Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were noted as above.

P Kennan had recently stepped down from his role of South Yorkshire Bus Commissioner, as this would have presented a potential conflict of interest in his appointment of Co-Chair to the Board.

None

None

In response to a question received from Councillor Grocutt, Councillor Read referred to the guidance provided by D Smith which clarified that local authority officers were welcome to attend meetings of the Board to provide support to the Lead Members, however they would not be able to participate in the meetings.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 January 2021 be agreed as a true record.

Members were provided with an update on the Northern Powerhouse Rail. 

At the TfN Board meeting held on 18 February 2021, the preferred NPR network had been confirmed in line with the initial decision that had been made at its meeting held in November 2020; no changes had been required to the phasing plan.  The Board had agreed to the request for the completion and submission of the Northern Powerhouse Rail Strategic Outline Case which would be delayed until after the publication by the Government of the Integrated Rail Plan which was envisaged to be published during March 2021. 

A letter had been sent to the Transport Secretary to provide statutory advice to confirm the TFN Board’s agreement to the preferred way forward and to seek assurance that TfN would be consulted and involved in the development of the government’s Integrated Rail Plan.  A press release had been issued on the TfN website on 2 March 2021, which had summarised the details contained within the statutory advice.

Members noted the preferred network of the Sheffield to Leeds corridor that had been agreed to upgrade the existing railway line north of Sheffield linking into HS2 at Clayton Junction.  A total of four NPR train services per hour would run on the HS2 mainline to HS2 proposed high speed platforms at Leeds.  The Board noted to the significant upgrades and journey time improvements to the Hope Valley route on the Manchester to Sheffield corridor.  Two options on the Manchester to Sheffield corridor have been retained:-  Option MS2G16 had been progressed forward as the preferred NPR network together with an acknowledgement of the retained option of MS2C16, with the requirement for further work.  Scoping work was underway for a series of targeted studies for concept 2C and 2G, to provide additional evidence to enable a decision to be made on a single route option.

Since the TfN Board meeting held in November 2020, a range of revised rates had been incorporated following a cost challenge exercise that had been undertaken with Network Rail.  The costs had now been reassured by Network Rail. A number of further cost reduction opportunities had been identified, which would be included within the Strategic Outline Case. The updated economic model had been utilised to better capture the benefits whilst using the 2040 forecast.  Work had continued to improve the BCR’s whilst following the Green Book guidance.

It was anticipated that the delivery of the two new stations at Barnsley Dearne Valley and Rotherham Main Line would be operational by mid-2020’s.  The Barnsley Dearne Valley station would be situated north of the existing Goldthorpe station, and the Rotherham Main Line would be situated at the Forge Way site to facilitate a connection to the tram-train.  Acceleration of the two new stations formed part of the economic recovery plan.  A technical feasibility study had been undertaken to identify the risks at both sites and to determine further works.  Liaison had been made with Cross Country, Northern and Trans Pennine Express  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

A report was submitted which presented the SCR Net Zero Work Programme and provided an overview of the work being undertaken to deliver the Work Programme activities.

The Work Programme consisted of a culmination of the Climate and Environmental Emergency that had been declared by the SCR and MCA in November 2019 and the Climate Response Framework that had been approved by the MCA in January 2020, with a view to achieving a Net Zero economy by 2040.  The first Net Zero Partnership Board meeting had been held in February 2020 to oversee the further development and delivery of the Climate Response Framework.  The initial long list of projects and programmes had been reduced down to a total of 18 actions which included collaborative leadership, reviewing how to embed electric and hydrogen buses into the network post Covid-19, reviewing the development of on-street vehicle charging, together with consideration of food and agriculture which contributed to the carbon emissions.

A recruitment process was currently underway for the Net Zero Project Director position.  Subject to successful recruitment, it was envisaged that an announcement of the appointment would be made in early April 2021, with a view to the individual commencing in post between May – July 2021. 

The Board noted the need for stronger alignment and stronger strategic approach in the implementation moving forwards.  In terms of the policy, the four district authorities were currently reviewing what was required to achieve the Net Zero target.  The Work Programme would continue to be maintained as a fluid document.

RESOLVED – That the Board:-

i)     Noted the Net Zero Work Programme and the planned next steps.

ii)    Agreed for progress updates on the Work Programme activities to be reported to future meetings of the Board.

A report was presented which provided a progress update on the Transforming Cities Fund Tranche 2 (‘TCF Programme’) review and the new Intra-City Transport Fund.

A grant award of £166.3m had been approved by the DfT in March 2020 for the MCA’s Transforming Cities Fund Tranche 2 programme aspirations.  The grant had been allocated for the period April 2019 to March 2023 to resource a programme of transformational public transport, active travel and rail initiatives.  The creation of the Intra-City Transport Fund had been confirmed in the March 2020 budget, which consisted of £4.2bn which was available for eight MCAs from 2022/23.  Through agreement with central government and based on plans put forward by MCAs, the £4.2bn would be delivered through a five year consolidated transport settlement.

Members requested an opportunity in the future to review the detail of some of the schemes, which would enable a greater oversight of where the risks laid in terms of deliverability.  Members also requested further information regarding the pipeline and how the projects fit into the Strategic Overview of the SCR to enable a transparent approach.

Members noted that in the future, information would be presented in draft form to more informal sessions, which would enable a collaborative approach to be taken between the Elected Members and officers within a timely manner.

RESOLVED – That the Board:-

i)     Discussed the findings of the TCF Programme review.

ii)    Agreed the proposed remedial actions for the TCF Programme as detailed in section 2.4 of the report.

iii)   Agreed the proposed approach to the flexible management of capital programmes in relation to the end of the TCF Programme and the start of investment from the Intra-City Transport Fund as detailed in Section 2.5 of the report.

iv)   Endorsed the creation of a prioritised pipeline of transport schemes in anticipation of the ICTF programme for consideration at a future TEB meeting.

A report was submitted to present the draft 2021/22 Integrated Transport Block and Highways Capital Maintenance Fund programmes and to request approval to submit these for inclusion in the March 2021 MCA Capital Programme report, subject to further revisions of schemes following confirmation of the SCR MCA allocation.

Members noted that since the draft programmes had been identified and submitted into the approval process, notification of the award values for the year had been received.  The 2021/22 funds were slightly different in comparison to previous years.  This included an additional £65k for the Integrated Transport Block, the net amount for the Highways Capital Maintenance was an additional £3.5m.  Work was underway to establish how to utilise the additional funding.  There was an additional element within the allocation which related to the Highways Maintenance allocation, known as the Incentive element, which was dependent upon the submission of a self-assessment from each of the three reciprocal local authorities which were due to be submitted by 5 March 2021.  A Linton had received confirmation that the S151 officers at the three local authorities had received the necessary information.  It was expected that all three of the local authorities would be placed within the highest band, which was the full allocation, as identified by the DfT to be received in 2022.

RESOLVED – That Members approved the draft Integrated Transport Block and Highways Capital Maintenance programmes for inclusion in the Capital Programme submission to the MCA subject to further revisions of schemes following confirmation of the SCR MCA allocation.

(PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ITEM WAS TAKEN BEFORE 2021/22 LOCAL TRANSPORT CAPTIAL PROGRAMMES)

A report was presented which provided details of the new schemes that had requested inclusion in the TCF programme for consideration.  Schemes were accepted to reduce programme risk through over programming.  Progression was entirely contingent on the funding being available within the TCF programme.

Members were referred to the five Expressions of Interest that had been received to date, all of which had been received from BMBC:-

·           Barnsley Active Travel Hub (total cost circa £2.4m).

·           Darton Active Travel Hub (total cost circa £0.3m).

·           Goldthorpe Active Travel Hub (total cost circa £0.5m).

·           Darton Active Travel Link (total cost circa £1.6m).

·           Dearne Valley Active Travel Link (total cost circa £0.5m).

RESOLVED – That the Board approved the inclusion of the five ‘Expressions of Interests’ as set out in Section 2.1 within the TCF programme for development to Outline Business Case.

The Board was presented with a report which sought to seek:-

i)       Approval of four change requests for the Active Travel Emergency Fund Phase 1 (‘ATEF1’).

ii)      Approval of early release of business case development cost funding for seven Active Travel Fund Phase 2 (‘ATF2’) schemes and progression to MCA for approval of early release of business case development cost funding for one AFT2 scheme.

iii)    Approval of early release of business case development cost funding for four Transforming Cities Fund Tranche 2 (‘TCF2’) schemes and progression to MCA for approval of early release of business case development cost funding for one TCF2 scheme. 

iv)    Approval of progression of one TCF2 Outline Business Case (‘OBC’) to Full Business Case (‘FBC’) and early release of business case development cost funding.

v)     Approval of progression of one TCF2 FBC to full approval.

vi)    Progression of one TCF2 FBCs to MCA for full approval.

vii)   Progression of two TCF2 OBCs to MCA for approval to proceed to FBCs and early release of development cost funding.

viii)  Progression of two TCF2 OBCs to MCA for approval to proceed to FBCs and delegated authority be given to the Head of Paid Service in consultation with the Section 73 and Monitoring Officer for early release of development cost funding. 

ix)    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 points 1 – 7 as covered above.

RESOLVED – That the Board considered and approved:-

i)       Four change requests for Active Travel Emergency Fund Phase 1 (‘ATEF1’) to revise grant awards, as detailed in Appendix 1.

ii)      Release of scheme development cost funding for seven schemes and progression to MCA for approval to release scheme development cost funding for one scheme, of up to £103k from ATF2 and up to £45k from Gainshare, to the four Local Authorities.

iii)    Release of scheme development cost funding for four schemes up to £58k and progression to MCA for approval to release scheme development cost funding for one scheme up to £48k, from TCF2 to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council.

iv)    Progression of Manvers to Wath Cycle Route OBC to FBC and release of up to £31k business case development cost funding from TCF2 to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council subject to the conditions set out in the Appraisal Panel Summary Table at Appendix 2.

v)     Progression of Fredrick Street Walking and Cycling Route FBC to full approval for award of £0.50m TCF2, towards total projects of £0.92m to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council subject to the conditions set out.

vi)    Progression of Quality Streets - Active Travel and Digital Infrastructure FBC to MCA for full approval for award of £3.5m TCF2 towards total projects of £9.45m, to Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council subject to the conditions set out in section 2.6 and the Appraisal Panel Summary Table attached at Appendix 4;

vii)   Progression of A635 Active Travel Link OBC to MCA for approval to proceed to FBC  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

·         PTE

This item was exempt by virtue of Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

A report was submitted which provided an update on the performance of key areas of SYPTE activity.

RESOLVED – That the Board noted the contents of the report.

P Zanzottera referred to a total revenue of just over £1m for 2022 from the DfT Capability Fund.  This had arisen from a sustained period of time of lobbying the DfT to ascertain the position of the formerly known Sustainable Travel Access Fund.

P Zanzottera referred to the recently announced revenue allocation of just over £1m for 2022 from the DfT Capability Fund. It was proposed to provide Members with a paper to identify a number of options to divide the funding up, and to request a short extraordinary meeting to ascertain how the funding should be divided with a view to responding to the DfT by 19 April 2021.  The two main criteria for the funding related to travel behaviour choice and building capacity to enable more schemes to be progressed.  A key part of the Active Travel Implementation Plan was to have more schemes and to build a pipeline.