Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Andrew Ross and Simon Yates.

To receive any declarations of interest.

In the interests of openness Councillor Jill Rhodes declared an interest as a political appointee of Cheshire East Council and Crewe Town Council.

In the interests of openness Councillor Nick Mannion declared an interest as a political appointee of Cheshire East Council.

In the interests of openness Adam Knight declared an interest as co-project sponsor for Lyceum Powerhouse.

In the in interests of openness Reverend David Edwards declared an interest in the Flag Lane Baths project.

In the in interests of openness Dr Kieran Mullan MP declared he had helped to scope some elements of both the Pocket Parks scheme and the History Centre Public Spaces project.

In the in interests of openness Jasbir Dhesi declared an interest as he had previously offered support and expertise on several bids that had been submitted.

In the in interests of openness Guy Kilminster declared an interest as an employee of the accountable body, Cheshire East Council.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous virtual meeting held on 6 August 2021.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the virtual meeting held on 6 August 2021 be approved as a correct record. The chair went through a list of actions from the previous virtual meeting and updated members on the status of each action accordingly.

To receive an update on the progress of the Towns Fund.

Charles Jarvis and Jez Goodman gave a presentation on the next steps for the Crewe Town Fund. The presentation covered the following:

-          Actions since the Town Fund announcement – this included media releases, conversations with project leads around timescales for 2^nd gateway, business case requirements, engagement with Crewe Town Board Towns Fund sub-group and Communications sub-group and commenced an independent assessment of project costs.

-          2^nd Gateway tasks and decisions – this would need to include a shortlist of projects and funding, updating Governance arrangements, provide an assurance process, indicate when each business case will be completed, undertake an equalities and environmental impact assessments, and submit a monitoring and evaluation plan.

Everything covered in Gateway 2 would be signed off by the Chair of Crewe Town Board and Cheshire East Council’s Section 151 Officer by 5^th October 2021. Reassurance was given that although timescales would be tight for project leads to submit their costings, these would be met.

-          3^rd Gateway (up to 5 August 2022) – to develop a full Green-book compliant business case for each project. Through additional funding Hatch would still be available to provide key support in relation to the strategic case and very technical case, but only for up to seven of the projects.

-          Governance Arrangements – A high level view of the stakeholder engagement plan would be required to assure government that it is an ongoing process all the way through to implementation.

-          Provide an assurance process – This process would be required to ensure project feasibility, viability, value for money and financial stability. Any projects which would require additional funding would be subject to additional scrutiny as part of Council procedures.

-          Timeline for Business case approval – By the 24 September Projects would be required to indicate when the completed business cases would be ready for appraisal. Business cases would need to be submitted to government by 5 June 2022. Any projects that would require additional funding would before 31 March 2022 would need to submit business cases to Cheshire East Council by 14 November 2021. Once government had approved each project summary, funding would be awarded in stages.

-          Procurement of Independent Consultants – The additional task of appraising projects would require procurement for independent consultants. Cheshire East Council has agreed, in principle to support this cost through a one-off revenue contribution. If the Board were to agree to this approach a consultant would be appointed by December 2021.

Members of the board asked questions and put forward comments in relation to

-          Would the rag rating for the risk assessment be standardised for all projects;

-          What impact does the rag rating have on the final decision making?

-          The requirement to be agile in respect of timescales.

-          How much confidence is there that individual projects will come back with the information required by the 24^th September.

-          Are the external assurance process costs standard practice and are other Boards incurring  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

To receive updates from the subgroups.

Transport Green & Blue- Infrastructure Forum

A chair and vice-chair had been appointed and three meetings had been held. This forum was supported by Andrew Ross and the team at Cheshire East Council and would eventually feed into Crewe Town Board.

Sports Provision and Open Spaces Forum

As the Transport Green and Blue Infrastructure Forum was now up and running, resources and focus would go in to getting the Sports Provision and Open Spaces forum up and running to help support the strategy for Crewe.

Youth Sub-Group

Due to holidays the sub-group had not met recently.

RESOLVED

That the update be noted.

To receive an update on communications and engagement.

The communications strategy had been updated to include the TIP process. There had been a delay in getting the TIP published due to media enquiries, along with a period of Purdah which meant that the council had been unable to make formal publications.

Meetings with Squeaky Pedal were underway to develop videos for the website.

Board Transparency

A report was circulated prior to the Board meeting in respect of Board Transparency following discussion at the last meeting.

RESOLVED

That:-

(1)  The report be noted;

(2)  The Board host a question and answer session after 5 October 2021 in line with the Terms of Reference.

To put forward any other items of business.

Multi Storey Car Park/Bus Station

The Board had previously submitted a letter to Peveril requesting amendments were made to the scheme.

Prior to the last Board meeting the changes that had been made following feedback from the Board were circulated, along with the application which had been resubmitted to planning by Peveril.

Staffing

Jayne Traverse has replaced Frank Jordan as executive director – place, moving from Tameside Council. Jayne will be starting on 1 October 2021.

Active Travel funding

The bid had been submitted by Cheshire East for extension of the cycle path up to Leighton.

RESOLVED

That the Board submit a letter making comments on the amendments made by Peveril.

To confirm the date of the next meeting as 1 October 2021 commencing at

9.30am.

RESOLVED

That the date of the next virtual meeting take place on Friday 1 October 2021 commencing at 9.30am.