Agenda item

To be presented by the Chairs of the West of England LEP and West of England Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny.

Richard Bonner, Chair of the Local Enterprise Partnership Board gave the following comments on the agenda papers on behalf of the Local Enterprise Partnership Board:

Combined Authority Investments 

• We face a period of continued uncertainty as we move to a new stage of the pandemic and start to understand more about the human and economic costs of the terrible events unfolding in Ukraine.    
• As we discovered during the Covid Economic Recovery Taskforce, the ability to be agile and flex delivery to respond to uncertainty and to support business and learners to adapt to changing circumstances, is vital, and pleasing to see that we appear to be doing that through the Combined Authority and partners. 
• I welcome the proposed changes to the Investment Fund that will enable progress on a range of ambitious activities to improve transport links, invest in our high streets and workspaces, improve the environment and support young people through our Careers Hub.  I have spoken here before about the importance of resolving the Flood alleviation strategy and plans for Bristol and that particular investment item is pleasing to see. 
• The proposal to increase the Regional Recovery and adaptions fund by a further £5M will offer further to support to our region during times of continued uncertainty. 
• I note the proposed reporting and delivery assurance process which will strengthen the existing approach to reporting and escalation of delays and cost changes to provide better transparency on progress.  I also note the ‘use it or lose it’ principle which will help partners and the Combined Authority in ensuring money is put to best use for the benefit of those who live, work in and visit the region. This will be essential as we start to move forwards with plans for the delivery of the City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement. 

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Climate and Ecological Emergency 

• This assurance process will also support delivery of the actions that will be needed to meet our 2030 ambition to achieve net zero, as set out in the Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy and Action Plan.  
• The scale of the challenge we face regionally, nationally and globally, is unprecedented and there will be some difficult decisions to take as we progress.  
• I note the progress to date in bringing together key stakeholders and business across the region, creating a £50m Green Recovery Fund, and launching new programmes to support residents and businesses. I fully support the proposal for the plan to be a living document that keeps pace with changes in our understanding of the challenges and responds to the levers available to us to respond.  As we saw yesterday, the Government announced an energy strategy, and whilst I felt there were several matters missing (ie energy reduction), we do need to flex to emerging policy and technology. 

• I welcome the proposals set out in the plan including the details of the approach to allocation of the Green Recovery Fund and the proposed investments of £1.45M for a Community Pollinator Fund seeking to improve biodiversity, and £100k to finalise the business case for investment in EV charging infrastructure to accelerate the update of electric vehicles, as well as the other investment proposals included in the report. 
• We look forward to continuing to work together to build a sustainable future. 

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City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement 

• We are delighted to see the Government confirm this week the £540M settlement for the West of England, this is a very exciting opportunity for us to accelerate the delivery of improved transport networks and systems across our region. 

• We are pleased that the Combined Authority Partners are mobilising for delivery and are keen that we maximise the opportunity to deliver out our programme during this period.  Doing so will provide a significant economic boost and provide much better access for citizens to jobs and opportunities across the region. 

Future Arrangements for Local Enterprise Partnership  

• We are in discussions with Government about the next steps for the Local Enterprise Partnership following the review of all Local Enterprise Partnerships. The review commenced in early 2021 and I would like to formally note my thanks to the Board Members and staff at the Combined Authority for their patience and continued support over the time of this review. 
• I have been encouraged by the recognition of the positive impact of LEPs in the Levelling Up Whitepaper, and we look forward to working with Government to take forwards the recommendations to bring the LEP into the Combined Authority  

• The LEP Board discussed this at their meeting on 30 March. The Board are keen to work together with Government and the Combined Authority to ensure that a future model builds on our success to date to deliver a better, greener future for our region. The LEP recommend that a working group, comprising representatives from the Combined Authority, the LEP, North Somerset and a representative from the three other Unitaries to consider options and proposals to bring before the respective bodies in the early summer. 
• I note that that the Joint Committee meeting taking place after this includes an item from the Local Authorities on a potential governance review of the Joint Committee. We are keen that the principles in this agenda item are adopted as the approach to our forthcoming Integration review, and we are looking forward to working with all relevant stakeholders in building off the successes of the last 10 years and develop our LEP to take the region forwards in the future.