Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were noted as above. 

Declarations of Interest by individual Members in relation to any item of business

None.

None.

None.

It was agreed that the minutes of the previous meeting are an accurate record and may be signed by the representative of the Head of Paid Service.

A report was presented to inform the Board about the new Housing Fund specifically for brownfield sites and asked the Board to consider the criteria and assurance processes proposed to facilitate the delivery of the Fund set out in the appended prospectus.

On the 30th June 2020, the Government launched ‘A New Deal for Britain’ which was a key part of the Government’s Strategy to rebuild Britain following Covid-19 and support the economic recovery across the UK.

As part of this strategy, £40.3m of capital funding and £841,000 revenue funding had been allocated to the Sheffield City Region Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) for supporting development of housing schemes on brownfield land over the next 5 years.

The £40.3m capital and £841k revenue funding had been devolved to the MCA from the Government’s Brownfield Housing Programme.  This would enable the expansion of the MCA Housing Fund and ensure the MCA and LEP can support the delivery of a greater number of new homes to meet local needs which would otherwise not be brought forward by the Market. 

The profile of capital funding over the five years agreed with MHCLG was set out in paragraph 2.2 of the report and noted by the Board. 

The Board noted that the revenue funding would primarily be used to accelerate the project pipeline to bring forward housing schemes for delivery in the next two years. 

It was proposed to adopt a two phased approach to the Housing Fund Programme.  Early spend up to March 2021 would necessitate a different approach to the full five year programme in order to seek to deliver the ‘early deliverable schemes’ within the initial timeframe.  Further details were presented in paragraphs 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 of the report. 

The Board noted that the MHCLG had recently announced a bidding round for a further £40m (10% of the total £400m Brownfield Housing Fund), with scheme bids being invited from the Mayoral Combined Authorities.  The focus of the bidding process and assessment is on identifying and supporting MCAs that can demonstrate they have ambitious scheme proposals and that all homes to be delivered using this ‘Competitive’ part of the funding (if successful) must be additional to those coming forward as a result of the existing MCA allocation of funding from the initial 90% of the fund.

The deadline for submission of proposed schemes is the 6th September and discussions are ongoing with partners to identify potential schemes for submission. 

The Board was asked to consider if they wished to submit potential schemes for the Competitive Fund element. 

Following a lengthy discussion and consideration of all the risks and challenges associated the Board agreed that a note be circulated to Members on the afternoon of Friday 4^th September 2020, setting out the number of projects which had been submitted by the local authorities in order for the Board to make a decision whether or not to proceed to submit schemes for the Competitive Fund element.  ACTION: B Guthrie / M Lynam.

Appendix  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Board considered a report which presented the SCR Renewal Action Plan and the actions being undertaken to implement the Plan in terms of the Place elements of the Plan.

The Board noted that the development of the Sheffield City Region (SCR) Renewal Action Plan (RAP), endorsed by the LEP Board on the 16th July and approved by the MCA on the 27th July, was an important move to mitigate the worst effects of the Covid-19 crisis and ensure a strong and timely recovery towards a more resilient economy and society.

The RAP focuses upon three main areas of action:

• People - we will invest to ensure local people have the opportunity to develop their skills, and to find, stay and progress in work

• Employers - We will invest to ensure employers can survive, adapt and thrive

• Places - We will invest to create jobs and thriving places, in a way that reduces inequality and enhances our environment.

The Board was informed that the RAP had been designed with three linked horizons in mind – Relief (immediate term) Recovery (medium term) and Resilience (long term). 

The interventions in the draft RAP had been designed to be delivered within the next 12 to 18 months to bring immediate Relief to local people, employers and businesses.

The Housing Board had been tasked by the LEP and MCA in overseeing the related implementation activity for the housing elements of the ‘Place’ strand of activity and specifically in terms of the Investment Programme 3 – Shovel Ready Schemes.  The activities already underway and proposed to address this investment programme were:

·                Housing Fund (Brownfield)

·                Wider SCR Housing Fund

·                Housing Retrofit

The Board noted that the SCR Infrastructure Board would lead on a Capital Project Delivery and Decarbonisation programmes, but the Housing Board may lead on those projects and programmes that have a strong housing component.

The intention was for implementation plans to be developed via the appropriate Thematic Boards to be presented to the LEP and MCA Boards at their October / November meetings, with delivery beginning as soon as funds are available and allocated.

RESOLVED – That Board Members considered the SCR Renewal Action Plan, in order to shape and develop the actions being undertaken to implement Plan in terms of the housing ‘Place’ elements. 

A report was presented together with the performance dashboards, to provide the Board with up to date performance information on all Housing Fund programmes delivered on behalf of the LEP and MCA.

RESOLVED – That Board Members:-

1.    Scrutinised the performance information provided in order to identify future performance deepdives or significant areas of risk.

2.         Reviewed the format and detail of information to inform future iterations of the dashboard.

The Housing Delivery Dashboard was presented for the Board’s information.

RESOLVED – That Board Members scrutinised the Housing Delivery Dashboard. 

The Housing Board Forward Plan was presented for the Board’s information.

The Board requested that a discussion takes place at a future meeting on:

·           The Housing Retro Fit.

·           The cohesive policy objectives of the SEP.

·           Response to the Housing Review - housing and health inequalities.   

RESOLVED – That Board Members noted the contents of the Forward Plan. 

No further items of business were noted.