Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Jim O’Boyle (Coventry City Council), Councillor Robert Hulland (Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council), Paul Brown (Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership) and Sue Summers (Finance Birmingham).

Apologies for absence had also been received from Sarah Middleton (Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership), and Gerald Gannaway and Nick Oakley (Finance Birmingham).

The Chair welcomed those present to the meeting, in particular the representatives from Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and the Urban Growth Company.

She informed the Board that Councillor Robert Hulland had broken his ankle recently and that he had not had time to make arrangements for a substitute to attend the meeting on his behalf.

Councillor Jim O’Boyle had nominated David Cockroft as his substitute.

Members are reminded of the need to declare

any disclosable pecuniary interests they have in

an item being discussed during the course of the

meeting. In addition, the receipt of any gift or

hospitality should be declared where the value of

it was thought to have exceeded £25 (gifts) or

£40 (hospitality).

No declarations of interest were made in relation to items under consideration at the meeting.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2018 be confirmed as as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2018.

Sean Pearce presented a report which updated the Board on the latest position against the Investment Programme.

He referred to Table 1 in the report which detailed a summary of programmes that comprised the Investment Programme and Table 2 which provided a summary of Investment Programme approvals made to 26 March 2018 which included the decisions made at the last meeting. He reported that with regard to the £11 million sum allocated for the Wednesbury – Brierley Hill Metro Extension scheme at that meeting this would be re-profiled against the Transforming Cities Fund allocation in future iterations of the report. 

With regard to paragraph 4.3 of the report, he advised the Board that the West Midlands Finance Directors had recently been allocated responsibility to realise specific funding streams which would be reviewed at their monthly meeting. He referred to paragraphs 4.5 – 4.7 of the report, inasmuch as it related to on-going work in respect of Business Rates Supplement and reported on discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Local Government and Communities and the Local Government Association. It was intended to procure an external resource to assist with this piece of work with a report being submitted to either the July or September 2018 WMCA Board.

He drew to the attention of the Board the contents of paragraph 5.4 of the report which referred to a favourable variance of £308 million but explained that overall there was no net variance. He referred to Section 6 of the report which outlined the progress of the Task and Finish Group to determine whether any rescheduling of Investment Board commitments was required for the remainder of the 2018/19 financial year and the proposed process for consideration of these deliberations.

Nick Abell queried whether there were any time constraints on the use of funds allocated by the Board. Sean Pearce advised that monies funded via the Devolution Grant were not time limited but that limits were set out where required in the resulting Grant Agreements following the approvals process. HM Government also undertook five yearly gateway reviews though SQW, a Company appointed to carry out these checks on its behalf. The Chair commented on the possibility of costs increasing as time passed through inflation etc. but advised that such matters were monitored and that risk resided typically with the delivery organisation following approval.

Resolved:

1.    That the progress against the Investment Programme agreed as part of the region’s first Devolution Deal be noted;

2.    That the £20.8 million increase in commitments made by the West Midlands Combined Authority shown within Table 2 to the report and the work undertaken to advance the Business Rate Supplement workstream be noted.    

(This item was subsequently withdrawn)

This item had been withdrawn prior to the meeting.

[To pass the following resolution:

That in accordance with Section 100(A) of the

Local Government Act, 1972 the press and

public be excluded from the meeting for the

following items of business as it involves the

likely disclosure of exempt information relating to

the business or financial affairs of any particular

person (including the authority holding that

information)]

Resolved:

That in accordance with Section 100A4 of the Local Government Act

1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the

consideration of the following items of business as they involve the

likely disclosure of exempt information relating to the business affairs

of any particular person (Including the authority holding that

information).

Huw Rhys Lewis introduced his colleagues to the Board and presented a report which sought formal approval of the request from the Urban Growth Company / Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council for funding of £9.27 million in order to progress the design development of the project including the following key stages:

·         Appointment of a consultant to progress the technical design leading to a planning application for the scheme;

·         Preparation of documents to commence a two stage procurement process to appoint a Design and Build (D&B) contractor to undertake the delivery of the project once final funding had been secured against the contractor’s price point; and

·         Securing the required level of funding to deliver the construction of the new station.

Huw Rhys Lewis and his colleagues responded to various questions raised by the Board. Gary Taylor enquired how the contribution being sought would be provided from the WMCA funds. Sean Pearce advised that it would be necessary to have regard to the impact of the proposal on other train stations in the region and also for alternative funding sources to be investigated also by the Urban Growth Company / Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. He advised that whilst this particular request was within the delegated powers of the Board a separate report would be submitted to and considered by the WMCA Board. He reminded the Board that in agreeing to the recommendation the West Midlands Combined Authority Board would need to take into account the summary and recommendations that it received in January 2018 with the report, ‘Progress Update on the West Midlands Combined Authority Investment Programme’. That report had outlined that not all income streams which

supported the West Midlands Combined Authority Programme were secured and therefore the following points with regard to this scheme should be noted:

a) Existing funding rated as ‘Green’ or prudential borrowing that could be made and to be repaid by the region’s future forecast Devolution Grant were sufficient to support the requested funding for this scheme; however

b) Given that there was still substantial work to be concluded to confirm all West

Midlands Combined Authority Income Streams, then approval of this scheme might not allow all further schemes to be approved that were dependent on the West Midlands Combined Authority internally generated resources as contained within the Investment Programme;

c) The basis on which this could be signed off is due to the assumption that the 30 Year Devolution Grant would be received in Full from Central Government. The Total Annual Devolution Grant over 30 years after taking into account the funding of interest costs provides funding for the investment programme of £748 million. Should the Devolution Grant be reduced, the Annual Revenue Cost would need to be met through contributions from Constituent Authorities on the basis of the underwriting of all West Midlands Combined Authority commitments by each Constituent Authority.

Resolved:

1.    That, subject to 2. and 3. below, the request from the Urban Growth Company / Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council for funding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 102.

Sean Pearce presented the Collective Investment Fund (CIF Dashboard) as at 15 April 2018.

Resolved:

            That the Dashboard be received and noted.

Sean Pearce presented the Brownfield Land and Property Development Fund (BLPDF) Dashboard as at 15 April 2018.

Resolved:

            That the Dashboard be received and noted.