20170317 Things to note at WMCA Board
I’m going to try something new for this summary — essentially, to list out all of the agenda items which are to have a verbal update. This is with a view to highlighting items which repeatedly do not have papers to accompany them.
Only one item falls into that category this time, which falls under Councillor Pete Lowe’s Health & Wellbeing portfolio:
- West Midlands on the Move 2017–30 Physical Activity Strategy;
This is a deferred item from the last Board meeting. Anyway, onwards to business.
Minutes of the Investment Board — 21st November 2016
Oh, I like not that. Those of you who follow my Twitter, or meet me occasionally, might recall my ongoing fury that the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership are ignoring the constitution of the WMCA by refusing to appoint representatives to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee. Their excuse is that their Members have no time for this, or for the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee — and because they took this decision at Board level, we all have to be fine with that. I’m about as fine with it as if they took a Board decision to tell me to f**k off, but there we go. Not least as the Black Country and Coventry & Warwickshire LEPs appear to have made space for it.
Anyway, these minutes suggest that they also can’t be arsed to appoint anyone to the Investment Board (p24, agenda pack). The purpose of the Investment Board is thus:
Make investment decisions for the Collective Investment Fund and Land Remediation Fund and any other funds that the Combined Authority appoints Finance Birmingham to Fund Manage in the future.
Seems important to me, but so do Audit and Scrutiny, so what do I know?
Minutes of the Transport Delivery Committee — 6th February 2017
The WMCA bid to the Department for Transport’s Sustainable Travel Access Fund has not been successful:
It was noted that initial feedback from the DfT indicated that whilst the bid was of high quality with a strong strategic case, demonstrated high value for money and included a well worked up project plan, the Access Fund was highly competitive and oversubscribed with less than half of the applicants receiving funding from a limited pot of money.
The fund has been launched to encourage councils to offer sustainable transport initiatives which can improve access to jobs, skills, training and education. The minutes suggest that failing to get this bid could be consequential for several workstreams (including Workwise), and a further report on this is expected this month.
Appointment of Combined Authority Returning Officer (CARO)
You might recall that Mark Rogers — then the Returning Officer for Birmingham City Council — was also appointed as the CARO at the January Board meeting.
Given that Mark is no longer with Birmingham City Council, the WMCA Board must now revoke this appointment, and they will instead appoint Martin Reeves (Chief Executive of WMCA and Coventry City Council) as the CARO.
West Midlands Combined Authority Transport Plan 2017/18
The Board is being asked to approve this plan, which contains the delivery detail of the objectives contained in the West Midlands Strategic Transport Plan (‘Movement for Growth’). If approved, it will be launched at the start of April.
There isn’t a lot that is new here, but here are a few highlights. On the HS2 Connectivity Package, for example, here are the key milestones for 2017 (p49 of agenda pack):
Another 2017 milestone is coming up soon for the ‘Key Route Network’, the set of strategically important highways identified by the seven constituent authorities and neighbouring highways authorities. A baseline survey of all of these is due to be completed in March (#ticktock).
I’m also pleased to see that, in spite of Chris Grayling’s dislike of devolution, we are still keeping this as a goal (p52):
In the longer-term, WMR is seeking further control through the devolution of rail franchising for local services. This will pass control for the specification, management, and the procurement of West Midlands local rail services to WMR.
For people like me who are wholly reliant on the buses of this fair region, here are the key deliverables for 2017–2020 (p53):
As a ward councillor, p54, which covers freight, is of interest — we have HGVs using some exceptionally narrow roads, and residents are increasingly uncomfortable at sharing space with them. The West Midlands Logistics Forum may be a useful one to influence on this.
…and on p66, some positive statistics on public transport crimes:
Finally, p71 to the end cover the capital and revenue budgets, which have been well-covered elsewhere, but do comment below if anything looks odd.
An amusing diversion on p45: reference is made to a ‘Metropolitan Mayor’. How terribly formal.
Review of Swift Brand
I love this. The Board is being asked to both approve and welcome the refreshed Swift branding. Feels a bit needy, but there you go. This is how it will look henceforth:
Bright colours, a minimalist bird, what’s not to like? I expect to lose my Swift card for the 47th time in the next few weeks, and very much look forward to acquiring the ‘Season Ticket’ version as above.
Second Resolution for Submission of the Transport and Works Act Order application for the Midland Metro (Birmingham Eastside Extension) Order
En bref, a Transport and Works Act Order needs two approvals by the WMCA Board — one before the application, and one after. They’re doing the second one so that the Metro extension to Centenary Square can proceed. This also comes up later in the agenda (p109)for other political and financial approvals — notably putting in £59m of WMCA funding to lever out further funding from the Department for Transport, of £59.8m. This move puts £8.7m of WMCA funding ‘at risk’, as Department for Transport has not yet accepted the final business case.
Financial Monitoring 2016/17
Just worth noting the delays to some of the infrastructure projects, which are causing an underspend — not necessarily an issue for these projects which are most grant funded. However, in cases where financing includes borrowing, delayed delivery can then have an impact on the revenue account (which is not large, see p91 for the balance sheet):
I’ve also pulled out the commentary around the Investment Programme:
Budget for Mayor’s Office — Year 1
The Board are being shown three options for staffing the Mayor’s office (all numbers include the Mayor) — three people, four people, or seven people. Suspect the third option is at seven (rather than five or six) to induce people to choose the preferred option, which is four people (the jig is up, etc.).
This would cost £388,000 for a full year, making it £370,000 in reality for the eleven months of the year that will remain by the time the Mayor is elected.
Membership and Voting rights of the WMCA Investment Board
This issue has arisen because the constituent authorities have appointed an extra two Members to the Board — reading between the lines, Birmingham, Coventry, and Solihull did not want to share a representative. Politics eh? As such, the following has been proposed to ensure that the business and political split is evenly weighted, even though there are more political members.
However, for this to work, GBSLEP would have to appoint someone, I think?Which I don’t think has happened.
Land Fund: Black Country Strategic Brownfield Land Programme Bid
A recommendation from the Investment Board:
The £53m has been profiled against a series of priorities — establishing high value manufacturing and delivering a Black Country Garden City, as well as strenthening “strategic population centres”. They will seek a further £97m further down the line.
