Agenda item - Investment Fund

Report for consideration by the Combined Authority Committee.

The West of England Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED:

1. To approve use of the Investment Fund headroom as set out in paragraph 7 and 8, and the Development Infrastructure Fund criteria set out in Appendix 2.

2. To allocate £2m to the Housing and Regeneration Enabling Fund and to delegate the approval of the criteria and Feasibility and Development Funding Applications for specific proposals to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent councils.

3. To allocate a further £2m to strategic masterplanning and to delegate the approval of Feasibility and Development Funding Applications for specific proposals to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent Councils.

4. To approve the Outline Business Case for Hengrove Park Enabling Works and allocate funding of £12m in the current programme, and earmark a further £7.8m post 2022/23 to be confirmed at Full Business Case.

5. To approve the Strategic Outline Business Case for Charfield Station and to delegate the approval of the Outline Business Case to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent councils subject to this remaining within the agreed budget.

6. To approve the revision to the Local Growth Assurance Framework set out in paragraph 15 and the approval of the £3.655m Future Transport Zones match funding.

7. To allocate £500k to match fund the Housing Enabling Fund bid through One Public Estate 8 and, should the bid be successful, to delegate the approval of the Feasibility and Development Funding application to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent councils.

8. To approve the award of an additional £2.5m for the development of the Spatial Development Strategy/Local Transport Plan Evidence Base.

9. To approve the Full Business Case for the Chew Valley Lake Recreational Trail subject to resolution of land issues and planning conditions, the supply of a detailed programme and the confirmation of the final costs.

10. To approve the award of £179k to the 5G Logistics project subject to securing Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport funding.

11. To delegate the detailed use of the Adult Education Budget Covid-19 Skills Recovery Package to the WECA Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent councils.

12. Approve the change requests for schemes within the current programme as set out in Appendix 3.

13. To amend the approved capital programme for individual project approvals agreed at the October 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 highlighted the following aspects of the report and commented as follows:

* A number of significant projects were being funded through this report. It was important to note that a clear value for money framework was in place which brought together the management and reporting of all major regional funding streams within a ‘single pot’ approach.

* The Investment Fund was subject to 5 yearly government gateway reviews to assess the impact and outcomes from investments made, strength in regional partnerships and effectiveness of resource planning and prioritisation. SQW were the firm appointed by the government to undertake gateway reviews for all Combined Authorities across the country. They had recently completed their first assessment of WECA and had reported back to government accordingly. This report was extremely positive regarding the progress that WECA had made in its first four years of operation. He thanked all involved for their support, engagement and commitment.

* The specific proposals in the report included:

- Approval of the Outline Business Case for Hengrove Park which was the first project to access the Development Infrastructure Fund (DIF). Ultimately this development would enable 1,450 new homes with WECA’s initial funding, unlocking the enabling works through an allocation of £12m in the current programme and earmarking of a further £7.8m post 2022/23 to be confirmed at Full Business Case stage.

- An allocation of £2m to the Housing and Regeneration Enabling Fund and a further £2m to strategic masterplanning. This would provide the unitary authorities with much needed capacity to bring forward, at pace, several more strategic sites for housing and business development across the region, unlocking further significant public and private sector investment.

- Approval of the Strategic Outline Business Case for Charfield Station, which was hugely important for that part of the region.

- Approval of the Full Business Case for the Chew Valley Lake recreational trail.

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

Cllr Savage welcomed the investment in masterplanning, notably for the east fringe, Severnside and the important growth area around Parkway station which were key locations in terms of the sustainability of the West of England economy. He reminded the committee that through WECA funding, it had already been possible to develop comprehensive masterplan approaches in both Kingswood and Yate over the last year; that work supported the identification of sites for commercial investment, through which the authorities could instigate the delivery of regeneration rather than merely making policy. Similarly, with the resources for DIF funding, unitary authorities were able to access the resource to promote development in key strategic sites where the market was facing new pressures that threatened delivery. The masterplanning funding for Parkway would enable the commissioning of the first phase of the works to explore the boring of a new subway under the main line at Parkway station, which would represent significant improvements in both connectivity and safety. He very much welcomed the fact that Charfield station had reached the Strategic Outline Business Case stage and hoped that work with Network Rail would rapidly move this project on to the next stage. Charfield was an important development location in delivering new homes in South Gloucestershire and would provide an attractive and sustainable travel option to Gloucester, Yate and Bristol.

Cllr Savage also welcomed the new funding for Hengrove Park. This was a really important regional project; it was clearly in the regional interest to help to maximise the delivery of housing within Bristol, thus helping the city to meet its own housing need and thereby reducing the unmet need that the surrounding unitary authorities had to address through their own local plans.

Mayor Rees commented that Hengrove Park had long been identified as an area for housing and had never been brought through as a project. With the current commitment and working together, the project was now coming through for development, which was hugely significant. This would see over 1,400 homes, but additionally 12,000 sqm of new employment, commercial, retail and education use, plus community space and a public park as well. This would help build communities within the city, help build the local economy and support local supply chains and get the multiplier effect of that going within the economic region. The new Chair of Homes England had made the point that housing was one of the most significant interventions that could be made to improve life chances, but he would add to that that the kind of homes built and where they were built would also be among the biggest determinants of impact in terms of climate and ecology as well. The Hengrove development would be a flagship development in line with Sustainable Development Goals, and the city’s climate and ecological strategies.

Cllr Romero commented that a key aspect of WECA was about securing development and investment in the region; when looking at schemes, it was always important to assess their impact on the region. With that in mind, she welcomed the Hengrove project and was happy to support it. She added that this development should alleviate some of the pressure around what had been perceived as unsustainable development proposals that up to now had been experienced in surrounding areas such as Whitchurch village. She also referred to high streets investment; high streets including those in the region’s cities, were changing - they had been changing before the pandemic but as a result of Covid-19, they were changing much more rapidly. Investment in high streets in places such as Milsom Quarter in Bath city centre would be very welcome and necessary. She also strongly welcomed the funding for the Chew Valley recreational trail.

Professor West commented that the investment brought through this report was really good news. In terms of the Hengrove development, he felt it was important to look at the development through the lens of the real opportunity to do something different, taking on board the learning from previous big developments, and getting the sense of ‘place’ right to create a place that was great to live, work and bring up families in. Covid-19 had taught communities how important external space was; in developing places, it was important to be ambitious, innovative and creative in terms of how we build, what we build, where we build and how we connect it. It was also important to take the opportunity to think about bringing in new opportunities for sustainable developments and building schemes that deliver buildings in a different way - modern approaches to new design could open up all sorts of thinking around new jobs and new ways of sustaining the environment.

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