Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Jim O’Boyle (Coventry City Council), Councillor Sean Coughlan (City of Wolverhampton Council, Dudley MBC, Sandwell MBC and Walsall MBC), Councillor Peter Richards (Non-Constituent Authorities), Nick Abell (Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership), 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), David Cockroft (Coventry City Council) and Perry Wardle (Solihull MBC).

Councillor Peter Richards had nominated Councillor Tony Jefferson 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).

Councillor Robert Hulland declared a non-pecuniary interest in Agenda Item No. 8 (Change request for Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council’s Strategic Business Case 1 (SMBC SOC1) for the UK Central Infrastructure Package insofar as he was a member of Solihull MBC.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2018 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2018.

Sean Pearce reminded the Board that at the meeting held on 29 January 2018 an application in respect of Coventry Friargate Business District Phase 1 had been approved subject to a briefing being arranged for the Chair and Gary Taylor to address the concerns expressed at that meeting. He reported that such a meeting had been held and circulated a File Note on the proceedings. He invited the Chair and Gary Taylor to submit comments to him on the contents of the File Note prior to its submission to the next meeting of the Board to confirm that the necessary assurances had been provided.

Sean Pearce also reminded the Board that at the meeting held on 29 January 2018 an application in respect of Opus Land (Oldbury) Ltd. – BLPDF had been considered with funding being provided from the Brownfield Land and Property Development Fund (BLPDF) but subsequently from the Black Country Land Remediation Fund (BCLRF). He advised that the monies could be allocated from either funding source but that on this occasion it would be met from the BCLRF.

Resolved:

1.    That the reports be noted;

2.    That a report be submitted to the a future meeting on the various funds under the auspices of this Board together with details on arrangements for draw down of funding and the source of any replenishment of the various funds;

3.    That a report on the overall investment programme be submitted to the next meeting of the Board. 

Sean Pearce presented a report which reminded the Board that at the meeting held on 29 January 2018 approval had been given to the early draw down of a sum of £250,000 to support the preparation of a Full Business Case with regard to the Consortium for the Demonstration of Intelligent Systems (CDIS). The Outline Business Case considered at that meeting had stated that the Black Country Consortium would act as the Accountable Body but this had not been made clear in the report to the Board.

Resolved:

That the Black Country Consortium be assigned responsibility as the Accountable Body for the CDIS Programme. 

[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).

Lucy Lee and Liz Grove presented a report which detailed a change request to enable the development funding approved previously to be extended to enable the next milestone for each of the 14 projects to be delivered during 2018/19 through to 2020/21. This was primarily to reach Outline Business Case (OBC) or Full Business Case (FBC) stage for the main Phase 1 programme. There were also a number of individual studies and Strategic Outline Business Cases (SOC’s) relating to the planned Phase 2 programme.

The total development funding requested amounted to £8.15 million being a £4.76 million increase above the original amount and covering project development activity in 2018/19 through to 2020/21. The assurance and approval of the overall programme as detailed in the OBC approved previously was unaffected. The change request provided a more sensible funding approval period allowing development of each project to the next stage.

Liz Grove provided further background information and responded to questions in relation to valuation methodology, the basic proposals involved with the scheme, progress with negotiations with property owners and commercial owners and the advantages of this course of action being followed.

Resolved:

1.    That £4.76 million of Devolution Deal funding to enable the 14 projects within Phase 1 programme to progress to OBC or FBC stage be approved;

2.    That £3.90 million of Devolution Deal to enable the early acquisition of property in Kingshurst Village Centre in order to respond flexibly and pro-actively to acquisition opportunities that arise be approved.

Further to Minute No. 47(4) of the meeting of the Board held on 29 November 2017, Nafees Arif presented a Lessons Learnt report with regard to the Wolverhampton Metro extension element of the Wolverhampton Interchange scheme. He responded to various questions from the Board.

Resolved:

1.    That the report be received and noted;

2.    That the report be forwarded to the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee for consideration;

3.    That the report be circulated to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee;

4.    That a further Lessons Learnt report with regard to the Wolverhampton Railway Station element of the Wolverhampton Interchange scheme be presented to a future meeting of this Board;

5.    That a presentation be made to the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee on the benefits from alliance operations in relation to the Bilston Road Track Replacement scheme.