Agenda and minutes

The Mayor welcomed everyone present to the meeting.

Members’ apologies were noted as above.

The Mayor provided Members with updates regarding matters that have arisen since the previous meeting.

The Mayor commented on the Convention of the North event held on the 13th September, suggesting this was an important opportunity for the North to come together as one and continue the conversation about what strategy the North needs, what resources will be required, what we can do through collaboration, and ensuring we connect our communities to the opportunities we create. The Mayor asserted that the Prime Minister and his Government will be held accountable for their lack of action to support the North if their promises aren’t kept.

The Mayor also commented on how inspirational Brandon Green, one of our Youth Combined Authority members from Barnsley, was in his address to the Convention. Members agreed we should be very proud of his efforts.

Regarding homelessness, the Mayor updated Members on how the £90,000 accepted from Government in March for the purposes of improving support to veterans impacted by homelessness, has been allocated in support of existing projects and initiatives.

To determine whether there are any additional items of business which by reason of special circumstances the Chair is of the opinion should be considered at the meeting; the reason(s) for such urgency to be stated.

None.

To identify where resolutions may be moved to exclude the public and press.  (For items marked * the public and press may be excluded from the meeting.)

None.

To identify whether there are any items of business that apply only to the South Yorkshire Members of the Mayoral Combined Authority, ie, where it would not be appropriate for non-SY Members to have voting rights.

It was agreed there were no agenda items for which the non-Constituent Members should not be given full voting rights.

Cllr Dore declared a non-pecuniary interest in the matters to be considered at item 12 (LGF Capital Programme Approvals - September 2019) by virtue of being the Leader of the sponsoring Authority for the LGF Upper Don Valley Flood Alleviation scheme.

None.

Members were advised of the receipt of 4 petitions.

A 43 signature petition concerning the changes to the X2 bus route at Hoyland Common was received from Cllr Nicola Sumner who presented in person.

A 53 signature petition regarding dissatisfaction with quality of bus service between Totley and Sheffield City Centre was received from Mr S Narraidoo who presented in person.

A 231 signature petition with the title “Keep a company that serves the people, Sheffield Community Transport, on 10/10a route” was submitted by Alicia Vedio

A 1056 signature petition calling for the reinstatement of the Walkley bus services 31 and 31b was received from Mr Bernhard Little on behalf of the Walkley Green Party.

The Mayor thanked those presenting petitions for their contributions.

The Mayor informed the meeting he understand how important buses and sustainable travel are to residents and communities and the petitions submitted today amplify that.

In response to the particular concerns raised in these petitions, the Mayor instructed officers of the SYPTE to investigate the matters raised and to respond both to him and the petitioners directly.

The Mayor noted he usually refrains from commenting on petitions but on this occasion proffered observations on what he saw as the very real human impacts of the latest bus service changes for residents. It was noted that although the large majority of services are unchanged (including most school bus services) approximately a quarter of all South Yorkshire bus services are seeing route or timetable revisions. 

It was noted that in some cases the changes taking effect are driven by re-tendering of services with existing contracts expiring; in other cases they are as a result of operators making changes to commercial services to make a given route financially sustainable.

It was also acknowledged that funding pressures underpin this challenge.

The Mayor suggested this reinforces the importance of the pending bus review as the bus network as we have known it will not continue to be sustainable if patronage continues to decline.  It was further acknowledged that the reasons for this decline are complex and are not simply to do with service quality and frequency. They are as much to do with changing working patterns and social trends and wider public policy impacts – people are travelling less by bus in our City Region, footfall is declining, home working is increasing, and new development too often fails to consider public transport viability.

The Mayor also proposed there is a need to learn lessons from other places and advised members that all options are on the table. It was further proposed that any substantial intervention in the market will require underpinning with capital and revenue and an important question for us as senior politicians and for the community at large is, ‘how much are we willing and able to pay for a bus service’.

Closing the Mayor said he wished to make clear that he recognises lessons need to be learned as SYTPE approaches future rounds of service changes. 

A question was received from Mr Nigel Slack and delivered as follows:

“I understand that changes are happening with the form and function of how Local Growth Funds will be administered. Can the Mayor share the current situation and how this restructuring of funding will affect the Sheffield City Region and those businesses that might benefit from this form of business support?"

The Mayor provided the following response and thanked Mr Slack for his question:

The Government has previously outlined its intent to replace Local Growth Funding and European structural funds with a UK Shared Prosperity Fund.  These funds are crucial to the SCR contributing to projects such as the Glass Works, National College for High Speed Rail, Olympic Legacy Park, Northern Gateway and the Waverley development.  The current Local Growth Fund allocation for the SCR is £363m and the Structural Fund allocation is £170m.

The Government’s planned consultation on the proposals for the Shared Prosperity Fund has not taken place.  We are currently awaiting a revised timeframe on when the proposals for the Shared Prosperity Fund will be made public so that we can respond to them. 

I can assure Mr Slack that my fellow Mayors and I are continuing to push Government for clarity on this vital investment into LEP areas – this funding is essential to support our businesses, our communities and to invest in our infrastructure.  I have used my privilege as a sitting MP to lead the first debate in Westminster Hall on the Shared Prosperity Fund, met the former Chancellor of the Exchequer to discuss how we ensure a greater share of national infrastructure spending is invested in the SCR, asked questions in the House of Commons, and made representations to the Post-Brexit Funding All Party Parliamentary Group.

I will continue to use my both my roles to ensure that the Sheffield City Region secures its fair share of this fund.

It was noted there were discrepancies in the attendance record. Cllr Chris Furness should have been recorded as being representative of the Peak District National Park Authority and Cllr Glyn Jones should have been recorded as representative of Doncaster MBC rather than Mayor Jones.

RESOLVED, that the minutes of the meeting held on 29^th July, 2019 are agreed to be an accurate record of the meeting, with the exception of the above matter.

A report was received to provide the Q1 position for the revenue and capital programmes of the Sheffield City Region Mayoral Combined Authority for the financial year 2019/20.

Members were asked to consider the following virements between budget heads within the MCA/LEP revenue budget:

•      Transfer £218k from Business Support to Staffing to reflect the fact that the 6 members of the SCR Finance Team became employees of the SCR with effect from 1 July 2019 (previously they were employees of SCC and therefore charged as Business Support).

•      Transfer £24k from Premises to Staffing to cover the proportion of the Building Manager’s salary costs chargeable to the MCA/LEP budget.

RESOLVED, that the MCA:

1.    Notes the forecast underspend of c. £204k on the MCA/LEP Revenue Budget.

2.    Notes the forecast spend on the MCA/LEP Revenue Programmes is to budget.

3.    Notes the forecast overspend of c. £615k on the South Yorkshire Transport Revenue Budget.

4.    Notes the changes to the South Yorkshire Transport Capital Programme.

5.    Approves the budget variations in relation to staffing costs as contained within the report.

A report was received requesting the approval of a LGF change request for the Upper Don Valley Flood Alleviation scheme.

The report also provided an update on the retained major project ‘A630: Parkway Widening’, the Business Case for which is due to be submitted to Department of Transport (DfT) in October 2019.

It was noted that subject to the DfT’s approval of the Business Case for the A630 Parkway Widening scheme, the MCA will be asked to approve the entering into contractual arrangements at a future meeting.

RESOLVED, that the MCA:

1.    Notes the change proposed to the existing contract ‘Upper Don Valley Flood Alleviation Scheme’ which re-profiles £2.3m LGF expenditure from 2019/20 to 2020/21 subject to the conditions referenced within the report.

2.    Delegates authority to the Head of Paid of Service, in conjunction with the Section 73 Officer and the Monitoring Officer, to enter into the contractual arrangements required as a result of the above approval

3.    Notes the pending submission of the ‘A630: Parkway Widening’ Business Case to the DfT.

The Mayor informed Members this would be Mel Dei Rossi’s last MCA meeting before she and her family emigrate. The Mayor thanked Mel for her many years of dedicated public service and wished her a healthy and happy future and every success for the future.

A report was received to update Leaders on the position of the LGF capital programme following Q1 updates and current project approvals.

RESOLVED, that the MCA notes the programme update.

A report was received to note the proposed amendments to the Constitution of the MCA to change the membership and quoracy provisions of the Thematic Executive Boards to reflect the position of the Non-Constituent Authorities.

It was noted the quoracy provision for each Board would be reduced from 7 to 5 Members (excluding the Transport Board) but that to be quorate at least one LEP representative and 2 members from the Constituent Authorities must be present. Non-Constituent Authorities will have the right to send an attendee to Board meetings and participate in discussions, but that they have no voting rights. These arrangements do not affect the membership of the SCR MCA

RESOLVED, that the MCA approves the proposed changes to the Terms of Reference of 4 of the Executive Boards (Appendices 4-7 of the MCA Constitution) to reflect the position of the Non-Constituent Authorities and to ensure that meetings are quorate.

A report was received to update Members decisions and delegations made by the MCA and decisions and delegations made by Thematic Boards.

RESOLVED, that the MCA notes the content of the report.

A report was received to update Members on the work underway to implement the proposal agreed by the South Yorkshire Leaders and the Mayor in March.

RESOLVED, that the MCA notes the content of the report.

No further matters noted.