at the meeting of Council on 26 November 2015 in respect of a protocol for considering Greater Cambridge City Deal transport infrastructure scheme consultations.  He asked whether this was considered urgent in order that the Council could engage with consultations currently ongoing.

Councillor Francis Burkitt, Portfolio Holder for the Greater Cambridge City Deal, said that he did think it was urgent and confirmed that this piece of work was underway, explaining, however, that it had to be done in collaboration with all three Councils.  He emphasised that officers were treating this as a matter of urgency.

Councillor Sebastian Kindersley referred to the housing workstream and asked whether the aspiration to establish a Member Reference Group and produce a business plan for the Housing Development Agency for 2016/17, indicating the number of schemes that the Agency would deliver and its operational costs, by the end of March 2016 was realistic.  He asked the question in the context of the current position with Northstowe and this Council’s and the City Council’s Local Development Plans.

Councillor Ray Manning, Leader of the Council, said that this particular workstream was very complicated given changes that were currently going through Parliament via the Housing Bill.  He confirmed that the original intention was for South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council to finance the Agency, with land being provided by the County Council.  Changes to some rules imposed by Government had made it far more difficult for the District Council and City Council to do this.  Councillor Manning said that this was still an aspiration and meetings with Members of Parliament were ongoing in order to seek a resolution and a way forward.

Councillor Kindersley was of the view that the housing workstream was at the heart of the City Deal as a project and that the delivery of affordable housing would be a key consideration.  He said that the Government appeared to be making the situation worse and therefore felt that this aspect of the City Deal was failing.  He wanted City Deal partners to do what they could to ensure that the City Deal succeeded.

Councillor Burkitt said that Councillor Kindersley was right to say that City Deal partners should focus on this issue and emphasised that the City Deal was not solely a transport forum, a point he confirmed was raised at the last meeting of the City Deal Joint Assembly.  He also made the point that the term ‘City Deal’ did very little to promote the fact that the Deal was for the Greater Cambridge area and not just the City of Cambridge.

Councillor Bridget Smith, Leader of the Opposition, referred to the initial suggestion upon establishing the City Deal Executive Board and Joint Assembly that the District Council would be a ‘super-consultee’.  Referring to Councillor Van de Weyer’s question about a protocol for considering Greater Cambridge City Deal transport infrastructure scheme consultations, she felt that this was not happening quickly enough.

Councillor Burkitt said that the ‘super-consultee’ comment was made at the Corporate Governance Committee in the context of the next Local Development Plan scheduled for 2019.  He reminded Members that anyone could respond to consultations as individual Members in their own right.