Decisions

The West of England Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED:

1. That a further £1m of the £9m allocation for walking and cycling infrastructure delivery is brought forward to support scheme development, with the approval of specific Feasibility and Development Funding Applications delegated to the West of England Combined Authority Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent councils.

2. To approve a further £234k of masterplanning funding for the (Bristol) City Centre Development and Delivery Plan so that this is fully funded.

3. To approve the Full Business Case for Hawkfield Business Park - The Bottle Yard Studios and award of £11.82m

4. To approve the Full Business Case for the Bath City Centre High Streets Renewal Project and the award of £1.235m subject to confirmation of the High Streets Catalyst Fund match funding.

5. To approve the Full Business Case for the Bristol City Centre and High Streets Recovery and Renewal Programme and award of £2.725m

6. To approve the Outline Business Case for the Common Connections project.

7. To approve the Feasibility and Development Funding Application for the SEND Careers Information and Guidance Collaboration Pilot and the award of £20k.

8. To approve further development funding of £500k for ISTART, and to delegate approval of the Outline Business Case and award of funding of up to £1.94m to the West of England Combined Authority Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent councils, with a phased funding approach and/or the opportunity for other match funding to be considered as part of progressing to Full Business Case.

9. To approve the Full Business Case for the Careers Hub and award of £180k.

10. To delegate the approval of development funding applications and business cases for further recovery funding of up to £1m to the West of England Combined Authority Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent councils.

11. To award a further £1m to the Small Business Resilience Grant Programme and the Culture and Creative Economy Recovery Fund and to delegate the split of the funding between these programmes to the West of England Combined Authority Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent councils.

12. To approve the change requests for schemes within the current programme as set out in Appendix 2.

13. To amend the approved capital programme for individual project approvals agreed at the January Committee and within this report.

14. To approve the Feasibility and Development Funding application for Thornbury High Street Public Realm and the award of £200k from the Love Our High Streets allocation, with the opportunities for other match funding for the delivery of this project to be fully explored as part of developing the Full Business Case.

The West of England Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED:

1. To note the Treasury Management Outturn Report to 31st March 2021, prepared in accordance with the CIPFA Treasury Code of Practice.

2. To note the Treasury Management Indicators to 31st March 2021.

The West of England Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED:

1. To note the Mayoral Fund revenue outturn as detailed in Appendix 1.

2. To note the West of England Combined Authority revenue outturn as detailed in Appendix 2.

3. To amend the 2021/22 Mayoral budget to reflect the Department for Transport announcement (in March 2021) reducing the Highways Capital Maintenance Grants from £17.5m to £14.06m.

4. To note the allocation of £400k from the 2020/21 Treasury Management surplus to a specific Treasury earmarked reserve (as agreed at the 29^th January 2021 Committee).

5. To approve the reimbursement of £227k to Bath & North East Somerset Council in relation to the surplus that they delivered against the 2019/20 transport levy.

6. To approve the transfer of £492k, being the net end of year surplus in Integrated Transport activities, to the Transport Smoothing Reserve.

7. To approve the transfer of £500k from the 2020/21 revenue surplus to the earmarked Business Rates Retention reserve to address the estimated shortfall in 2021/22.

8. To approve the transfer of £627k from the 2020/21 net revenue surplus into the West of England Combined Authority General Reserve.

The West of England Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED:

1. To increase the scope of the MetroWest 2 project to include a footbridge link to the A4018 and allocate an additional £140k for the MetroWest Phase 2 project to progress the A4108 footbridge to outline design by December 2021.

2. To allocate £150k of Investment Fund funding to develop the step free station proposals for five stations to Governance for Railway Investment Projects 3 option selection.

3. To continue to cash flow the delivery of the Bristol Temple Meads Eastern Entrance in advance of central government funding decisions.

The West of England Combined Joint Committee RESOLVED:

1. To note the full spend of the Local Growth Fund and the Getting Building Fund in-year award for 2020/21 by the required deadline.

2. To note the submission of the Outline Business Case for the Weston Business Quarter project, and delegate approval and the award of £674k to progress the Full Business Case to the West of England Combined Authority Chief Executive in consultation with the Council Chief Executives, subject to headroom in the Revolving Infrastructure Fund being available and there being no other immediate calls on these funds.

The West of England Combined Joint Committee RESOLVED:

1. To note the Local Enterprise Partnership revenue outturn as set out in Appendix 1.

2. To approve the net underspend on core Local Enterprise Partnership activities of £152k to be transferred to the Local Enterprise Partnership General Reserve.

3. To approve £100K from the Local Enterprise Partnership reserve to focus on digital inclusion and connectivity with financial sign off for each phase of works delegated to the Chief Executives from the constituent authorities of the Joint Committee subject to the final approval of the accountable officer.

The West of England Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED:

1. To note the contents of the National Bus Strategy and the work programme arising from it.

2. To agree to publish a Notice of Intent to proceed with the development of a joint Enhanced Partnership between the West of England Combined Authority and North Somerset Council (as local transport authorities), Bath & North East Somerset Council, Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council (as highway authorities) and bus operators.

3. To allocate £900k from the Investment Fund tail for the bus programme for development of a joint Bus Service Improvement Plan and Enhanced Partnership and that approval of the relevant Feasibility & Development Funding Application be delegated to the West of England Combined Authority Chief Executive in consultation with the Chief Executives of the constituent councils.

4. That the Combined Authority Committee approve the change request for the Bus Infrastructure Programme and Metrobus Consolidation Package and the award of an additional £600k from the Investment Fund tail for the bus programme as proposed in the report and detailed in Appendix 5.

The West of England Joint Committee RESOLVED:

1. To note the contents of the National Bus Strategy and the work programme arising from it.

2. To agree to publish a Notice of Intent to proceed with the development of a joint Enhanced Partnership between the West of England Combined Authority and North Somerset Council (as local transport authorities), Bath & North East Somerset Council, Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council (as highway authorities) and bus operators.

The West of England Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED:

To agree items 2 and 3 of the Climate Emergency Action Plan update and  withdraw the remainder of the Climate Emergency Action Plan update report.  Mayors and Leaders to review the Combined Authority’s approach to Climate Emergency and to bring back recommendations to a special meeting of the Combined Authority and the Joint Committee in September 2021 whereby the Combined Authority will confirm a new, ambitious approach towards a Climate Emergency Strategy and action plan ahead of COP Glasgow in November 2021.

The West of England Joint Committee RESOLVED:

1. To elect Metro Mayor Dan Norris as Chair of the West of England Joint Committee for 2021/22.

2. To elect Councillor Toby Savage as Vice-Chair of the West of England Joint Committee for 2021/22.

3. To note the Joint Committee’s membership as at paragraph 2.

4. To note the Joint Committee’s terms of reference as set out in

Appendix 1.

Note: no decisions were taken on this item of business.