Agenda and decisions

Apologies for absence were received from Lee Barron (Midlands TUC), Councillor Ian Brookfield (Wolverhampton), Councillor Andrew Day (Warwick), Councillor Kerrie Carmichael (Sandwell), Councillor Ian Courts (Solihull), Councillor Maria Crompton (Sandwell), Councillor Shaun Davies (Telford & Wrekin), Councillor George Duggins (Coventry), Councillor Patrick Harley (Dudley), Councillor Abdul Khan (Coventry), Councillor Seb Lowe (Rugby), Councillor Olivia Lyons (Cannock Chase), Councillor Ian Ward (Birmingham) Tom Westley (Black Country LEP) and Sarah Windrum (Coventry & Warwickshire LEP).

Agreed as a correct record.

Noted.

The proposed approach to developing and negotiating the Trailblazer Devolution Deal was endorsed.

(1)      The financial position as at 31 January 2022 was noted.

(2)      The latest 2021/22 forecast, and confirmation of the 2022/23 Adult Education Budget was noted.

(3)      The acceptance of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Funding and the budget for the project was approved.

(4)      It was noted that the arrangements for the 2022/23 successor of Integrated Transport Block and Highways Maintenance Grant were addressed within the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement report to this meeting.

(5)      The relevant amendments to the Contractual Standing Orders within the WMCA constitution, enabling improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of WMCA’s procurement activity were approved.

(6)      The WMCA Pay Policy was approved.

(7)      The WMCA 2022/23 Annual Business Plan was noted.

(1)      It was agreed to establish an Independent Remuneration Panel consisting of the membership as detailed the report.

(2)      The Terms of Reference for the review as detailed in the report was agreed, including the requirement for the Independent Remuneration Panel to make recommendations on whether allowances could and should be provided in respect of the roles and responsibilities of all of the boards/committees of the WMCA.

(1)      The positive findings of a review undertaken by the WMCA into Help to Own, which provided strong evidence to support the case for a wider roll-out beyond the pilot project on policy grounds, consistent with the WMCA’s approach to housing and regeneration and the Housing & Land Delivery Board’s 2021/22 and 2022/23 deliverables was welcomed and endorsed.

(2)      It was noted that this was not an investment decision and any future funding would need to be subject to receipt of an appropriate application and appraisal via the WMCA’s Single Commissioning Framework.

(3)      The initial findings of a review of Help to Own was noted.

(4)      It was noted that monitoring the progress of Help to Own formed an important part of the Housing & Land Delivery Board’s remit in relation to affordable housing, housing and regeneration deliverables and delivery of the commitments made in the Housing Deal to driving innovation and supporting new housing products.

(5)      It was noted that the Help to Own product was an innovative approach to making home ownership more accessible for some, but was not the sole solution to addressing affordable housing need in the region, and that the WMCA would continue to work with local authorities to ensure the appropriate mix of affordable housing was brought forward and agreed on a site-by-site basis.

The final version of the 2022-24 Equality Scheme and Action Plan was approved.

(1)      The progress made following the submission of the regional City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement bid to Government in January 2022 was noted.

(2)      The Section 151 Officer was approved to accept the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (in full or an interim settlement), subject to any such settlement being in line with the original programme level business case agreed by the WMCA Board, and subject to the terms and conditions of the grant being acceptable to the Section 151 Officer.

(3)      The use of the Single Assurance Framework with some additional scheme assurance measures as set out in the programme business case as agreed by the WMCA Board in January 2022 was noted.

(4)      The extension of the role and remit of Investment Board to cover all WMCA transport projects (including the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement programme) allowing investment decisions to be made for values between £5m and £20m in line with the Single Assurance Framework was approved.

(5)      The strengthening of the existing the Investment Panel to provide technical scrutiny and due-diligence support to the Investment Board and the WMCA Board on all proposed approvals for WMCA transport investment was noted, which would provide the Investment Panel with greater technical specialist knowledge and capacity to address these constraints within the workload of the existing panel.

(6)      The reporting and monitoring arrangements for the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement was approved, with quarterly reporting and monitoring to the Strategic Transport Board and annual reporting to the WMCA Board and the Government respectively.

(7)      The volume of work falling to the WMCA as the Accountable Body and the number of investment decisions that would need to be made in a timely manner over the next five years was noted.

(8)      The use of the retained City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement capacity funding contingency to fund the Accountable Body and Assurance requirements associated with the fund was approved.

(9)      Subject to Government confirming the funding, the allocations for the following programmes were approved, and it was endorsed that these programmes needed not be subject to the standard Single Assurance Framework assurance processes as these were overarching programme allocations:

(a)      £7m from the overall City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement programme to cover data, modelling and mandatory monitoring and evaluation costs over the lifetime of the programme.

(b)      The Local Network Improvement Plans (essentially the replacement for Integrated Transport Block) to local authorities and the WMCA.

(c)      Highways maintenance allocations to relevant local authorities.

(10)    It was noted that this meeting would also be asked to consider under separate agenda items urgent funding decisions on four schemes to be funded through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement programme.

(1)      The investment of £14m of City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funds in the EV CATS project was approved, subject to the WMCA securing Government approval towards the regional City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funding settlement, together with appropriate terms and conditions which were subject to a separate report at this meeting.

(2)      The investment of £2.2m from the Brownfield Land & Property Investment Fund, as recommended by the Investment Board and subject to the overall approval of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement investment at the WMCA Board as indicated above, was approved.

(3)      £6.5m from the £14m allocated City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funds and £1.5m from the £2.2m Brownfield Land & Property Investment Fund was approved to be invested at this outline business case stage as required for site acquisition, site preparation and ancillary costs, including set up of the Delivery Company ahead of the full investment under the full business case (with the condition as noted above), noting that the early release of the sums were from the totals in resolutions (1) and (2) above, not in addition to them.

(4)      It was noted that subject to the full business case approval at a future date, the WMCA capital investment of £7.722m was intended to be made from WMCA borrowing.

(1)      The addendums to the Sprint A34 and Sprint A45 full business cases, which detailed the second stage of delivery for 2024, including bus priority interventions, cycling and walking infrastructure, signal upgrades, shelter enhancements, ticket machines, and utility diversions were endorsed.

(2)      The £30.6m City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement allocation for the delivery of phase 2 of the A34 Walsall to Birmingham Sprint scheme was approved, subject to Department for Transport confirmation of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement programme and the Section 151 Officer accepting the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement.

(3)      The £25.4m City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement allocation for the delivery of phase 2 of the A45 Birmingham to Airport and Solihull Sprint scheme was approved, subject to Department for Transport confirmation of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement programme and the Section 151 Officer accepting the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement.

(4)      It was noted that as construction and utility costs for the scheme were not yet finalised, the project team might need to flexibly manage the scope of the scheme in order to maintain the overall budget, and this would be managed to ensure that the benefits were not materially affected, and appropriate change control processes were implemented.

(5)      The inclusion of cycling and walking measures within phase 2 delivery were noted.

(6)      It was noted that realising the full benefits in the business case and on-going affordability of WMCA revenue liabilities arising from the scheme were predicated on all areas pursuing the principles recently agreed in the Local Transport Plan core strategy.

(7)      The delegation of authority to officers as set out in the report was approved.

(8)      The authorisation of the award of contracts to the successful tenderer for the design and build stage was jointly delegated to the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Director of Finance, subject to:

(a)      The total cost for both A34 and A45 phase 2 projects being within the £56m recommended budget.

(b)      Any future revenue costs falling to the WMCA being accommodated.

(c)      All funding agreements being signed and sealed to the satisfaction of the Section 151 Director of Finance and Monitoring Officer.

(1)      The requirement for the depot investment to enable the expansion of the West Midlands Metro network was noted and the full business case for the project was approved.

(2)      A total budget of £43.35m (including a City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement contribution of £37.35m) to deliver the depot expansion was approved, subject to:

·       The WMCA securing Government approval towards the regional City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funding settlement together with appropriate terms and conditions, which was subject to a separate report to the board.

·       Endorsement of the final business case by the Investment Board.

(3)      The intention to instruct the Midland Metro Alliance to deliver the scheme, being the preferred delivery partner, was noted.

(4)      It was noted that the full business case for the project would be considered by the Investment Board on 21 March 2022 which was required to fully address the assurance obligations of the investment, and that any material matters arising from that review would be referred back to the WMCA Board in June 2022.

(5)      The Monitoring Officer and the Director of Finance were authorised to jointly agree for the WMCA to enter into any such contracts which might be reasonably required to allow for the project to be delivered.

(1)      The requirement for the Line 1 Power Supply investment to enable the expansion of the West Midlands Metro network was noted and the full business case for the project was approved.

(2)      A total budget of £17.3m (including a City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement contribution of £12.6m) to deliver the power supply investment was approved, subject to:

·       The WMCA securing Government approval towards the regional City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funding settlement together with appropriate terms and conditions, which was subject to a separate report to the meeting.

·       Confirmation thereafter that the project remained within the £17.3m budget for the scheme, when proposals were finalised.

·       Endorsement of the final business case by the Investment Board.

(3)      The intention to instruct the Midland Metro Alliance to deliver the scheme, being the preferred delivery partner, was noted.

(4)      It was noted that the full business case for the project would be considered by the Investment Board on 21 March 2022 which was required to fully address the assurance obligations of the investment, noting that any material matters arising from that review would be referred back to the WMCA Board in June 2022.

(5)      The Monitoring Officer and the Director of Finance were jointly authorised to agree for the WMCA to enter into any such contracts which might be reasonably required to allow for the project to be delivered.

The conclusions and recommendations of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee were supported.

Noted.

Noted.

Noted.

Noted.

Noted.

Noted.

[In accordance with s100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business as they are likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information as specified in the paragraphs of the Act.]

The public and press were excluded from the remainder of the meeting.

(1)      The appointment of Dr Julie Nugent to the post of Executive Director - Economic Delivery, Skills & Communities was agreed.

(2)      The appointment of Ed Cox to the post of Executive Director - Strategy, Integration & Net Zero was agreed.

(1)      Further to the overarching associated report in the public agenda of the meeting, the detailed commentary on the business case, financial and legal aspects of the EV CATS project was noted.

(2)      Approval of the investment of £14m of City Region Transport Settlement funds in the EV CATS project was confirmed, subject to the WMCA securing Government approval towards the regional City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funding settlement together with appropriate terms and conditions, which was subject to a separate report at the meeting.

(3)      Approval the investment of £2.2m from the Brownfield Land & Property Investment Fund was confirmed, as recommended by the Investment Board and subject to the overall approval of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement investment at the WMCA Board as indicated above.

(4)      Approval of £6.5m from the £14m allocated City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funds and £1.5m from the £2.2m Brownfield Land & Property Development Fund was confirmed to be invested at this outline business case stage as required for site acquisition, site preparation and ancillary costs, including set up of the Delivery Company ahead of the full investment under the full business case (with the condition as noted above).

Noted.

Friday 10 June 2022 at 11.00am.