Decision details

That Committee:

1)    Agree to undertake a role and purpose review of the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, engaging Mayors and Leaders on the future direction of the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority and its strategic investment priorities. This work will report back to the Committee no later than October 2024.

2)    Authorise the Interim Chief Executive to work with Unitary Authority Chief Executives to develop and agree a programme of effectiveness and efficiency reviews with progress reported back to the Committee no later than June 2024.

3)    Note the Interim Chief Executive will work with the Unitary Authority Chief Executives to explore opportunities for sharing resources where appropriate during the financial year 2024/25.

4)     

A)    Approve the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority budget for 2024/25 as summarised in figure 9a, and the relevant related supporting appendices, but with a retention of £800k (the “Withheld Sum”), split broadly between 50% pay/non pay budget lines.

B)    Request that the interim Chief Executive brings a report to committee on the conclusion of the work referred to in recommendation No.2 above to enable the release of the Withheld Sum.

5)    Approve the Mayoral Budget for 2024/25 together with the funding contribution from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, (Investment Fund), budget of £687k as set out in Figure 18.

6)    Approve the Capital Budget as detailed in Appendix 5.

7)    Approve the Treasury Management Strategy for 2024/25 detailed in Appendix 6.

8)    Agree the specific Highways and Transport Capital Grant allocations totalling £25m and the pothole funding allocation to unitary authorities for 2024/25 as set out in Figure 15.

9)    Note the 2023/24 forecast position for the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority Revenue Budget as set out in Appendix 7, the forecast position for the Mayoral Functions Revenue budget as set out in Figure 18 and the changes to the Capital Forecast as set out in Appendix 5.