Decision details

(1)   Approve a 2024/25 contribution of £110k per each West of England Unitary Authorities, (to be reviewed for 2025/26 onwards);

(2)   Approve the (LEP) Revenue and Capital Budget for 2024/25 as set out in Appendix 1 and 2;

(3)   Note the LEP Revenue and Capital Forecast for 2023/24 as set out in Appendix 3 and Appendix 4;

(4)   Approve a £66k drawdown from the LEP General Reserve to fund the shortfall in the 2023/24 LEP Capacity Core Grant;

(5)   Approve the change requests for schemes in the Economic Development Fund programme as set out in Appendix 5;

(6)   Delegate authority for grant giving for the Careers Hub RONI Data project to the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s Strategic Director of Economy and Skills, in consultation with the Directors of Economy and Skills of the relevant Unitary Authorities. In the event of a consensus not being reached at Director level, decision making will be escalated to the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in consultation with the Unitary Authority CEOs.

(7)   Approve the award of £49.531m of previously allocated funding from the Economic Development Fund for MetroWest Phase 1 (Portishead Line) subject to the Department for Transport approving the project Full Business Case, addressing any remaining project capital funding shortfall and formally committing (in writing) to taking on any future capital cost risk on the project, as set out in section 20 of this report.

(8)   To delegate the approval of grant giving for the Create Growth programme to the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s Strategic Director of Economy and Skills in consultation with Unitary Authority Economy and Skills Directors. In the event of a consensus not being reached at Director level, decision making will be escalated to the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in consultation with the Unitary Authority CEOs;