Hatch to present and open for discussion.
Minutes:
Dr Ricardo Gomez attended the virtual meeting and gave a verbal update on the progress with the Towns Investment Plan (TIP) including the next steps. On behalf of Hatch he thanked project leads for their hard work over the Christmas period particularly in respect of responding to comments on material for section two of the TIP. Hatch had now completed an intensive process of editing the submitted information which had been circulated to the Check and Challenge Group. He advised that there would be a period of time to refine the individual projects but he hoped this would be minimal.
In terms of section two as it was essentially a technical submission he had not thought it was necessary to bring this to the Board for members consideration. Essentially the key details would be included within section one. In respect of timescales Hatch had until the end of the month to refine section two of the submission. Finally an impact/outcome set of tools would be developed in order to provide consistency across the projects in terms of key outcomes generated which would deliver an additional layer of outcomes and impact evidence to include in the TIP.
Reference was made in respect of the need for robust baselines with a good set of baseline indicators which changes could be tracked against, particularly with regard to the health aspect.
In response to this comment Dr Gomez stated that very few projects had referred to health and well-being defining their project outcomes. Representatives from Hatch had taken part in a Town Fund delivery partner session which provided guidance on how to complete part two. The clear message was that there had to be an understanding not every project would have a clear baseline or quantified outcome. It was important to emphasise there were multiple ways in which investments in Crewe could deliver a positive impact on residents health and well-being, however it would be a question that would needed to be addressed by the Check and Challenge session taking pace the following week.
Further reference was made to the background detail and the arguments positioned around the projects and the TIP and whether or not these were transferrable into other projects if the same base could be used to be better prepared for the future.
In response to this Dr Gomez stated the process undertaken in the past three months had pushed the Board on in terms of identifying what needed to be invested in and what the key challenges were prior to Hatch being appointed. Hatch’s role had been to assist the Board’s focus as well as helping to identify a set of linked investments particularly alongside the work Cheshire East Council had already done in Crewe. The Future High Street Fund projects had enabled a coherent package of measures to tackle the critical issues in Crewe that had existed for a long time period of time. As a result he felt the Board was in a much stronger position with a set of comprehensive projects for a ten year investment period. The revised section one of the TIP drew together all of the matters identified as additional measures which had resulted in a comprehensive set of projects and priorities with evidence which clearly underpinned the case for tackling those issues.
In terms of section one he advised that over the Christmas period, time was spent editing the document in response to feedback received from the Check and Challenge session as well as comments provided by the Board. It was anticipated that the revised draft of section one would be completed later today or by Monday at the latest. With regard to timescales Dr Gomez suggested that the word document be circulated to the Board shortly for a further and final set of comments. In conjunction with this he proposed to share this word document with Open who would be responsible for working on the final design document to be circulated at the same time. The Chairman felt that the design document should be discussed at the TIP Sub-Group prior to consideration by the Board. Based on the assumption that section one would be completed by the end of the day it would then be submitted to the Check and Challenge session on Wednesday 13 January 2021. The section one document in word and design form would be finalised for sign off by Friday 22 January 2021 with final minor amendments with Open taking place the week commencing Monday 25 January 2021. It was suggested that the Board should make any final minor comments by Monday 18 January 2021.
RESOLVED
That the update be noted.