Agenda and decisions

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a correct record.

The forward plan of items to be reported to future board meetings was noted.

The update on recent regional activity and delivery was noted.

(1)  The financial position as at 31 July 2023 was noted.

(2)  The latest full year forecast for 2023/24 was noted.

(3)  The new grant awards to the WMCA were noted.

(4)  The update on WMCA’s Medium Term Financial Plan was noted.

(5)  It was noted that the principal contractor for the delivery of rail stations        in Darlaston and Willenhall filed an administration notice on 17 August 2023 and, whilst WMCA was working to limit any adverse exposure, cost increases and schedule delay were likely to occur, and further updates would be brought to the board as the revised delivery arrangements became clear.

(6)  The update on bus funding was noted, including the approved change required from BSIP and ZEBRA.

(7)  An increase in the number of directors to be appointed to the Board of Midland Metro Limited from four to five was approved.

(8)  The process of recruitment of two independent directors to the Midland Metro Ltd Board was delegated to the Chief Executive, one of whom would be appointed Chair of the Midland Metro Ltd Board, with the final appointment to be referred to the board for noting.

(9)  The recharge of 2023/24 Business Rates Growth monies was noted.

(10)        The Treasury and Prudential indicators for the period ending 30 June 2023 (Quarter 1) was noted.

(11)        An increase of £25.5m in the loan limit of an existing Commercial       Investment Fund loan to support the continued development of the Holbrook Lane industrial development in Coventry was approved.

(1)  £24,609,772 of pilot funding to support a regional decarbonisation advice and grants programme for businesses was approved, jointly funded by DESNZ and DLUHC, providing circa £9m revenue funding for energy assessment audits and roadmaps for SMEs in both the industrial and commercial sectors across the ITL 1 area of the West Midlands alongside £5m capital funding for energy reduction grants an additional £10.5m for grants from DLUHC would be provided in the WMCA area.

(2)  It was noted that the DESNZ BEAS business case had been approved by the DESNZ Investment Committee and by Treasury, and that DLUHC had confirmed that it will use the same business case for its funding stream, that timelines for release of that funding were still to be determined, and that Ministerial sign off on the Section 31 letter was expected next week.

(3)  The delegation of contracting and payments to the Director of Employment, Skills, Health & Communities, the WMCA S.151 Officer and the Director of Law & Governance or Chief Executive to accept the funding awarded from DESNZ and DLUHC was approved subject to their review of the finalised terms and conditions of this funding, and that these conditions should not be materially different to those expected, and in particular should contain conditions acceptable to the WMCA in respect of condition precedent, clawback and eligible expenditure.

(1)  The Refreshed Regional Road Safety Strategy 2023-2030 was adopted.

(2)  It was agreed to launch the Refreshed Regional Road Safety Strategy 2023-2030 at this board meeting.

(1)  The proposed re-base of the CRSTS programme, as per DfT’s invitation to all Mayoral Combined Authorities in receipt of CRSTS funding, to reflect inflationary scheme cost pressures was approved.

(2)  It was noted that the net overprogramming value of £160.2m (15%) remained unchanged from the value agreed by the WMCA Board in June 2023.

(3)  The intention to undertake a ‘CRSTS stock take’ once commitments reach c.£900m to allow the WMCA and sponsors to accurately quantify the precise over-programming value and re-confirm the regional appetite for spending CRSTS2 funding at risk in line with soft contingency principles previously agreed was noted.

(4)  The requirements of the DfT set out within the report were noted.

(5)  The approval timeline was noted.

(6)  It was noted that WMCA/TfWM continued to manage on-going cost pressures on major transport infrastructure projects outside the CRSTS programme, as reported to WMCA Board in June 2023.

(7)  An early warning on Rail Package 1 (Willenhall and Darlaston Stations) due to the main contractor for the project going into administration was noted.

Julie Newman, Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer at Coventry City Council was appointed as the West Midlands Combined Authority Returning Officer.

The changes to the Terms of Reference for Economic Growth Board were approved.

The minutes of the board held on 19 June 2023 were noted.

The minutes of the committee held on 3 July 2023 were noted.

The minutes of the committee held on 10 July 2023 were noted.

Friday 13 October 2023 at 11.00am.