Skip to main content

Agenda item

Minutes:

Sean Pearce presented a report which advised the Board that the Investment Programme had been agreed as a result of the region’s first Devolution Deal agreed with HM Government in 2015. He reminded the Board that the entirety of the Investment Programme was to ensure that the Board was able to consider the decisions before it as well as the delegated decisions to the West Midland Combined Authority Leadership Team in light of funding that had been secured to date and funding that was forecast over the medium term.

 

The report also set out the current position in terms of approvals provided to date as well as the work being delivered currently by the West Midlands Combined Authority Leadership Team to support the work of the Task and Finish Group. This Task and Finish Group had been commissioned through the Budget process. It set out a summary of the internal work commissioned to ensure the benefits across the programme were captured and understood.

 

The report also set out the work within the West Midlands Combined Authority across the Investment Programme since October 2016. It presented a potential way in which, going forward, the Investment Board could receive information to help provide a regular update across the Investment Programme for confirmation and challenge ahead of Investment Decisions. He advised that similar reports would be submitted on a regular basis to future meetings of the Board.

 

He highlighted various sections of the report and stressed that the monies from Supplementary Business Rates provided provisional funding only at this stage as the principal; had yet to be approved by the West Midlands Combined Authority Board.

 

With regard to Section 7 of the report (Investment Programme Ranking & Scheduling), he reported that the monies available could be committed fully by April 2019 and that there was a need to consider the prioritisation of schemes and to consider also the Forward Plan for Investment Decisions. Work on this would commence in May 2018 with a view to it being completed by July 2018.

 

The Chair commended the report and referred to the element of risk with assumptions on future funding. Councillor Robert Hulland referred to paragraphs 5.6 and 5.7 of the report and asked as to the position if HM Government attempted to reclaim the windfall, whether this possibility had been taken into account and if any contingency arrangements had been considered. Sean Pearce advised that a meeting was to be held with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 27 March 2018 at which the West Midlands Combined Authority would be represented. He reported that it was understood that HM Government would not attempt to reclaim the windfall in the 2018/19 financial year and that, going forward, the position was broadly neutral for the West Midlands Combined Authority. He undertook to submit a report on the outcome of the discussions to a future meeting. The Board requested an update at the earliest opportunity.

 

Nick Abell commented that it was not for this Board to undertake a scrutiny role but to consider the investment requests put in front of it. The Chair suggested that the report be used as a reference point in making decisions on investments. Paul Brown enquired as to the impact of the second Devolution Deal. Sean Pearce advised the Board that the second Devolution deal had been positive inasmuch as £250 million had been granted through the Transforming Cities Fund which would enable such funds to be used rather than internal resources. He referred to other elements of the second Devolution Deal which were not investment related. In response to a question from Nick Abell, Sean Pearce informed the Board of the allocation of £143.5 million from the Housing Investment Fund towards the costs of the construction of the Athletes Village at Perry Barr.

 

Resolved:

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

2.   That the summary update on the overall programme as detailed in the report be presented to future meetings of the Board on a regular basis;

3.   That the Chair of the Investment Board be nominated as the representative of this Board on the Task and Finish Group as set out in the report and be required to provide updates back to the Board through April to July 2018;

4.   That an update be provided as soon as possible to the Board on the outcome of discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the position with the reclaiming of the windfall referred to in the report.

 

Supporting documents: