Agenda item - Investment Fund

- Report for consideration by the Combined Authority Committee.

The West of England Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED to:

1. Allocate £5m to support West of England businesses during the 2020 early phase of economic recovery advised by the Covid-19 Economic Recovery Taskforce and, where there is urgency, to delegate the approval of the business case(s) to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent Councils.

2. Approve the Feasibility and Development Funding Application for Spatial Development Strategy/Local Transport Plan Evidence Base and award of £2m and delegate the award of contracts to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent Councils.

3. Delegate the approval of a Feasibility and Development Funding Application for £300k for the development of Green Infrastructure projects to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the Constituent Councils.

4. Allocate £3m from the Opportunities and Challenges allocation to underwrite Department for Transport Emergency Active Travel Funding to be repaid on receipt of these funds.

5. Allocate £10m for walking and cycling infrastructure and to delegate approval of Feasibility and Development Funding Applications up to £1m to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent councils.

6. Approve the Feasibility and Development Funding Application for North Keynsham Masterplanning and the award of £250k.

7. Conditionally approve the I-START Outline Business Case and the award of £300k through the current Feasibility and Development Funding Application to continue to progress the design and development.

8. Approve the Careers Hub and Enterprise Adviser Network Full Business Case and award of £174k subject to the conditions set out in paragraph 32 of the report.

9. Delegate grant award decisions for the Research and Innovation Challenge Fund to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the West of England UA Chief Executives.

10. Approve the change requests for schemes within the current programme as set out in Appendix 2.

11. Amend the approved capital programme for individual project approvals agreed at the 20 March 2020 Committee and within this report.

The Combined Authority Committee considered a report setting out the latest proposed approvals in relation to the Investment Fund (agenda item 15).

The Chair advised that through discussions with the unitary authorities, very careful consideration had been given to the deliverability of, and priorities within the current £350m investment programme in response to Covid-19. This would be an ongoing process and further updates would be provided through each committee cycle.

In terms of the specific proposals in the report, he highlighted that a degree of financial headroom had been identified from a review of the current programme - as a result, the report proposed:

· an allocation of £5m to support the Covid-19 economic recovery, advised by the Regional Economic Recovery Taskforce.

· an award of £2m to develop the Spatial Development Strategy/Local Transport Plan evidence base.

· an allocation of £300k to enable specific Green Infrastructure proposals to be taken forward as part of the Joint Green Infrastructure Strategy.

The Chair added that other significant decisions proposed through this report included:

· An award of £250k for North Keynsham strategic masterplanning.

· An award of £300k to support the development of the I-START project, a new facility on Bath College’s city centre campus.

· An award of £174k to support continuing and extending the Careers Hub and Enterprise Adviser Network in the 2020/21 academic year.

· A package of measures to support walking and cycling through:

- allocating £3m from the Opportunities and Challenges fund to underwrite Emergency Active Travel Funding measures that were currently being carried out. This would enable unitary authority colleagues to mobilise short term measures to improve walking, cycling and the required social distancing in advance of receiving funding from government;

- and, very significantly, an allocation of £10m from the Investment Fund for permanent walking and cycling infrastructure to continue to promote much needed modal shift into this area.

The recommendations as set out in the published report were then moved by the Chair and seconded by Cllr Romero.

In response to a question from Cllr Romero in relation to Department for Transport (DfT) funding for emergency active travel measures, it was clarified that an announcement was expected at the end of June; it was expected that the DfT funding would be released in two tranches, at the end of June and July respectively. Whilst welcoming the proposed allocation for walking and cycling infrastructure, Cllr Romero indicated that the £10m should be seen as the minimal required investment, i.e. at least £10m was required.

Cllr Dudd welcomed in particular the proposed allocations of £10m for walking and cycling infrastructure and £5m to support West of England businesses during the early phase of economic recovery. He also commented that it was important to recognise the importance of the role of lower skilled sector workers in terms of assisting the recovery of a number of sectors, including retail and the local high street economy. In response, the Chair advised that through the work being taken forward by the Regional Economic Recovery Taskforce, specific sector groups had been set up both for retail and the visitor and tourism sectors; investment was also ongoing through the Love Our High Streets Fund.

Cllr Savage generally welcomed the report including the proposed allocation of £300k for the development of Green Infrastructure projects. In terms of skills, he drew attention to the current initiative being promoted through Reboot West to support young people leaving care to access work experience, jobs, apprenticeships and mentoring opportunities; it would be important for the Combined Authority and the unitary authorities to look to support this initiative outside of today’s meeting. Cllr Savage also welcomed the funding for cycling and walking and for emergency active travel measures and referred to the importance of the current work taking place in this context to support social distancing in and around high streets/public spaces and for public transport, to help improve public confidence in travelling locally as lockdown is eased.

Professor West commented that it would be important to maintain a balanced approach to restarting the economy, recognising the needs of different communities and the needs / risk profiles of different age groups in the population. It would be particularly important to be mindful of the challenges faced by young people and encourage businesses to use apprenticeships as much as possible. As part of the recovery, it would also be critical to maintain/build community cohesion and to tackle key challenges that needed to be faced such as re-visioning and re-imagining the future role of the high street.

The Chair then moved to the voting on the recommendations. Voting took place as per constitutional requirements.

The West of England Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED to:

1. Allocate £5m to support West of England businesses during the 2020 early phase of economic recovery advised by the Covid-19 Economic Recovery Taskforce and, where there is urgency, to delegate the approval of the business case(s) to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent Councils.

2. Approve the Feasibility and Development Funding Application for Spatial Development Strategy/Local Transport Plan Evidence Base and award of £2m and delegate the award of contracts to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent Councils.

3. Delegate the approval of a Feasibility and Development Funding Application for £300k for the development of Green Infrastructure projects to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent Councils.