Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies were received from:

Paul Foster, Federation of Small Businesses

Anne Marie Parkinson – LEP

Jeremy Clay – Bodycare Stores

Bernie Keenan – Progress Housing

There were none.

Minutes of 10 February 2022 attached for approval.

The Board considered the draft minutes of the meeting held on 10 February 2022 which had been circulated with the agenda.

Katherine Fletcher MP raised some issues and suggested that the Minute 5  be amended as follows:

-        that details of the fully recorded vote be included in the minutes

-        to record her concerns regarding the lateness of the information being presented given that the Board was being asked to sign off the Business Case

-        to include the request for further information in relation to the Business Case which was subsequently emailed to the Board for comment.

The Chair emphasized that the Board was not the legally accountable body and Katherine Fletcher MP agreed. Members agreed it was important to clarify this point in the minutes.

Further to this Councillor Foster indicated that legally the Council must be the accountable body – it cannot be the Board.

It was highlighted that the timetable for submission was set by the Government, that development of the business case had been an iterative process and Board members have been provided with the latest version of the information at each stage.

With regard to the request for further information to support the Business Case, it was agreed that all possible information would be shared with the Board, however some information would be kept confidential due to the commercial sensitivity in respect of the interests declared by some Board members.

RESOLVED:- That, subject to the inclusion of the above amendments and points of clarification, the minutes of 10 February 2022 be agreed.

Rachel Salter, Service Lead (Development and Business) gave a verbal update on progress and specifically design. She indicated that the structured principles for each of the buildings needed to be set out and that this would require a lot of mediation work.

RESOLVED:- That the update be noted.

Rachel Salter, Service Lead (Development and Business) gave an update on the forthcoming schedule of events with regard to Stakeholder Engagement.

She highlighted an engagement event “Meet the Buyer” being held on 28 April 2022, which was aimed at contractors interested in tendering for works. She also highlighted a stakeholder engagement on design planned for 10 May 2022.

Arising from this Katherine Fletcher MP expressed concerns about the pricing / funding model of the Town Deal projects in light of influential factors such as the current conflict in Ukraine. She enquired as to whether there were any contingency plans in the event of funding issues in the future. Councillor Foster responded that risk / contingencies had been built into the pricing policy in liaison with the cost consultants. He stressed that in the event of contingencies there were several options available.

The Chair stressed that the Board’s priority was still to deliver the project and no cuts had been planned. Katherine Fletcher MP welcomed the news but she expressed concern if there were budgetary issues towards the end of the programme, it might jeopardise some of the work e.g. public realm.

She also referred to the planned housing building and construction works and enquired as to whether it would be possible to minimise traffic and disruption to businesses on Hough Lane e.g. by rerouting construction vehicles. The Board were informed that Rachel Salter was already consulting with local businesses on Hough Lane in order to minimise disruption.

The Chair stressed that heavy construction work would commence early in the project in accordance with the programme, which would cause some disruption, but this would reduce over time and therefore, the restricted access and disruption would not last whole 5 years. He suggested however that we could stress to construction companies to put up appropriate screens etc to keep disruption to a minimum.

Councillor Foster also stressed in response to concerns expressed about possible budgetary constraints towards the end of the programme, the planned schedule of works ensures that income generating projects are completed first and public realm projects in the final stages. Neil Conlon, Conlon Construction concurred that in projects of this type, public realm works come towards the end.

Nik Puttnam agreed with the Chair’s points and indicated that he would be happy to sit down with the professional team and advise on the sequencing of work.

Liam Fergusson made the point that all construction etc. was governed by the Council’s planning regulations and conditions imposed at the planning application stage. The local businesses and residents must be informed of any disruption and further they would be able any breaches of planning conditions to the Council. Andy Walker also pointed out that public consultation was a key part of the planning process. Councillor Foster informed the Board that the Council was consulting with local businesses regularly and invited Katherine Fletcher to share her feedback with Rachel Salter’s team.

Councillor Foster also referred to the need to upgrade existing utilities as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

To be confirmed.

The next meeting will be held in June 2022, date to be confirmed.