Agenda and minutes

Mayor Jarvis MBE welcomed everyone to the Annual General Meeting of the Combined Authority.  This was the first physical meeting to be held since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, after over a year of virtual meetings.

Members noted that today’s meeting was the first MCA meeting that had been held since the local elections in May 2021.  Mayor Jarvis MBE wished to warmly welcome Councillor Terry Fox, the new Leader of Sheffield City Council to his first formal meeting of the MCA.  He congratulated Mayor Jones CBE, Councillor Sir Houghton CBE and Councillor Read on their re-elections and he welcomed them to the meeting.

Mayor Jarvis MBE wished to place on record his thanks to Bob Johnson for his time as the Leader of Sheffield City Council.  B Johnson had worked incredibly hard for the city and was a good friend to the MCA.  On behalf of the MCA, Mayor Jarvis MBE expressed his thanks to B Johnson for his service to the city region, and he wished him the very best for the future.

Apologies for absence were noted as above.

In relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Jarvis MBE commented that it was hugely heartening to observe South Yorkshire’s economy and places beginning to re-open.

The South Yorkshire vaccination rates were in line with the impressive English average for first and second doses of adults at 75% and 50% respectively.  Within South Yorkshire, there was a 97% rate for the over 65’s.  South Yorkshire was ahead of the national average for the first doses of individuals under the age of 40.  The results were a testament to the amazing work at the vaccination centres across South Yorkshire, the GP practices and medical centres which all rested on the back of a herculean volunteer effort.

Whilst the long-term effect of the pandemic was still unknown, the data and intelligence had indicated that the young people and those that were already economically and socially vulnerable would bear the brunt.  The public transport network also faced real challenges, with the number of passengers on buses and trams being significantly lower than the pre-pandemic levels, which would have serious implications for everyone.

Mayor Jarvis MBE commented that whilst the MCA would do all that it could to support public transport in the region, it was important for the privately owned bus operators to do the same.  He added that this was the reason why both himself and the Members of the MCA had reacted so forcibly to the proposed 5% increase in public transport fares that users were threatened with.  He considered that the proposed fare increase was utterly unacceptable, which he believed demonstrated the imperative to change the way we worked with public transport operators in the future.  The public transport operators had paid attention to the pressure that had been applied, and on 4 June 2021 a postponement had been made to the fare increases.  Mayor Jarvis MBE assured both the Members and the public that he would do everything possible to ensure that Stagecoach Yorkshire, Stagecoach Supertram, First South Yorkshire, TM Travel, Northern and HCT Group to work with, rather than against us in the future.

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 noted that Non-Constituent Members were welcome to participate in the discussion of every item on the agenda.

Declarations of Interest by individual Members in relation to any item of business on the agenda.

Mayor Jarvis MBE declared an interest in the matters to be considered at agenda Item 18 entitled ‘Capital Programme Approvals’ which may relate to the Barnsley central constituency.

Councillor Sir Houghton CBE declared an interest in the matters to be considered at agenda Item 18 entitled ‘Capital Programme Approvals’ which may relate to Barnsley, by virtue of being the Leader of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council.

Mayor Jones CBE declared an interest in the matters to be considered at agenda Item 18 entitled ‘Capital Programme Approvals’ which may relate to Doncaster, by virtue of being the Mayor of Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council.

Councillor Fox declared an interest in the matters to be considered at agenda Item 18 entitled ‘Capital Programme Approvals’ which may relate to Sheffield, by virtue of being the Leader of Sheffield City Council.

None.

None.

A question was received from Mr Nigel Slack who addressed the MCA as follows:-

“The Mayor has expressed his commitment to Arts, Culture and Heritage with his proposal to appoint an Arts, Culture and Heritage Commissioner for the city region and by appointing a Project Director to kick start this proposal.

The University of Sheffield however, seems not to share the Mayor's commitment. In May the University decided to close it's Archaeology Department. This at a time when there is already a crisis in the availability of these highly skilled jobs. The demand for archaeological expertise to service major infrastructure projects has grown and it has a major role in ensuring our culture and heritage is not lost to uncontrolled development. From iron age sites to Victorian industrial heritage, new infrastructure and developments are threatening historical sites.

The number of graduates entering the profession has been in decline and Brexit will make it unlikely that external candidates can be recruited to fill the roles needed. Archaeologists are one of the 'Skilled Worker Shortage List' professions identified by the Government. Commercial archaeology units cannot recruit fast enough and the University's excuse that the demand for the subject is declining has been described by one commercial archaeology unit as “Absolutely False” & “Total Garbage”. (https://digventures.com/)

The University is putting a world renowned department in jeopardy for the sake of it's big business agenda. The department provides expertise across the country, from Stonehenge to our own Sheffield Castle and it's loss would diminish the standing of the University as a seat of learning and damage the reputation of the city of Sheffield and the City Region as a centre of the knowledge economy.

What steps will the Mayor take to challenge this decision, in line with his commitment to the Arts, Culture and Heritage sector?

What will the Mayor do to tackle one of the underlying causes of this issue, the Governments slashing of Humanities Education funding by 50%”.

In response, Mayor Jarvis MBE stated that he understood that the review into the department had caused concern, and he had personally sought reassurances from the university in relation to their plans.  He had been reassured that the university was committed to retaining areas of strength in their archaeology, training and research, and aimed to build upon them by aligning them better with other parts of the university.  The University of Sheffield had a long track record of supporting the arts, culture and heritage in the city and increasingly across the region.  They continued to be an exceptionally powerful advocate for our arts and culture offer and made an enormous intellectual and capacity building contribution to large and small arts and culture organisations, and acted as a sponsor to many of the brilliant independent festivals that make the city such a vibrant place to be.  However, he would keep a close eye on the issues raised.

A question was also received from Mr Nick Hall as follows:-

“Will you oppose planning application 20/02550/FUL  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 22 March 2021 were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

A report was presented which provided a detailed overview of the programme of activity to integrate the MCA and PTE into a single organisation, outlining arrangements for internal governance and overview of progress and risk management.

Mayor Jarvis MBE referred to the large investments that were already being made into the public transport system, with much more planned.  He considered that in order to do the best for public transport users, it was only right to ensure all inhouse matters were in order.  He believed that the proposal marked a substantive change to working and demonstrated a large shift towards integration which would provide a more transparent model to build better Member accountability.

Members noted that further detailed scrutiny was being undertaken by the SCR Audit and Standards Committee.

Reports had been submitted to the MCA meetings that had been held in July and September 2020 in relation to the integration of the MCA and the PTE.  At the MCA meeting held in September 2020, it had been agreed to fully integrate the PTE into the MCA as a single entity encompassing economic development and transport strategic and operational functions, including the creation of a single Executive organisation to support the MCA remit.

RESOLVED – That the Board:-

i)       Noted the programme management plan and internal governance as the means of providing sufficient assurance of the approach being taken towards implementation.

ii)      Approved the governance changes to:-

·             Align Public Transport governance arrangements, currently undertaken by the PTE Executive Board, to those of the MCA and the TEB by:-

·      Dissolving the PTE Transport Officers Board and establishing a Transport Steering Group (paragraphs 3.2 – 3.3 of the report).

·             Amend arrangements for Audit Committees, by integrating the two Audit Committees into a single committee (paragraphs 3.5 – 3.6 of the report).

·             As part of the arrangements to amend the PTE Executive arrangements to align with the MCA and TEB, appoint the three Statutory Officers of the MCA as PTE Members (replacing the existing Directors), for the period up to the formal dissolution of the PTE by statute and align internal operational decisions of the PTE to the current Management Board arrangements for the MCA (paragraph 3.9 of the report).

·             Approved amendments to the scheme of delegation arrangements, to align the officer delegation levels of both the PTE and MCA and enable the operational decisions of the PTE to be made within the MCA agreed framework (paragraph 3.10 of the report).

  Authorised the Monitoring Officer to make the consequential amendments to the MCA Constitution required to reflect the above approvals.

A report was submitted which provided an update on the development of the South Yorkshire Bus Improvement Programme (SYBIP), developed in response to the Bus Review, and considered the implications of the recently published National Bus Strategy.  The report provided context to consider pursuing an Enhanced Partnership for the South Yorkshire bus system and provided an opportunity to discuss other future delivery models including Bus Franchising.

Major Jarvis MBE was pleased that the paper had been brought before Members at today’s meeting.  The Bus Review that had been commissioned early in the mayoral term had laid bare the issues that were faced in transforming the bus system.  The work that was being undertaken as a result of the review and the importance of bringing it together with the Government’s national Bus Strategy was critically important.  He wished to assure Members and the public that the MCA would look very seriously at all options for how the bus network would be managed in the future, including franchising.  The bottom line was the requirement for a system that delivered the improvements that were so clearly needed.  He stressed that the decisions for consideration at the meeting today did not presume or preclude any option.

The Bus Review that had been published in 2020 had highlighted the challenges within the South Yorkshire bus system, together with a series of wide-ranging and ambitious recommendations for improvement.  Following which, a paper had been agreed by the Transport and Environment Board in January 2021 as to how the 7-Point Plan that had been developed in response to the Bus Review would be reconfigured due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which had significantly impacted upon bus patronage.

Councillor Read reflected upon bus improvement and the incredibly challenging year that had been faced by the bus operators.  He considered the need to move to an enhanced partnership in order to continue to access financial support from the Government.  This did not preclude moving towards a franchising model in the future.

Mayor Jarvis MBE commented that members of the public should be absolutely clear of the MCA’s collective ambition to deliver the best possible public transport network for users within South Yorkshire.

Councillor Sir Houghton CBE considered it appropriate to keep all of the options available, in light of the public being less than happy with the services that they had received.  However, he considered it important to know the financial implications of the options.  He referred to the comparisons that had been made to the public transport system in London with the rest of the country, although the public transport system in London had received a vastly superior amount of Government funding in comparison to the rest of the country.  It was necessary to be fully clear of the financial implications of any option, otherwise this could result in massive implications with the tax payers locally.

Mayor Jarvis MBE commented that the MCA wished to progress the work at pace, whilst being absolutely clear of the resources available to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

A report was considered which presented the Corporate Plan which highlighted the priorities for the MCA Executive based upon the MCA policy direction that was set out within the SEP, the RAP, the Transport Strategy, the Climate Emergency Declaration and the Devolution Agreement.

Members noted that this was the first Corporate Plan for the organisation which followed the agreed strategic objectives of Stronger, Greener and Fairer in setting out clear business objectives and priority actions.  Focus would be given to establishing the impact that the priorities would make on people, businesses and places, and what was required of the MCA Executive for the delivery.  The fourth Corporate Objective was an efficient and collaborative organisation which set out the corporate priorities including the integration of the MCA and the PTE.

RESOLVED – That the Board:-

i)       Considered the draft Corporate Plan and approved this for adoption in 2021/22.

Considered how the Thematic Boards, and other forums, should engage with the plan as it was delivered and monitored.

A report was presented which detailed the MCA’s financial performance over the financial year 2020/21.  The report sought approval for the carry forward of resource into the new financial year to fund slipped activity, a number of adjustments to reserves, and sought approval for the formal adoption of a number of new schemes within the South Yorkshire Business Support Scheme.

Members’ attention was drawn to the following key issues which would shape the financial activity in the new year:-

·           To reflect upon the underspend in line with forecasts on the local transport authority activity, which would be carried to reserves in line with the adopted reserve strategy.

·           The proposal to carry forward the marginal underspend on operational MCA/LEP activity, to meet the slipped activity with genuine savings earmarked to the Mayoral Election Reserve.

·           The significant increase in revenue expenditure within the programme areas around the adoption of the South Yorkshire Business Support Scheme activity and the £30.09m that had been moved into the local economy to support businesses up to the end of the financial year.

·           All of the funding targets had been met, despite the pressures throughout the financial year and the slippages on some of the capital programmes.

·           Following delegations in the March 2021 Budget Report, a revenue Project Feasibility Fund had been created.  Proposals would be presented to the MCA Board meeting to be held in July 2021 on the implementation and operationalisation of that fund.

RESOLVED – That the Board:-

i)       Noted the financial outturn position.

ii)      Approved the carry forward of resources noted in Appendix 1 to the report.

iii)     Approved the earmarking of reserves detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.

iv)     Approved the adoption of new schemes into the South Yorkshire Business Support Scheme as noted in Appendix 2 to the report.

v)      Approved the delegation of authority to the Section 73 Officer, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, to enter into arrangements for the award of grant to the South Yorkshire local authorities for reimbursement of costs incurred in delivering those schemes.

Approved the acceptance of passporting of New Burdens Grant to the four South Yorkshire local authorities to support the administration of these schemes.

Appendix A – To Follow

A report was presented which provided information on the Government’s Levelling Up Fund.  Appendix A to the report provided a summary of a £50m MCA bid to the first round of funding which focused on improving the passenger journey experience on public transport in South Yorkshire.

Alongside the Budget on 3 March 2021, details of the Government’s Levelling Up Fund had been published with a commitment of £4 billion over the next four years to 2024-25.  The first round of bids was required to be submitted by 18 June 2021, and the Government would make a decision on the successful submissions by Autumn 2021.

Mayor Jarvis MBE commented that this was a crucial paper which set out the MCA’s ambitions to the Government on how it was believed to make South Yorkshire a stronger, greener and fairer place through a much improved public transport network, whilst pursuing the ambition of creating a modal shift towards sustainable transport.

Mayor Jones CBE requested that the areas of deprivation were considered with real time information.

RESOLVED – That the Board:-

i)       Approved the submission of the MCA Levelling Up Fund bid to MHCLG by 18 June 2021.

Subject to approval to submit, approved delegated authority to the MCA Statutory Officers in consultation with the Mayor and Co-Chairs of the Transport and Environment Board to make final amendments to the bid.

A report was submitted which provided an update on the Government’s Community Renewal Fund programme and the work underway by the MCA Executive and local authority partners to develop a response for submission to the Government.  A total of £220m investment had been announced by the Government in the budget on 3 March 2021.

Major Jarvis MBE was very conscious that local council teams, community based providers, further and higher education partners and many others had been working hard to prepare submissions against extremely difficult, nationally imposed timescales.  He was very grateful to them for the work undertaken.

On 21 April 2021 the South Yorkshire call document to invite bids had been published.  Following which, a webinar had been held on 26 April 2021 for approximately 90 organisations across South Yorkshire.  It was anticipated that a culminative bid proposal would be prepared by 14 June 2021.  The full draft bid would be circulated onto Members for consideration prior to submission by 18 June 2021.

RESOLVED – That the Board:-

i)       Noted and approved the process underway to develop and appraise CRF bids.

ii)      Given the submission dates, the Board delegated to Statutory Officers the authority to submit bids on its behalf on 18 June 2021, noting that the Board would receive the shortlist in the week commencing 14 June 2021 and would have an opportunity to then agree the final submission.

The Board delegated to Statutory Officers the authority to accept any eventual grant offers.

A report was considered which requested approval to accept a Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) grant of £1.5m for the Yorkshire and Humber Made Smarter Programme.  This would facilitate and proactively support growth amongst the existing firms in the SCR, whilst supporting the region’s recovery and renewal from the pandemic.

Mayor Jones CBE expressed her disappointment in the sum of money that had been offered to the SCR of £1.5m, given the sum offered elsewhere.  She wished to place on record that this again did not show true levelling up.

RESOLVED – That the Board:-

i)       Approved acceptance of the BEIS Made Smarter programme grant for £1.5m.

Delegated Authority to the S73 Officer in conjunction with the Head of Paid Service and Monitoring Officer to accept the grant subject to their acceptance of the terms of the agreement and enter into subsequent legal agreements.

A report was submitted which requested approval of one combined Getting Britain Building Fund (GBF)/Transforming Cities Fund (TCF2) funded scheme subject to any conditions to be set out in the Assurance Summary, progression of three TCF2 schemes to Full Business Case (FBC) and early release of up to £2.76m development costs subject to any conditions to be set out in the Assurance Summary and approval of 19 project change requests.

Mayor Jarvis MBE commented that the items that had been discussed so far this morning had related to plans for the future and to secure new investment.  However, the MCA had its largest ever capital programme to deliver this year.  He was pleased that the paper demonstrated the real progress in continuing to invest in the towns and cities across the region.

RESOLVED – That the Board considered and approved:-

i)       Progression of “Better Barnsley Market Gate Bridge” project to full approval and award of £4.8m grant to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council subject to the conditions set out in the Assurance Summary at Appendix A to the report.

ii)      Progression of “Doncaster Station Access OBC” to FBC and the release of development cost funding of £0.06m to Doncaster Borough Council subject to the conditions set out in the Assurance Summary at Appendix B to the report.

iii)    Progression of “Sheffield City Centre OBC” to FBC and the release of development cost funding of up to £1.4m to Sheffield City Council subject to the conditions set out in the Assurance Summary at Appendix C to the report.

iv)    Progression of “Sheffield Kelham OBC” to FBC and the release of development cost funding of up to £1.3m to Sheffield City Council subject to the conditions set out in the Assurance Summary at Appendix D to the report.

v)     19 Project change requests as detailed in Appendix E to the report.

Delegated authority be given to the Head of Paid Service in consultation with the Section 73 and Monitoring Officer to enter into legal agreements for the schemes covered above.

A report was presented which requested approval to accept a £1.09m Department of Transport (DfT) Capability Fund Grant, which would help to create the culture which would encourage more cycling/walking trips, reduce traffic flows and enable modal shift from private vehicles.

Members noted the importance that Mayor Jarvis MBE attached to putting active travel at the heart of the investment plans.

On 26 March 2021, the SCR Transport and Environment Board had been consulted on the matter and had provided input to the bid submission.  The grant acceptance had been presented to the MCA in advance of an offer, due to the likelihood of a short timescale from grant acceptance to the delivery period.  Delegated authority would enable the programme to continue develop at pace and business cases to enter the MCA assurance framework for approval at future SCR Transport and Environment Board meetings.  The programme would focus on infrastructure pipeline capacity, community based behaviour change and region wide active travel initiatives.  The revenue allocation was due in July 2021.

RESOLVED – That the Board:-

i)       Approved acceptance of the DfT Capability Grant for £1.09m.

Delegated authority to the S73 Officer in conjunction with the Head of Paid Service and Monitoring Officer to accept the grants subject to their acceptance of the terms of the agreement and enter into subsequent legal agreements.

Mayor Jarvis MBE stated that the report ensured that the MCA continued to be robust, transparent and accountable in the decisions that were taken, as well as having appropriate scrutiny and auditing function mechanisms in place.

The report presented sought to:-

i)       Inform the MCA Board of the second rotational Member appointments, required to ensure the Authority had a majority of constituent Members.

ii)      Sought approval of the elected member nominations for the Audit and Standards Committee.

iii)    Sought approval of the appointments of independent members for the Audit and Standards Committee.

iv)    Sought approval of the elected member nominations to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

v)     Requested confirmation of the preference for either an “independent” or “appropriate” chair for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

vi)    Sought approval of the appointment of Mayor Dan Jarvis MBE to the Transport for the North Board and subsequently the Rail North Committee.

vii)   Sought approval of Councillor Read as substitute member for the Transport for the North Board.

viii)  Sought endorsement of the nomination of two members from Sheffield, Barnsley or Doncaster to the Transport for the North Scrutiny Committee.

ix)    Sought approval of Mayor Ros Jones CBE as the Combined Authority representative on the Welcome to Yorkshire Board.

In relation to the internal appointments made by the local authorities to serve on the Scrutiny and Audit and Standards Committee, it was noted that the Barnsley MBC nomination had been received at the time of publishing the report and the Doncaster MBC nomination had subsequently been received.  The nominations from Rotherham MBC and Sheffield CC were still outstanding.  Members would be provided with the details once the full appointments had been made.

Councillor Read commented that the second nomination from Rotherham MBC was missing from the Transport and Environment Board.  Dr Adams confirmed that this would be included.

RESOLVED – That the Board:-

i)       Noted the appointment of second rotational Member appointments, required to ensure the Authority had a majority of constituent Members.

ii)      Approved the elected member nominations for the Audit and Standards Committee.

iii)    Approved of the continuing appointment of the existing two independent members for the Audit and Standards Committee pending a new recruitment process.

iv)    Approved the elected member nominations to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

v)     Confirmed the preference of an “appropriate” chair for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and appointed accordingly from the options set out in the appendix to the report.

vi)    Approved the appointment of Mayor Dan Jarvis MBE to the Transport for the North Board.

vii)   Approved Councillor Read as substitute member for the Transport for the North Board.

viii)  Endorsed seeking two Transport for the North Scrutiny Committee members from Sheffield, Barnsley or Doncaster.

Approved the nomination of Mayor Ros Jones CBE as the Combined Authority representative on the Welcome to Yorkshire Board.

A report was presented which provided Members with an update on the decisions and delegations made by the MCA, and the decisions and delegations made by the Thematic Boards.

RESOLVED – That Members noted the decisions and delegations made.