Agenda item

To consider a report by Chris Malyon, Chief Finance Officer (Cambridgeshire County Council).

The Executive Board:

(a)       NOTED the briefing note appertaining to the future of New Homes Bonus.

(b)       APPROVED the budgetary provision for the 2016/17 operational budget, including the programme management budget as set out in the report.

(c)        REQUESTED that more detailed proposals be brought forward in respect of the additional investment in Housing and Intelligent Mobility.

(d)       APPROVED the provisional profiling for the remainder of Tranche 1 of the programme, subject to the inclusion of reconciliation in respect of the apparent slippage of some schemes.

(e)       AGREED that the unallocated New Homes Bonus pooled resource be retained to facilitate the successful delivery of Phase 1 of the programme.

(f)        REQUESTED a further report on the strategy for the redistribution of unallocated monies before the end of the year, to include an update on the proposed programme for the current financial year and the remaining four years of phase 1 of the City Deal, as set out in Appendix A of the report.

The Executive Board considered a report setting out the Greater Cambridge City Deal programme and operational proposed budgets for the 2016/17 financial year.  It also provided the Board with an opportunity to consider the continued pooling of New Homes Bonus for 2016/17 and how unallocated resources should be utilised.

Chris Malyon, Chief Finance Officer at Cambridgeshire County Council, presented the report and highlighted the operational budget which set out the expenditure required to support the City Deal Programme.  He highlighted two specific issues in relation to housing and intelligent mobility, as follows:

·         there were significant stresses in the Greater Cambridge Housing market and a small amount of funding was sought to better understand the demands and to define distinct housing products that could potentially meet this need.  Funding was also sought to develop new partnership models to tackle these issues.  Once these studies had been carried out, they may indicate opportunities for further work and investment to tackle housing market issues, as well as create an improved supply chain;

·         running in parallel with the existing hard infrastructure schemes which formed part of the City Deal programme, there was an opportunity to establish a workstream to deliver the first steps towards intelligent mobility with four interlinked work packages.  These were in addition to the ‘Smart City Platform’ proposal.

Mr Malyon reported on the City Deal’s pooled resource and stated that, although the New Homes Bonus position had been clarified for the 2016/17 financial year, there was uncertainty over the future of the funding stream.  In agreeing the projected operational budget set out in the report, a sum of £7.8 million would remain uncommitted by the end of Tranche 1 of the City Deal Programme.  He recommended that, given the uncertainly around the future of New Homes Bonus, it would be inappropriate for the Executive Board to consider making any commitments beyond the resource envelope that the City Deal had at its disposal.  A briefing note on the New Homes Bonus, together with details of the Government’s consultation into proposed changes to the funding stream, were appended to the report.

It was noted that the City Deal Programme Director, having been in post for a few months, had identified the resources required in order to effectively deliver the City Deal Programme, which had previously relied on officers from the three partner Councils supporting the City Deal in addition to their respective jobs.  Further to a request made at the meeting of the Joint Assembly on 12 February 2016, further information was appended to the report on the 2016/17 programme co-ordination and communications budget, which included information on the City Deal Partnership’s staffing structure.

Councillor Tim Bick, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, presented the Assembly’s recommendations following consideration of this report at its meeting on 12 February 2016.  The following points were noted:

·         additional information on the programme co-ordination and communications budget and the City Deal Partnership’s staffing structure had been requested by the Assembly, which had since been appended to the report for consideration by the Board as referred to above;

·         discussion took place on the apparent slippage of some transport schemes, but it was noted at the meeting that start and finish times of construction did not necessarily coincide with payment schedules and that it was important not to identify slippage by spending projections.  The Assembly had requested a reconciliation between the two;

·         the Assembly noted that additional external funding sources would be required to deliver all of the projects included in Tranche 1 of the City Deal Programme.  It had therefore requested that a broad expectation of potential sources for this funding be outlined, which Mr Malyon had agreed to provide.  He made the point, however, that it would be detrimental to the Partnership’s negotiating position if he set out specific amounts expected from developer contributions, which the Joint Assembly accepted.

The Joint Assembly supported the recommendations contained within the report, subject to the inclusion of the words ‘subject to the inclusion of reconciliation in respect of the apparent slippage of some schemes’ to recommendation (d) so that it read:

‘The Executive Board approves the provisional profiling for the remainder of Tranche 1 of the programme, subject to the inclusion of reconciliation in respect of the apparent slippage of some schemes’.

Councillor Francis Burkitt, representing South Cambridgeshire District Council, sought clarity that the Board was being asked to approve the budget solely for 2016/17, with budgets for future years being indicative at this stage.  Mr Malyon confirmed that this was correct and that the City Deal would set its budget for the following year on an annual basis, making the point that variations in-year could still occur if approved by the Board at the relevant time.

Councillor Ian Bates, representing Cambridgeshire County Council, noted the additional information that had been provided in respect of the staffing structure and welcomed the appointment of the Strategic Communications Manager.  He felt that the requirement for better communications had consistently been an issue for the City Deal and this appointment would now address this.

Councillor Lewis Herbert, Chairman of the Executive Board, agreed that it was important for developer contributions and other sources of external funding to be identified and monitored.  He also reflected on changes to the New Homes Bonus scheme following the Local Government Finance Settlement and said that the position would be much clearer at the conclusion of the Government’s consultation.  He proposed accepting the Joint Assembly’s recommendation in respect of recommendation (d) in the report and also proposed that recommendation (f) be amended to request an update to Appendix A on the proposed City Deal Programme for the current financial year and the remaining four years of Phase 1 of the City Deal.

The Executive Board unanimously:

(a)        NOTED the briefing note appertaining to the future of New Homes Bonus.

(b)        APPROVED the budgetary provision for the 2016/17 operational budget, including the programme management budget as set out in the report.

(c)        REQUESTED that more detailed proposals be brought forward in respect of the additional investment in Housing and Intelligent Mobility.

(d)        APPROVED the provisional profiling for the remainder of Tranche 1 of the programme, subject to the inclusion of reconciliation in respect of the apparent slippage of some schemes.

(e)        AGREED that the unallocated New Homes Bonus pooled resource be retained to facilitate the successful delivery of Phase 1 of the programme.

(f)        REQUESTED a further report on the strategy for the redistribution of unallocated monies before the end of the year, to include an update on the proposed programme for the current financial year and the remaining four years of phase 1 of the City Deal, as set out in Appendix A of the report.