Decision details

A series of delegations to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) were approved through the WECA Committee and West of England Joint Committee on 19 June 2020 and 4 December 2020 as follows:

On 19 June 2020, it was agreed:
• To delegate the responsibility for agreeing procurement strategies for MetroWest 1b for detailed design and construction to the WECA and North Somerset Council CEOs, subject to funding.
• To endorse the change to scope (extension to Westbury to be progressed) for MetroWest 1a on the condition that the business case is produced and approved; and to delegate responsibility for approving the business case for this to the WECA CEO in conjunction with Unitary Authority (UA) CEOs.
• To delegate the responsibility for signing the Implementation Agreement for MetroWest 1a with Network Rail to the WECA CEO, in conjunction with UA CEOs, subject to funding.
• To delegate responsibility for signing Implementation Agreements for MetroWest 2 with Network Rail to the WECA CEO, in conjunction with UA CEOs, subject to funding.
• To delegate the approval of the Bristol Temple Meads Eastern Entrance Full Business Case to the WECA CEO, in conjunction with UA CEOs, to a maximum value of £26.645m (which included the £2.5m already awarded).

On 4 December 2020, it was agreed:
• To approve the project scope and value for money assessment and release of funding for the next phase of MetroWest Phase 1a (Severn Beach & Westbury Lines) works up to value of £1m from within the Investment Fund from within the agreed £116.4m of MetroWest Phase 1 budget to facilitate the start of enhanced services.

Further to these decisions, approval was sought in January 2021 under the agreed delegations for the delivery strategies for MetroWest Phase 1a (Severn Beach & Westbury Line), MetroWest 1b (Portishead Line), MetroWest 2 with the associated Implementation Agreement for Ashley Down station, and also for the Full Business Case for Bristol Temple Meads Eastern Entrance and the associated Implementation Agreement.

The Chief Executives of the 4 West of England unitary authorities were consulted on the proposals and were in agreement with the decision proposed for each of these projects.

1. Approval of the delivery strategy for MetroWest 1b Portishead Line which includes expanding the scope to be delivered under one major contract to minimise interface risks, letting a GRIP5-8 contract with a break to allow for changes arising from the Development Consent Order outcome, and also approval of the establishment of an integrated delivery team comprised of North Somerset Council, WECA and Network Rail harnessing the respective skills and experience from each organisation.

2. Approval of the delivery strategy and Implementation Agreement (subject to a legal review) for MetroWest phase1a Severn Beach & Westbury Lines, progressing the GRIP5-8 works and operation of services prior to the approval of the MetroWest phase 1 Full Business Case, based on the value for money assessment set in Appendix 2 of the report submitted for approval by the Chief Executives.

3. Approval of the delivery strategy and Implementation Agreement for MetroWest phase 2 Ashley Down station (subject to legal review), separating procurement, detailed design and construction from the delivery of the proposed Henbury and North Filton stations.

4. Approval of the Bristol Temple Meads Eastern Entrance Full Business Case, in principle, as a value for money project, and approval of the use of the WECA Investment Fund to cash flow work on GRIP 5, and to approve the Phase 1 (subway extension) GRIP5-8 Implementation Agreement (subject to legal review).

Not applicable in relation to these specific decisions, i.e. these were the options considered.