Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Andy Butler, Jasbir Dhesi, Councillor N Mannion and Simon Yates.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous virtual meeting held on 5 November 2021.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the virtual meeting held on 5 November 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 information from Apollo Buckingham.

The Board received a presentation from the Transition Director of Apollo Buckingham Health Science Campus Limited (ABHSC) following its takeover from Manchester Metropolitan University. The site is run as part of a joint venture with University of Buckingham, with Crewe representing its northern campus.

The presentation outlined what the Apollo Hospitals Group was about, the vision for the organisation, the activities currently underway and future developments.

The Board heard that the vision for ABHSC was to be a vibrant health sciences campus which inspired collaborations between healthcare, academia, innovation and research to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

Medical courses had been introduced which were accredited degree courses which had been attractive on many levels. One of the laboratories had been completed recently which would help support teaching of bio sciences, with more facilities planned. The site also hosted the Chamber of Commerce, community and charitable organisations, and more recently it had been used as a vaccination centre.

The future for ABHSC included lots of support for, and integration, with the local Crewe economy,  working with the university to increase student numbers, the introduction of new courses, refurbishment of the campus and flood defenses, and development of research and innovative spaces.

The Board welcomed Apollo Buckingham as an exciting asset and addition to the town of Crewe.

RESOLVED

That the presentation be noted.

The board received feedback from members who had attended the recent ‘Good Governance’ workshop. The workshop was well received and the following comments were made by board members

·         A long term strategic plan in respect of future agenda setting meetings was required to allow input from all board members;

·         A consistent approach was required for agenda papers now that stage two was underway, to ensure the assurance aspect would be delivered.

·         The communications and engagement plan was key to everything the board would be doing and clarification around the terms of reference, and what would be required from communications would need to be discussed further, to include more engagement.

·         Consideration needed to be given to the social value aspects of the projects and the impact these would have long term on the community.

Following the discussion, the Board were given an overview by the Head of Economic Development in respect of the Assurance Framework and the tools being used to link the projects together.

RESOLVED

That the update be noted.

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

The Head of Economic and Development gave a verbal update on the Towns Fund progress. This included the following

·         A series of workshops had been run to seek and understand the relationships between each of the projects so that work wouldn’t be duplicated;

·         Hatch had written out to each project in respect of their role and responsibilities going forward;

·         The Economic Development team would be meeting with projects on monthly basis and feedback would be provided to the Board and Sub-Group

·         Finance colleagues, specifically the Section 151 officer would be brought on board to look at project assurance, grant offer letters, instructions and deadlines;

·         The signed heads of terms had now been received.

·         The formal grant open letter had been issued and a percentage of the funding would be authorised to be released at the end of the month.

RESOLVED

That the update be noted.

To receive an update on the plans for the public forum.

It was felt that it wasn’t the right time to hold the public forum in December so it was decided that either a date in January or a date in February would be a better alternative to encourage as much engagement as possible.

RESOLVED

That the update be noted.

To receive a sub-groups update.

An update was provided on the sub-groups which included

Transport Green & Blue – There was a need to look at the strategic direction and the aims of this forum and discussions were being held to look at an agenda for the forum.

Sports Provision and Open Spaces – There was an initial meeting scheduled for the 16 December which would be an opportunity to agree the purpose objectives and strategy.

Skills Forum – This was ongoing and further discussions would be held.

Youth Sub-Group – Arrangements would be made to schedule a meeting.

Tip Sub-Group – A meeting was scheduled to take place in the next few weeks.

RESOLVED

That the update be noted.

To receive an update from the Communication & Engagement Sub-Group and a Social Media Communications Presentation.

The Board received a presentation from the Director of Marketing and School Partnerships at Cheshire College in respect of social media and engagement. Board members were informed about where the sub group was, where they wanted to get to, the challenges they had faced and what immediate support they could provide the Board with communications.

Focus had been on two social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter. There was a crossover with engagements between individuals and businesses. Both platforms had been analysed and this had demonstrated positive trends in engagement for both platforms.

Challenges faced included customer engagement with social media platforms, defining who the customers were for Crewe Town Board, and consistency in delivering messages. The Board were encouraged to share, repost, like and follow posts to help with engagement.

The chair thanked the Engagement and Communications Sub-Group for their hard work.

RESOLVED

That the presentation be noted.

To receive an update from the Director of Growth & Enterprise.

The Director of Growth and Enterprise provided a verbal update.

The Royal Arcade – All the tenders for the work packages for the mutli-storey car park and bus station had now been issued with the tender reports due back next week. These would be reviewed and progressed.

There was a focus on demolition of the bus sheds round the bus station by the end of February 2022.

Multi Storey Car park – Designers had been appointed and there would be a public consultation in January.

Lyceum Square – It was anticipated that a planning date would be scheduled for January 2022. Contractors had been appointed and would be undertaking site inspections ready to commence works.

Great British Railway Headquarters – There had been no information on launch dates so an official announcement was pending from the Department of Transport.

HS2 Planning - The Crewe Hub Area Action Plan had recently been withdrawn due to the timing around the HS2 timetable, as this had been pushed back to 2027. This had meant that the Council’s Plan no longer aligned to the Local Plan timetable or HS2 timetable. It was reiterated to the Board that that despite the Crewe Hub Area Action Plan being withdrawn, there was still a strong commitment to Crewe Hub vision.  A review of the Local Plan would take place in 2022 and it was felt that this process would be the best way to collect all the information on Crewe and put in to the Planning framework. In the interim there would be a supplementary planning document which would address all the good work carried out in Crewe.

RESOLVED

That the updated be noted.

To put forward any other items of business.

There were no items of other business raised.

To confirm the date of the next meeting as 7 January 2022 commencing at 9.30am.

RESOLVED

That the date of the next virtual meeting take place on Friday 7 January 2022 commencing at 9.30am.