Agenda for MCA - Transport and the Environment Board on Thursday, 1st September, 2022, 10.00 am

Agenda and minutes

Venue: 11 Broad Street West, Sheffield, S1 2BQ

Items
No. Item

26.

Welcome and Apologies

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted that there were no apologies.

27.

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

Minutes:

Members declared interests in projects relating to their local authority areas.

28.

Urgent items / Announcements

Minutes:

Update on Doncaster Sheffield Airport

An update was given on the ongoing negotiations with Peel Group regarding Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA). Members noted that meetings were weekly, in-person and mostly attended by the Chief Executive of Peel Group and the Chair of DSA, and that Leaders and MPs were regularly updated.

 

Members noted that progress had been made in the discussions. Selling was not the preferred option for Peel Group but the MCA was exploring interest from investors.

 

A discussion was had around the marketing of the site internationally, what other options could be explored and how information was being provided to employees of the airport. Cllr Iqbal thanked the Chief Executive and team for their hard work over the past couple of months.

29.

Public Questions of Key Decisions

Minutes:

None.

30.

Minutes of the last meeting pdf icon PDF 362 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the minutes were agreed to be a true and accurate record of the meeting.

31.

Matters Arising / Action Log pdf icon PDF 301 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

None.

 

RESOLVED: That the action log was noted by members.

32.

Programme Approvals pdf icon PDF 494 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Four schemes were presented: two seeking full approval by the board and two seeking change request approval. These were to be endorsed by the Board but would be taken onto the MCA Board meeting for approval due to the scheme values.

 

Those seeking full approval were Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (BMBC) Transforming Cities Fund projects, both active travel related. These were:

·   T0003 A61 Royston Active Travel Scheme.

·   T0012 A635 Active Travel Scheme.

 

Those seeking change request approval were:

·   L0039 A630 Parkway Widening – where the request was to slip the 2021/22 funds into the 2022/23 financial year.

·   T0024 Parkgate – where the request was to slip £2million in funds from the 2022/23 year into the 2023/24 year and revise the scheme completion date to June 2023.

 

The Board were informed that tenders for the Barnsley schemes had been received and seemed to be within cost. A discussion was had around the funding of these schemes and how an under or overspend would be processed if the situation changed due to external factors, such as inflation.

 

The Board noted that it was difficult for them to keep track of the number of schemes and asked whether for new approvals/change requests it would be possible to receive a summary document listing when schemes last came to TEB, what was said about them, and any progress made since.

 

ACTION - The Procurement, Contracts and Programme Controls team to generate a Transport Scheme Summary for programme approvals to be taken to future meetings.

 

RESOLVED: That the Board considered and endorsed:

1.   The progression of ‘T0003 A61 Royston Active Travel Scheme’ Full Business Case (FBC) to the MCA for full approval and award of £5.2m grant to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (BMBC) subject to the conditions set out in the Assurance Summary attached at Appendix A1.

2.   The progression of ‘T0012 A635 Active Travel Scheme’ FBC to the MCA for full approval and award of £2.4m grant to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (BMBC) subject to the conditions set out in the Assurance Summary attached at Appendix A2.

3.   The change requests of ‘L0039 A630 Parkway Widening’ and ‘T0024 Parkgate’.

4.   That delegated authority should 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 considered above.

33.

Programme Performance Report pdf icon PDF 646 KB

Minutes:

The Board were updated on TEB’s Programme Performance. Members noted that under TEBs remit there are 153 projects at different stages with a total budget of £757million, making it the biggest area of spend currently within the MCA.

 

Members noted that due to increased costs and inflationary pressures, some schemes were becoming undeliverable in certain areas and that prioritising schemes may be needed.

 

Officers were in contact with the Department for Transport (DfT) and considered if it would be possible to move funding across projects within programmes. If any changes were made to any projects, these would come back to TEB following discussions with officers and local authorities.

 

A discussion was had around the deadlines set by DfT and the need for schemes to perform to these specific dates or risk damaging the MCA’s reputation with other bids. Members were reassured that there had been development in staffing capacity to help with bids and prevent this happening.

 

ACTION:  MCA and BMBC Officers to discuss the acceleration of the A61 and A635 schemes to neutralise some spending in other areas.

 

Members discussed the intensity and length of the business case process and questioned if there was a way to streamline this while maintaining good governance. It was noted that a review had previously been discussed but the board had not received an update on this. 

ACTION:  The Executive Director of Finance and Investment to bring an update to the Board following the Business Process Review activity undertaken by the MCA and member authorities.

 

RESOLVED: That Board members considered the performance information provided to identify future performance deep-dives or significant areas of risk.

34.

IRP Draft Positioning Plan (Presentation)

Minutes:

An update on the IRP Positioning Plan was presented to the board following the production of a draft document.  

 

Members noted that the Positioning Plan would be a short document which would include tables and a summary plan covering the priorities and identifying the interventions recommended. The priorities were in two main categories:

·   Securing and maximising the outcomes from the Core IRP pipeline

·   Addressing IRP ‘gaps’ and realising South Yorkshire’s Strategic Rail Priorities

 

The Board noted that the Positioning Plan could be used in the future to make the case for investment and would highlight where the MCA needed to focus attention to do this more effectively. It was felt that the engagement plan would be crucial in making case for investment.

 

Members had previously asked for a list of ‘Quick Wins’ to be brought back to the meeting. These were identified as:

·   Re-instatement of recently withdrawn services, including the direct connection from Sheffield to Manchester Airport

·   Confirmed programme for delivering Midland Mainline Electrification to Sheffield

·   Short term capacity enhancements at Sheffield Midland

·   Ensuring stops on HS2 include connections to Birmingham Interchange and improved connections to East Midlands and North East

·   Confirmed programme for improvements identified at Doncaster

·   Progressing business cases for Rotherham Mainline station and Gateway East Rail

 

The diagram showing the potential difference in journey times from South Yorkshire to vital connections (e.g. Leeds, York & London) illustrated the benefits of this improvement work being delivered.

 

The importance of the change of Prime Minister could have on future work was noted by all. It was noted that Transport for the North (TFN) were planning to write a letter to Government and that we need to ensure the distinctive asks of South Yorkshire were properly reflected. 

 

ACTION:  Senior Programme Manager for Strategic Transport to circulate the TFN letter to all members and MCA to co-ordinate comments.

 

Members noted that many priorities were interlinked and agreed that the more South Yorkshire’s pitch is brought together and simplified, the more impact it will have.

 

The Board noted that regardless of where HS2 is in the region, it is needed, and members agreed there should be pressure on Government to expedite the “up to Leeds” study. It was also noted that HS2 would take a long time to come to fruition and there were plenty of regional asks that could play a role before then.

 

Members were informed that this document would be taken to Local Authority Chief Executive’s next and then to MCA Board in November.

 

ACTION:  The Head of Strategic Transport to circulate the slides to members.

 

RESOLVED: That the Board noted the update.

35.

City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement Report pdf icon PDF 499 KB

Minutes:

An update on the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS)

and associated conditions was given to the Board.

 

CRSTS is the Department for Transport’s (DfT) five-year local transport capital allocation which South Yorkshire MCA and the department had been working on since summer 2021. South Yorkshire had been awarded £570m of CRSTS funding which was confirmed in a Settlement Letter received on 29th July. The Settlement Letter also confirmed the schemes in receipt of financial support and DfT’s associated conditions of delivery.

 

RESOLVED: That the Board noted the content of this paper confirming South Yorkshire’s CRSTS settlement.

36.

South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership Annual Update Report pdf icon PDF 535 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

An update was provided on the number of casualties recorded in South Yorkshire in 2021 as a result of a reported Road Traffic Collision (RTC). The report showed that the number of casualties in 2021 had increased when compared with the numbers in 2020. The increase was to be expected due to the impact that COVID had on travel patterns and supressing traffic levels in 2020, resulting in record low numbers of casualties being documented.

 

Members noted that when comparing 2021 casualties to the 3-year average pre-covid (2017-2019) there were still reductions in all casualty severity classes and all road user groups apart from goods vehicle users and road users in the ‘other’ category. This is likely because COVID restrictions were still impacting, to some extent, on travel patterns and traffic levels in 2021. They also noted that in several casualty categories South Yorkshire had performed better than the country as a whole based on the provisional 2021 data for Great Britain.

 

The Safer Roads Partnership (SRP) had reviewed its strategy, governance and working arrangements and would be adopting a new Safe Systems approach going forward. The aim was to enhance joined up working across the partners to improve road safety and reduce death and serious injury because of reported RTCs.

 

Members noted that the SRP would be reporting to TEB on an annual basis and that there would be a central team supporting the partnership’s work hosted by SCC.

 

A discussion was had around the vision for reducing fatalities or serious injuries on the roads to “zero”. There were pros and cons in a stretch “zero” target, but on balance Members agreed that this was a good vision to have.

 

ACTION:  The Head of Strategic Transport, Sustainability and Infrastructure (SCC) to send through ideas for TEB members to engage in support of the launch event.

 

RESOLVED: That the Board:

·       Received the new Safer Roads Partnership Strategy attached at Appendix A;

·       Received the update in relation to the 2021 casualty statistics for South Yorkshire as attached at Appendix B;

·       Discussed the arrangement of a public launch of the Safer Roads Partnership Strategy, supported by the TEB;

·       Noted the new governance arrangements and the annual reporting to TEB as part of the accountability of the delivery and performance of the Safer Roads Partnership.

37.

Bus Operations Update (Verbal)

Minutes:

Tram Operating Model Update

The Tram Operating Model update was presented to the Board.  Members noted that the current concession finishes at the end of 2024 and this update considered what the tram post-2024 could look like and the work being undertaken by Officers.

  

Members noted that there were ongoing challenges around timescales, the operating environment and appetite from the commercial market.

 

The Board was informed that a paper on this topic would be presented to an additional MCA Board meeting in October.

 

A discussion was had around the falling patronage numbers over the past decade and the ways that this could be combatted. Members noted that this was a combination of Covid-19, changes to working patterns and rerailing work, but that Park and Ride was free to encourage usage.

 

ACTION:  The Corporate Director of Public Transport to circulate the presentation to members.

 

Rail Update

Members noted that Northern Rail had reinstated the majority of services which were lost during Covid-19, that there were operational challenges at TransPennine Express (TPE), and the Manchester airport service was impacted by changes across the network.

 

Following a Network Rail consultation on track access, TPE applied to run their planned extension of the Cleethorpes – Manchester service to Liverpool from the December 2022 timetable change.

 

The MCA would be writing to support a new service from Liverpool to Cleethorpes as granting TPE these track access rights does not undermine any future possibility of reinstating the airport service.  The MCA has stated we would like to see the Manchester Airport service reinstated in the future, when capacity can be provided to run the service again.

 

Bus Update

The Board was updated on recent developments.  DfT had now confirmed it would be extending funding for 6 months, but information on how to access this second 3-month period had not yet been released. First South Yorkshire had communicated that they would not be accepting BRG payments but would operate the commercial network with some additional services if offered tendered services.  Members noted that following discussions with DfT, they agreed in principal that the funding due to go to First South Yorkshire would be paid to the MCA instead (estimated at £1.1million in the first 13 weeks) which would not be enough to retain all services. Officers were reviewing the implications and would separately advise the MCA on options going forward.

 

The Board discussed the impact of this funding on services and those effected by these disruptions. It was agreed that whilst there had been improvements to the original picture and services had been prioritised as much as possible, there were no easy choices and a balance had to be found between short-term fixes and long-term commitments for operators.

 

ACTION:   A list of impacted bus services to be circulated to members.

 

RESOLVED: That members noted the update.

38.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

None.