To put forward any other items of business.
Minutes:
John Adlen gave a verbal update on the LEP funding. He advised that £400,000 was available per year and the idea was to get ahead of Government funding opportunities by making sure projects and business cases were ready to go when Government funding opportunities arose.
He advised that within the last two years funding opportunities had been mainly used for transport and infrastructure, however this year, bids were encouraged from different areas for example housing. Discussions had taken place with Place Directors at each of the Local Authorities as to how bids could be encouraged from the Place teams. Further conversations as to how a bid could be pulled together had taken place with Cheshire East Council with the key criteria being that match funding of a minimum 50% was required. Possible proposals for the bid had been considered including railway crossings and bridges. Feasibility work around that area for a future levelling up fund bid and for a future DfT bid would need to be undertaken. He outlined the timescales for allocating the first £200,000 at the LEP’s strategy meeting in February with the remaining £200,000 being held back until later in the year in order to maintain flexibility. Work would be undertaken with the TIP Sub-Group alongside Cheshire East Council officers with support and advice on the process being provided by the LEP. A potential submission for a bid could take place by the end of January.
The Chairman acknowledged there needed to be further separate discussions outside of the meeting with Cheshire East Council in respect of the town centre regeneration. Dr Charles Jarvis, Head of Economic Development stated he would take this away and work with the LEP and others from the Board and within the Council to develop a proposal for consideration.
Clarification was provided in terms of what the content of the feasibility study should be. It was stated that the two biggest challenges for Crewe was the local transport network and the reconfiguration of the town centre and that was what the focus should be on. The Chairman enquired who would be responsible for the bid. Dr Charles Jarvis confirmed that it was his and the team in Cheshire East’s responsibility to bring people together to identify the projects working alongside John Adlen. It was agreed that he would take this forward as an action.
The Chairman made the Board aware that the Local Transport Plan was out for consultation and that the Board needed to make a clear submission on the consultation. Dr Mullan MP, offered to assist the Chairman with this process. Concerns were raised that members from their own perspective should respond to the LTP consultation rather than the Board collectively. In response to this, the consensus was that it was considered important for the Board to formally respond to the consultation and it would be remiss of the Board if a response was not provided. It was suggested any priorities the Board had arrived at should be reflected within the LTP. Furthermore to alleviate any concerns regarding the LTP consultation a transport sub-group of the Board could be established if Board members felt they did not want to be involved in a formal submission.
Further to this the Chairman reported that Andrew Ross, Director of Highways & Infrastructure would hopefully attend the next Board meeting and provide feedback in terms of progressing the bridge plan and traffic analysis. He also asked the Board to give some thought to future objectives, including strategic objectives that members might like to achieve over the next 12 months. He reported 30% of children living in one/two wards within Crewe lived below the poverty line and the Board should act as a catalyst to setting a target which aimed to reduce this.
Councillor N Mannion informed the Board a number of employees at the Council had worked over the Christmas period when normally they would be on leave. He asked that the thanks and appreciation of the Board to those who had worked over Christmas be formally recorded.