Agenda and minutes

In the event of a fire, please await direction from venue staff who will help assist with the evacuation.   Please do not return to the building until instructed to do so by the fire warden(s).

The meeting was held at Midsomer Norton Town Hall.  The evacuation procedure was read out.

To receive any apologies for absence from Members.

There were no apologies for absence received. 

Members who consider that they have an interest to declare are asked to: a) State the item number in which they have an interest, b) The nature of the interest, c) Whether the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, non-disclosable pecuniary interest or non-pecuniary interest. Any Member who is unsure about the above should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer prior to the meeting in order to expedite matters at the meeting itself.

Cllr Toby Savage and Cllr Kevin Guy declared an interest in Item 9 (Motions) and indicated that they would leave the room during consideration of that item.  Reason for interest: Cllr Savage was a member of the Avon Pension Fund Committee.  Cllr Guy was an elected member for the administering authority Bath & North East Somerset Council.

To consider and approve the minutes from the West of England Joint Committee meeting held on 8 April 2022.

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 April 2022 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

To receive announcements from the Chair of the West of England Combined Authority.

There were no Chair’s announcements.

WRITTEN PUBLIC QUESTIONS (written procedure)

1. Any member of the public can submit a maximum of two written questions in advance of this meeting.

2. The deadline for the submission of questions is 5.00 pm, at least 3 clear working days ahead of a meeting. For this meeting, the deadline for questions is 5.00 pm on Monday 27 June 2022.

3. Questions should be addressed to the Chair of the meeting and e-mailed to democratic.services@westofengland-ca.gov.uk

4. Under the direction of the Chair, wherever possible, written replies to questions will be sent to questioners by the end of the working day prior to the meeting.

5. Please note - under the Combined Authority’s committee procedures, there is no opportunity for oral supplementary questions to be asked at committee meetings.

6. The written questions and replies will be circulated to committee members in advance of the meeting and published on the Combined Authority website.

PUBLIC STATEMENTS

1. Any member of the public may submit a written statement (or petition) to this meeting.

2. Please note that one statement per individual is permitted.

3. Statements must be submitted in writing and received by the deadline of 12 noon on the working day before the meeting. For this meeting, the deadline for statements is 12 noon on Thursday 30 June 2022. Statements should be emailed to democratic.services@westofengland-ca.gov.uk

4. Statements will be listed for the meeting in the order of receipt. All statements will be sent to committee members in advance of the meeting and published on the Combined Authority website.

5. Please note: If any member of the public wishes to attend the meeting to orally present their statement, they are asked please to notify the Combined Authority’s Democratic Services team of this at the point when their statement is submitted and by 12 noon on the working day before the meeting at the very latest. Statements to be presented physically at the meeting will be listed in the order of receipt of notification. The total time available for the public session at this meeting is 30 minutes.

Five questions had been submitted for this meeting and the responses to these questions had been circulated to the questioners and had been published on the Authority’s website alongside the agenda papers.

Eleven statements had been submitted in advance of the meeting and these statements had been published on the Authority’s website alongside the agenda papers prior to the meeting.

The following members of the public attended and addressed the meeting on the topic of their statement for up to three minutes each. 

• Cllr Claire Young – Transport Issues in South Gloucestershire (the statement had two accompanying petitions).  A response to the petitions would be made available as soon as practicable.

To be presented by the Chair of the West of England LEP.

The Chair of the Local Enterprise Partnership, Richard Bonner, attended the meeting and gave comments on the committee items on behalf of the LEP Board.  These comments are summarised below:

Investment Funds

§  We continue to face a period of significant uncertainty, in addition to the issues surrounding ongoing impacts of Covid and the situation in Ukraine, I note that inflation is expected to reach 10% by December 2022. Cost increases will have an effect across the region on our residents, businesses and public services.

§  I welcome the Investment Fund paper and particularly support the recommendation to extend the Love Our High Streets programme until March 2023. High Streets play a key role in driving vibrancy in our communities, which is vital in ensuring residents feel pride in the places they live and work. We need to ensure the funding is available to help recover for the pandemic and /or deliver ambitious regeneration plans.

§  QTIC – a facility of national / global significance and we are keen that the LEP are involved in the proposed review and assisting with informing any future decisions on changing to funding.

City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement

§  LEP Board supports the notion to build momentum and ensure the successful execution of programmes that will drive growth and productivity through infrastructure investment and provide much better access for citizens to jobs and opportunities across the region.

§  We are keen that they funds are delivered at pace, significant spend in the local economy in what could be challenging times ahead.

§  We want the region to continue to be ambitious and that we continue to support investment in the foundations for ‘mass transit’ for the region.  This investment cycle is laying foundations for a vibrant economy for the next 20/30 years.

§  We continue to ask leaders  to put Place before Party, and we hope colleagues continue to do that.

Bus Service Improvements Plan and Enhanced Partnership Scheme

§  We are delighted to see that the BSIP award coupled with the CRSTS will provide an exciting opportunity for the region to be ambitious in its approach to enhance the customer experience of public transport.

UKSPF & Multiply

§  Compared to some places, this is a relatively limited funding allocation. This is reflective of the Government’s approach to the levelling up agenda which fails to address local disparities of the kind experienced int eh West of England. This limited funding allocation makes it all the more important that we take a strategic approach across the region to investment to maximise the impact on our priorities.

§  The LEP Board have been engaged in the development of the emerging investment plan and fully support the proposed priority outcomes the plan will seek to deliver.

The Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee to report the views of that Committee.

The Chair of the Authority’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Winston Duguid, attended the meeting.  The Overview & Scrutiny Committee had met on Monday 27 June 2022 and considered the reports to be submitted to this meeting.  Those comments had been published on the Authority’s website alongside the agenda papers and circulated in advance of the meeting.

The following motion has been received for debate from Metro Mayor Dan Norris:

In light of the climate emergency and the West of England’s 2030 net zero target, the West of England Combined Authority calls on the Avon Pension scheme to match this ambition by committing to having a carbon neutral pension fund by 2030 or earlier; and to divest entirely from fossil fuel stocks.

Cllr Toby Savage and Cllr Kevin Guy declared an interest in this item, withdrew from the meeting and took no part in the discussion on this item. Nature of interest: Cllr Savage was a member of the Avon Pension Fund Committee.  Cllr Guy was an elected member for the administering authority Bath & North East Somerset Council.  Prior to withdrawing Cllr Guy informed the meeting that only a very small percentage of investments (around 0.07%) lay with the top five gas and oil companies and only 1.4% was with fossil fuel companies as a whole (equating to around £86.6m) compared with around £1.4bn investment laying with sustainable companies aligned with the Paris Climate Emergency.

The following motion had been submitted for debate by Metro Mayor Dan Norris:

In light of the climate emergency and the West of England’s 2030 net zero target, the West of England Combined Authority calls on the Avon Pension scheme to match this ambition by committing to having a carbon neutral pension fund by 2030 or earlier; and to divest entirely from fossil fuel stocks.

Due to two members of the Committee declaring an interest in this item and withdrawing the Monitoring Officer advised that the matter could not be resolved due to the meeting now being inquorate.  This item was therefore unresolved.  The Monitoring Officer advised that it may be possible to arrange a dispensation for the members in the future so that the matter could be debated but that this had not been possible to arrange in advance of this meeting.

Metro Mayor Dan Norris stated that the Avon Pension Fund had indicated that they had limited power to make the changes.  Mayor Marvin Rees suggested that the Committee meet with them to explore what flexibility there may be such as giving options to its members to align with local priorities.

To update on the overall programme and headroom.

This report set out a series of recommendations to spend or return funding to the Investment Fund.  The Metro Mayor stated that the measure of success was not allocating money to projects but delivering them so the report also made recommendations to ensure delays and how to mitigate them were discussed in public.

The recommendations were proposed by Metro Mayor Dan Norris and seconded by Cllr Kevin Guy.

Cllrs Savage and Guy welcomed the March 2023 window for the development and approval of projects seeking to draw on the balance of the Love Our High Streets programme allowing further regeneration where necessary and so that funds could be reallocated if necessary.

In respect of recommendation 6, Cllr Savage spoke in support stating that this would help deliver a key part of the CRSTS scheme.  The Metro Mayor Dan Norris thanked officers for their work involved in the successful CRSTS bidding process.  In respect to recommendation 7, Cllr Savage welcomed the chance to complete the Yate Spur walking and cycling route.

In respect to recommendation 13, Cllr Guy stated that this was important for supporting independent traders in Bath.

Cllr Savage moved an amendment to recommendation 14.  He stated that the North Fringe Infrastructure project would facilitate the development of Brabazon Arena and timescales were tight and therefore it was important that technical work on the Business Case continued in order for the scheme to be delivered on time.  The wording of this amendment was moved by Cllr Savage and seconded by Metro Mayor Dan Norris:

“To approve the award of £400,000 to the development of the Full Business Case for the North Fringe Infrastructure Package with the allocation of full capital funding being deferred to September for decision as part of our strategic priorities.”

Mayor Rees stated that he was keen that this important development continued and agreed that any delays may affect the value for money, the economy and supply chain.

Mayor Rees stated that he wished for all officers to be involved in the review of existing programme given the significant impact of inflation and the economic position on projects.  He also asked that principles be set out to guide projects over the next few years, with more explicit references being made to certain projects such as Mass Transit, flood defence, and housing pressures.  He felt that the commitments should be heavier now.

[The voting arrangements on this item were as follows: Decision required majority agreement of Committee Members in attendance, or their substitutes (one vote representing each Authority) and including the West of England Combined Authority Mayor].  The recommendations were unanimously agreed (including the amended recommendation 14).

The Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED to:

1.    To agree the strategic objectives and investment principles for the investment programme set out in Appendix 2;

2.    To agree a window until March 2023 for the development and approval of projects seeking to draw on the balance of the Love Our High Streets programme, Land Acquisition Fund and Development Infrastructure Funds.

3.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To seek approval for change requests for schemes within the current Investment Fund programme.

This report set out requests for changes to already agreed projects in the Investment Fund.  The recommendations were moved by Metro Mayor Dan Norris and seconded by Cllr Kevin Guy.

Cllr Guy stated that he welcomed the regeneration opportunities in the centre of Bath and wanted to ensure the funding was secured for the Somer Valley Enterprise Zone in particular.

Mayor Rees stated that QTick was fundamental to the regional economy and also an important aspect in the reputation of the region in Europe and elsewhere.  Metro Mayor Dan Norris stated that the development in quantum computing may be a bigger development than the internet in the long run.  This project would be revisited in the future in order that progress could be gauged.

[Voting arrangements: Decision required majority agreement of Committee Members in attendance, or their substitutes (one vote representing each Authority) and including the West of England Combined Authority Mayor.  The recommendation was unanimously agreed.

The Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED to:

approve the change requests for schemes within the current programme as set out in Appendix 1.

To highlight the need to build momentum rapidly to ensure overall programme execution, whilst in parallel develop the delivery model to govern the programme successfully. In doing this a number of approvals are needed with regards to the delivery model, pipeline of works, funding requirements, building capacity and capability across the CRSTS programme and to approve a number of delegations.

Metro Mayor Dan Norris reminded the meeting that the region secured the biggest per head transport funding settlement in the country but now the schemes had to be delivered. This report set out delivery for the City Regional Sustainable Transport programme. The recommendations were moved by Metro Mayor Dan Norris and seconded by Cllr Toby Savage.

Cllr Savage welcomed the funding settlement and stated that this was vindication for the agreement for setting up the Combined Authority.  He recommended that the delegations in the recommendations be to the Unitary Authority Chief Executives rather than the Directors of Infrastructure due to the sums of money involved.  This would change the wording of recommendations 5,6,7 and 8.  This was supported by Cllr Guy and Mayor Rees.  Mayor Rees also asked that the A4 corridor be brought back into the Mass Transit Scheme.

[Voting arrangements: Decision required unanimous agreement of Committee Members in attendance, or their substitutes (one vote representing each Authority) and including the West of England Combined Authority Mayor].  The Monitoring Officer advised that due to the proposed changes to recommendations 5,6,7 and 8 not being supported by the Metro Mayor the recommendations would fall.  A short adjournment was agreed and agreement was reached on alternative wording as below following advice from the Director of Infrastructure and Corporate Services.  The recommendations (including revised recommendations 5,6,7 & 8) were unanimously agreed.

The Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED to:

1.     to approve the Delivery Model principles to be developed for the CRSTS programme as set out in section 3.3 of the report.

2.    to progress the procurement of a strategic programme delivery partner, in conjunction with a broad review of the Combined Authority organisational structure as set out in section 3.3 of the report.

3.    to approve the pipeline and overprogramming list as set out in Table 2 for the CRSTS programme.

4.     to allocate £450k for financial year 23/24 and £450k for financial year 24/25 from the CRSTS capacity fund (revenue) for continued capacity building within the UAs (£150k for each UA).

5.     to delegate the responsibility for the maintenance challenge fund (£32m) and non-highway maintenance fund (£1m) to the Director of Infrastructure of the Combined Authority in consultation with the UAs Directors of Infrastructure.  In the absence of unanimous agreement the delegation reverts to the Combined Authority Chief Executive in consultation with the Unitary Authority CEO’s. There will be regular reporting on CRSTS as a standing item at the CEO’s meetings.

6.    A delegation sought for business case approvals for those projects within the CRSTS programme that are £6m and below to be delegated to the Director of Infrastructure of the Combined Authority in consultation with the UAs Directors of Infrastructure.  In the absence of unanimous agreement the delegation reverts to the Combined Authority Chief Executive in consultation with the Unitary Authority CEO’s. There will be regular reporting on CRSTS as a standing item at the CEO’s meetings..

7.    to agree to the allocation of £440k of CRSTS funding to the SGC  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

To secure Committee approvals and appropriate delegations to the current version of the draft Enhanced Partnership Plan (EPP), recognising development of the detail will be ongoing over the next three months. Approval now will enable Department for Transport (DfT) to confirm release and drawdown of funding from this point onwards. This is required to support acceleration of initial Mayoral Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) priorities including fares packaging and Network Reviews, as well as detailing the next steps of the programme.

The Metro Mayor Dan Norris introduced the report and stated that the region achieved the second highest funding settlement nationwide for buses and that the report would help to achieve the delivery of these schemes.

Cllr Steve Bridger, Leader, North Somerset Council was invited to address the meeting on this item as the scheme related to North Somerset.  He thanked officers for the work that had gone into achieving a successful bid.  He welcomed the chance to work together as a region on this.  He stated that the steer from government was on increasing patronage on buses through fare reduction although services needed to be sustainable and reliable going forward to encourage passengers away from their cars and ensuring growth and stability in the network on the back of a strong fare offer.

The recommendations were moved by Metro Mayor Dan Norris and seconded by Cllr Kevin Guy.  Cllr Guy suggested an amendment to the recommendations in line with the previous item to allow delegations to CEOs (recommendations 2, 3 & 4).

Mayor Rees stated that he wished to see a specific commitment for free bus fares for 18-25 year olds which would need the support of the Combined Authority.  Metro Mayor Dan Norris stated that he could not give that specific commitment at the moment as the challenge was to get patronage levels up across all groups.  Mayor Norris wanted to bid for extra money from the Government for this specific age group and was happy to keep having this discussion.

Cllr Savage stated that a protocol was needed to look at funding in its totality and all funding pots in the region be used towards a reliable bus service.  Mayor Norris stated that he would follow this up.

[Voting arrangements: Decision requires majority agreement of Committee Members in attendance, or their substitutes (one vote representing each Authority) and including the West of England Combined Authority Mayor].  The recommendations were unanimously agreed (including the revised recommendations 2, 3 & 4) with the exception of recommendation 1 which was for noting and therefore did not require a vote.

The Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED to:

1. notes the DfT indicative BSIP revenue funding allocation of £105.5m over a 3-year period, the second highest award in the country. The size of the BSIP award coupled with the more substantial City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement provides an exciting opportunity for us to be bold in how we generate a step change in all aspects of the bus customer experience.

2. That the Committee approves the current version of the draft EPP (Appendix A) which was submitted to government on 30 June subject to political sign-off and delegates to the Combined Authority Director of Infrastructure, in consultation with the relevant council directors, authority to approve the final EPP. In the absence of unanimous agreement the delegation reverts to the Combined Authority Chief Executive in consultation with the Unitary Authority CEO’s.

3. That the Committee delegates to the Combined Authority Director of Infrastructure, in consultation with North Somerset Council,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

To seek approval to spend the West of England’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) allocation.

The Metro Mayor stated that this report was about boosting adult numeracy skills and helping people to get the training they needed to progress in or into work. The focus proposed for investment would help play a role in helping local communities deal with the cost of living crisis.

Mayor Rees wanted to ensure that the money was pushed straight to the UAs and not top-sliced for any purpose.

The recommendations were moved by Metro Mayor Dan Norris and seconded by Cllr Savage. 

[Voting Arrangements: Decision required majority agreement of Committee Members in attendance, or their substitutes (one vote representing each Authority) and including the West of England Combined Authority Mayor].  The recommendation was agreed unanimously.

The Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED to:

Delegate decisions on spending the £13,795,332 West of England UKSPF allocation (with £3,608,467 ring fenced for Multiply) against priority regional outcomes set out below and agreed in the Investment Plans for UKSPF and Multiply, to the Combined Authority CEO in consultation with the CEOs of the constituent authorities.

This report presents the revenue budget financial outturn information for the West of England Combined Authority and the Mayoral budget for the financial year 2021/22 based on data for the period April to March 2022.

This report asked the committee to note the latest revenue budget outturn report for 2021/22 and requests an approval of reserves to the general fund.  The recommendations were moved by Metro Mayor Dan Norris and seconded by Cllr Toby Savage.  Councillor Savage moved an amendment for recommendation 3 & 5.

Amendment moved to replace recommendations 3 & 5 moved by Cllr Savage.

Approve the allocation of £699k from the 2021/22 Treasury Management surplus and £87k from the 2021/22 net revenue surplus to the Integrated Transport Authority specific one-off bus earmarked reserve, to invest in further support to regional bus services to protect routes particularly in rural areas and other communities not well served by public transport.

Cllr Savage stated that this amendment was part of the commitment to ‘strain every sinew’ in protecting bus services which he believed was the agreement at a previous meeting.

The Metro Mayor asked for a short adjournment in order that this matter could be discussed with his officers.  Upon resumption of the meeting the Metro Mayor stated that he did not agree with the proposed amendments and asked the Interim Director of Investment and Corporate Services to explain the situation of the Authority’s reserves.  The Director stated that the reserves were currently short of the figures agreed in the Reserves Policy and stated that with the uncertain economic situation coming forward he did not recommend that the Committee agree the amendment.

Cllr Savage stated that he understood the policy on reserves but reiterated that it felt it had been agreed that all possible resource would be used for the bus services. He was therefore not minded to withdraw his amendment.  Cllr Guy seconded the amendment and stated that rather than have reserves there was a need for investment now.  The Metro Mayor stated that all the available bus reserves monies were being used for bus services.

The amendment was voted upon with three in favour (Mayor Rees, Cllr Savage and Cllr Guy) and one against (Metro Mayor Dan Norris).  Therefore the amendment was not carried and the meeting moved to voting on the substantive motion.

[Voting arrangements: Voting Arrangements:  Items 1 - 4:             None required – Recommendations were for noting purposes. Item 5: Decision required a majority agreement of Committee Members in attendance, or their substitutes (one vote representing each Authority) and including the West of England Combined Authority Mayor.] Recommendation 5 was agreed with one vote for (Metro Mayor Dan Norris) and three abstentions (Cllr Savage, Cllr Guy and Mayor Rees).

The Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED to:

1.    Note the Mayoral Fund forecasted revenue outturn as detailed in Appendix 1;

2.    Note the Combined Authority forecasted revenue outturn as detailed in Appendix 2;

3.    Note the allocation of £699k from the 2021/22 Treasury Management surplus to the specific Treasury Management Earmarked Reserve (as agreed at the January 2022 Committee).

4.    Note the transfer of £1,347k, being the net end of year surplus in Integrated Transport activities, to an Integrated Transport Authority Specific One-Off Bus Earmarked  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)  Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice requires the Authority to approve a Treasury Management Strategy before the start of each financial year, review performance during the year, and approve an annual report after the end of each financial year. This report provides a review of performance to 31^st March 2022.

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice requires the Authority to approve a Treasury Management Strategy before the start of each financial year, review performance during the year, and approve an annual report after the end of each financial year. This report provided a review of performance to 31st March 2022.

The recommendations were moved by Metro Mayor Dan Norris and seconded by both Cllr Guy and Cllr Savage.

[Voting arrangements: No voting required as the recommendation was to note the position].  There was unanimous agreement.

The Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED to:

a)    Note the Treasury Management Outturn Report to 31st March 2022, prepared in accordance with the CIPFA Treasury Code of Practice.

b)    Note the Treasury Management Indicators to 31st March 2022.