Decision details

The board considered a report of the Director of Commercial and Investment that put forward a Change Request for the Outline Business Case for Electric Vehicle Charging Area Transit Stations (EV CATS).

The Director of Commercial and Investment, Ian Martin, reported that following OBC approval by the WMCA Board in March 2022, a number of modifications are required to the project to enable to project to develop to Full Business Case (FBC) stage. He advised the board that he was not seeking new money but was looking to reprofile expenditure due to the site acquisition costs that were increasing and the changing market conditions for land. The proposal sought to reduce the number of transit stations from 10 to 9 whilst maintaining the same overall budget.

In relation to a comment from Councillor Clark (Dudley) who noted the lack of proposed sites for Dudley borough, the Director of Commercial and Investment reported that 2 sites had been identified for Dudley but would be happy to discuss sites with Councillor Clark. He added that the project aim was for each EVCAT station to be at a distance no greater than 7 miles from the next station.

Resolved that:

1.     The reduction in the number of Transit Stations from ten to nine, whilst maintaining the same overall budget, allowing for an increase in site allocation budget to acquire land for the reasons stated in the Change Request be approved;

2.     An increase in the site acquisition budget by £1,382,352 to account for site acquisition costs being higher than expected (no change to overall FBC project budget) be approved;

3.     An increase in the number of sites that may be committed to under the OBC, allowing an additional one site to be acquired in case of need prior to the FBC (then totalling six of nine instead of five) with the resultant increase in budget of £1,727.392 (no change to overall FBC project) be approved;

4.     To pull forward additional funds intended to be spent at FBC stage to obtain planning permission and design two of the stations in the total sum of up to £725,000 (£362,500 x2) (no change to overall FBC project budget) be endorsed;

5.     The changes in project milestones, noting the reasons for the delays in acquiring land be approved.

6.     The impact of the above, revisions to the final model and confirmation from the Project Delivery Team that the project remains viable and able to achieve its objective, particularly leveraging private sector investment be noted;

7.     Progress made in establishing the Delivery Company (Delco) and remaining work to be undertaken be noted;

8.     The above detailed increase of £3,834,744: £3,534,744 to be taken from CRSTS and £300,000 from BLPDF; both sums are within the overall budget set for this project, as reported to the WMCA Board and do not increase the commitment already made to the project (the BLPDF increase is proportionate, being £300,000 per site and reflecting the addition of 1 site to be acquired under the OBC) be approved and

9.     That as a result of the above, in total the £8m will increase to £11,834,744 (an increase of £3,834,744) and there will be no increase in the funds allocated to the project and all will remain managed within the forecast WMCA project cost of £23.62m as presented to the WMCA Board be noted.