Agenda and minutes

It was noted that apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Mike Bird and Councillor Ed Plowden.

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 nonpecuniary 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.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 13 December 2021 as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the West of England Combined Authority Overview & Scrutiny Committee held on 13 December 2021 be confirmed as a correct record.

Relationship between Metro Mayor and unitary authority Leaders

The Chair welcomed Metro Mayor Dan Norris to the meeting, noting that the Metro Mayor was able to attend for the first 30 minutes of this meeting.  He also welcomed Councillor Toby Savage, Leader of South Gloucestershire Council to the meeting.  The Chair commented that the Committee were very happy to extend an invitation to all Mayors and Leaders to attend future meetings, with a view to enabling scrutiny members to raise issues with them and ask questions of them about forthcoming decisions.

Points raised / noted in discussion with the Metro Mayor:

1. Scrutiny members flagged the importance of Mayors and Leaders resolving their evident ‘differences’ (for example, around their differing views about the merits of pre-agenda briefings/meetings involving Mayors and Leaders to discuss committee reports as part of the governance arrangements) as a matter of urgency and find a workable way forward that recognises the need to collaborate and work collectively in the best interests of our region’s residents.  If this is not resolved urgently, Scrutiny members fear reputational damage for the region may prevail.  Given the context of the imminent Levelling-Up white paper, we need to demonstrate that the region is ready to deliver.

2. Members eagerly await the outcome of the work being undertaken by Professor Steve West in liaison with Mayors and Leaders to unlock and understand the issues that need to be resolved and help find a constructive way forward.

3. They urged that public discussions between Mayors and Leaders are held in a mutually respectful manner and in the spirit of collaboration – as in other combined authority areas, there will inevitably be areas of political disagreement from time to time – the key challenge is to overcome this and focus on delivery across the areas of agreement. 

4. Members noted that the Audit Committee is intending to review governance matters at their meeting on 1 March 2022, particularly in terms of addressing the potential risks that the current political situation may have in relation to the Combined Authority’s governance and ensuring sound and secure decision-making. The members sincerely hope that the Audit Committee will, by 1 March, be in a position to assess that real progress is being made in terms of the working relationship between Mayors and Leaders.

At the conclusion of the discussion, the Chair thanked the Metro Mayor for his attendance.

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 Tuesday 18 January.

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 Friday 14 January. 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. For those presenting their statements at the meeting, up to 3 minutes ‘speaking time’ is permitted for each statement. The total time available for the public session at this meeting is 30 minutes.

All members of the public attending to present statements are requested please to take a Covid-19 lateral flow test 24 hours before the day of the meeting.

It was noted that 4 statements had been received in advance of the meeting.  The statements had been circulated to committee members and were available to view on the Combined Authority web site.

The statements received were on the following subjects:

1. David Redgewell – Budget and transport issues (this statement was presented at the meeting)

2. Peter Travis – Transport issues

3. David Andrews – Transport issues (this statement was presented at the meeting)

4. Christopher Maltin – Transport issues (this statement was presented at the meeting)

It was noted that 2 questions had been submitted in advance of this meeting on the following subjects:

1. David Redgewell - Bus recovery grant

2. David Redgewell – Transport interchanges

Written replies had been sent to the questioner in advance of the meeting. The questions and replies had been circulated to committee members and were available to view on the Combined Authority web site.

None.

Committee members reviewed and commented as follows on the 28 January committee reports.  It was noted that some of the reports had been considered by the Transport sub-group at their meeting held on 17 January 2022 and comments from Cllr Ed Plowden, Chair of the sub-group are set out at Appendix 1.

West of England Combined Authority Committee reports:

Item 9 - MAYORAL AND COMBINED AUTHORITY BUDGET 2022/23 AND MEDIUM-TERM FINANCIAL FORECAST

It was noted that this report sought approval for a revenue budget for the Mayoral functions and the West of England Combined Authority for 2022/23.

Points raised/noted:

* Members stressed the importance of delivering the Portishead railway line and are appreciative of officers’ ongoing efforts to resolve this.

* They noted and supported the proposal to transfer £950k from the 2021/22 Transport Levy to a specific earmarked reserve to fund the anticipated additional costs of maintaining continuity of bus services prior to the re-tender of major bus routes in August 2022.

* They highlighted that it will be important to maintain a close watch on the impact of inflation on key activities and projects.

* They noted and are supportive of the Financial Reserves Policy.

ITEM 10 - CAPITAL STRATEGY INCLUDING TREASURY MANAGEMENT AND INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

It was noted that this report presented the Capital Strategy for the West of England Combined Authority including the:

* Capital budget for 2022/23, and indicative budget up to 2024/25.

* Treasury Management Strategy for 2022/23.

* Combined Authority Investment Strategy 2021 to 2026.

Points raised/noted:

* Members noted the updated Treasury Management and Investment strategies.

* They are supportive of the specific Highways and Transport Capital Grant allocations totalling £25m to the constituent councils for 2022/23.  And noted that the Department for Transport had adjusted the West of England allocation with a significantly reduced highways capital maintenance element of £14.6m and welcomed the fact that through the use of the CRSTS, we are now able to provide greater certainty for the constituent unitary authorities to help them better plan their highways capital maintenance over a five year period, through this proposal to raise the annual allocation to £25m per annum.

ITEM 11 - Investment fund programme

It was noted that this report provided update on the overall programme and headroom, and outlined the extension of the current programme to 2025/26 providing £450m of funding overall; the proposals set out in the report would increase the available headroom for new projects to £66.8m.

Points raised/noted:

* Members noted this report and welcomed the £2m for Strategic Masterplanning from the Investment Fund headroom – they would like to be kept informed about the specific allocation of this funding in due course.

ITEM 12 - Investment fund – change requests

It was noted that this report sought approval for change requests for schemes within the current Investment Fund programme.

Points raised/noted:

* Members noted this report but asked that officers send some further information:

- on the latest position on the timeline for producing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.