The Chair welcomed all to the meeting and commented that after 18 months of online meetings it was nice to see people in person.

The Chair particularly welcomed new Councillors Douglas and Frost to the Board. She also offered her thanks to outgoing Councillor Cheetham for his valuable contributions to the Board as a Member since its inception.

Apologies were noted as above.

Members declared interests regarding schemes in their own council areas. 

None.

None.

The Assistant Director of Housing and Infrastructure advised that there had been two meetings held in March. The minutes of the meeting on 1 March 2022 included with the papers had already been approved at the previous meeting on 15 March 2022.

The minutes of the meeting on 15 March had been tabled and circulated to Members prior to the meeting.

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2022 be approved.  

The Assistant Director of Housing and Infrastructure advised that all items on the Action Log had either already been implemented or were on the agenda for discussion at the meeting.

Resolved that the Action Log be received.

The Programme Controls Manager informed the Board that there were two items for which approval was being sought.

The first item was a request to release development funding to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council for a Brownfield Housing Fund project. The release of £25,800 would be used to develop the business case for the Goldthorpe Pre-1919 Redevelopment.

The Programme Controls Manager advised that this project was also included within agenda item 8, where it was included for selection to be developed in pipeline. It was only subject to this being approved that the funds were to be released.

It was noted that Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council were exploring other opportunities and that the Goldthorpe Redevelopment could potentially grow in the future.

The second item related to requested contract variations of existing Getting Building Fund projects. This consisted of 14 projects which Government had set a deadline for completion of March 2022.

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority were notified that 7 projects may not finish by the deadline. Government was in support of their completion and had agreed a revised deadline of the end of March 2023.

In response to questions, the Programme Controls Manager reassured the Board that the Getting Building Fund projects were all on track at the current moment in time.

The Chair commented that the Board had been aware that spending the funds in the scheduled timeframe was going to be difficult.

Resolved that the Board:

1.       Approve release of £0.03m funding for development costs of the “Goldthorpe Pre-1919 Redevelopment” project to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council.

2.       Approve seven change requests for existing Getting Building Fund contracts to allow physical activity to complete during 2022/23.

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

The Committee was presented with a report proposing to add eight new schemes onto the Brownfield Housing Fund Phase 3 Pipeline for funding and delivery by the end of March 2025.

The following schemes had been selected and the project mandate forms were appended to the report:

·       Newstead General Needs, Sheffield

·       Newstead OPIL, Sheffield

·       Bole Hill View, Sheffield

·       Temporary Accommodation Scheme, Sheffield

·       Viking Lea, Sheffield

·       Algar, Sheffield

·       Park Hill P5, Sheffield

·       Goldthorpe Pre-1919 Redevelopment, Barnsley

Councillor Douglas welcomed the inclusion of the temporary accommodation scheme which would be fundamental to support vulnerable and homeless people turn their lives around.

In response to a query about the number of housing units anticipated from the BHF scheme in Goldthorpe, the Programme Controls Manager clarified that the funding mentioned in the previous agenda item was to enable Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council to investigate the unlocking of an adjacent site where an additional 70 homes could potentially be incorporated into the project.

Councillor Jones requested regular updates on the breakdown of funding between the constituent authorities. The Chair agreed that this should be provided in future report updates.

Action: The Board to receive regular updates on the geographical breakdown of Brownfield Housing Fund spend and outputs.

The Director of Infrastructure and Place added that although this was an important factor, the distribution of funding must be driven by the quality of the schemes and unfortunately, the number and standard of projects coming forward was not necessarily equal across the region.

Resolved that the Board approve the eight schemes listed in Section 2.2 to 2.9 being accepted onto the BHF Phase 3 Pipeline.

The Board considered a paper on the current position of the Brownfield Housing Fund programme and the proposed further actions to ensure delivery of programme outputs.

Since 2020 South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority had received £53m in funding from Government to support the development of housing schemes on brownfield land. Government had also issued a target of between 3,300 and 4,600 new homes started on site and a spend deadline of the end of March 2025.

12 projects totalling £17.6m had been developed and approved already, which were set to deliver around 1,500 new homes. The 8 new schemes that the Board had approved in the previous agenda item would deliver another 648 homes with a funding ask of around £15m.

The Assistant Director for Housing and Infrastructure advised that there was still £20m left to spend to deliver around 1,150 homes to start on site by end March 2025. Due to the challenges of developing brownfield sites, it was not certain that these targets would be achieved through existing known schemes.

It was therefore proposed to undertake an Open Call to seek further eligible brownfield housing schemes for funding and investment from housing associations and the ‘Market.’

In response to questions relating to slippage, the Board was informed that the timetable had always been challenging. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority did not have a housing programme when the funding was received so has had to develop a pipeline of schemes from scratch.

SYMCA has helped support Local Authorities to accelerate the development of schemes by setting up a framework so authorities can quickly engage consultancy expertise and support and revenue had also been provided to increase local authority capacity. Councillor Johnson asked whether it would be possible to circulate details of the extra support provided to the 4 authorities.

Action: The Assistant Director for Housing and Infrastructure to circulate details of the extra support provided to the 4 authorities.

The Assistant Director for Housing and Infrastructure noted that a prospectus setting out the ambitions and scheme eligibility for the open call would be prepared. All schemes would need a robust business case and be required to go through SYMCAs Assurance process.

The Chair suggested that given the tight timescale it would be important to launch the Open Call as soon as possible to allow time for preparation.

Resolved that the Board:

·       Note the current spend and delivery position of the Brownfield Housing Fund, and the revised spend profile.

·       Recommend to the MCA Board to approve undertaking an Open Call to seek further eligible brownfield housing schemes for funding and investment.

Members reflected on the initial draft outline scope for the proposed South Yorkshire Housing Framework to address strategic housing issues.

The Assistant Director of Housing and Infrastructure advised that a Housing Review in 2020 had identified a range of housing issues which would benefit from a collaborative approach. The initial draft outline for the proposed South Yorkshire Housing Framework was being presented to Members for consideration and comment with a view to bringing a draft document to the next Board meeting at the end of August.

The Senior Development Manager (Development & Planning) outlined how the Framework would establish the key strategic housing issues needing to be addressed and play a role in helping to attract funding and investment by identifying priorities and actions where further investment and resources were required.

The Chair suggested that empty homes and homelessness should be incorporated within the Framework.

The Chair also expressed the importance of ensuring that any housing retrofit works should not adversely affect residents’ long-term running costs.

Councillor Johnson commented on the effect that housing can have on people’s health as well as the consequent cost to the NHS and the economy. He added that retrofitting could potentially be used to address the cost-of-living crisis as well as creating a multitude of jobs to retrofit homes at scale.

Councillor Frost welcomed the Framework and commended the inclusion of inclusive and sustainable housing.

Resolved that the Board note the draft outline for the South Yorkshire Housing Framework and requested that the suggested additions be included in the draft Framework.

Following the launch of the Government’s Levelling Up White Paper, the Board received a summary of key announcements, details and implications for South Yorkshire and the Mayoral Combined Authority linked to the Board’s housing and infrastructure agendas.

Funding for the Levelling Up Fund Round 1 had been announced for 105 projects. South Yorkshire had five successful bids; however, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority’s transport bid was not successful.

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority was intending to submit a bid to Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund by 6 July.

Other LUF announcements had also been made including:

·       Innovation

·       Devolution

·       UK Shared Prosperity Fund

·       Housing

·       Brownfield Funding

·       Culture

·       Transport

The Head of Policy informed Members that the Levelling Up paper was not explicit in its detail on net zero. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority was preparing a sustainability plan which would bring various matters together within a single strategy.

Councillor Jones observed that the funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (SPA) for South Yorkshire was not as much as it would have been from the EU.

Councillor Johnson requested that a list of SPA projects be circulated with their lead officers from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and local councils. The Head of Policy agreed to provide this, although some of the details were still being decided.

Action: The Head of Policy to circulate a list of SPA projects with their lead officers from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and local councils.

Resolved that the Board note the Levelling Up update and the strategic implications for housing and infrastructure in South Yorkshire.

(The Director of Infrastructure and Place left the meeting)

The Net Zero Project Director updated the Committee on the progress towards the net zero target of 2040 with priority areas of impact highlighted. The current areas of activity and ongoing work programme were also reviewed.

Embedding sustainability within the decision-making structures of the Mayoral Combined Authority will be key for South Yorkshire to meet its net zero targets whilst growing the economy and improving opportunity for its residents,

The major sources of emissions in South Yorkshire fell within the 3 categories of: housing; transport; and industry and commercial sector.

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority will be the statutory body for delivering a Local Nature Recovery Strategy but was currently awaiting further details from the Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs.

A South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre has also been created which is intended to act as a knowledge and research hub. The Centre will help provide and share knowledge of organisations, businesses and communities to make informed decisions, acting as the research arm of the region.

A Net Zero Citizens Assembly was currently being explored to increase engagement with the public.

In response to questions the Net Zero Project Director advised the ‘fabric first’ approach of bringing all homes up to a minimum Energy Performance Certificate rating of C is likely to be the priority, before moving on to decarbonisation.  This was because the resources to fund a full retrofit were simply not available, but the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority could also help in facilitating homeowners to invest in their own properties to bring them to net zero.

The Net Zero Project Director confirmed that a funding request for a retrofit proposal would be submitted to the Mayoral Combined Authority Board and, should this be approved, the proposal would be further developed.

The Chair welcomed the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre and was keen to promote this.

Resolved that the Board noted the progress made on delivering the net zero target and supported the development of programmes within priority areas of impact - namely Domestic housing, Transport, Industry and Nature - that will also directly contribute towards the Net Zero target whilst delivering additional social and/or economic benefits.  

The Senior Programme Manager (Development and Planning) provided the Board with information on previously successful flood alleviation and resilience schemes in South Yorkshire.

Following the flooding in the region in November 2019 and previous years, numerous schemes to reduce flood risk and improve resilience had been delivered. Appended to the report were case studies of successful initiatives including:

·       Bentley Ings Pumping Station – Doncaster

·       Rotherham Renaissance Flood Alleviation Scheme Phase 1 – Rotherham

·       Lower Don Valley Flood Alleviation Scheme - Sheffield

·       Lang Avenue, Lundwood - Barnsley

Councillor Allen informed the Committee that BBC Look North would be visiting Rotherham to report on the second phase of the Rotherham Renaissance Flood Alleviation Scheme.

Councillor Johnson also shared that the February 2022 floods were the third highest on record, but the flooding was not as severe as in 2019, showing that the flood alleviation works were effective. The Senior Programme Manager (Development and Planning) confirmed that these case studies would generate confidence in the Connected by Water Plan going forward.

Resolved that the Board noted the case studies in Appendix A of successful flood alleviation and resilience schemes delivered in recent years within South Yorkshire.

The Board was presented with an update on the implementation of both the South Yorkshire Digital Infrastructure Strategy and the South Yorkshire Connected by Water Plan.

The Senior Programme Manager (Development and Planning) highlighted progress with delivering the Digital Infrastructure Strategy. Funding had been secured for the Superfast South Yorkshire team for the next 3 years who were currently providing support to Project Gigabit.

Also, in the first such pilot scheme in the UK, funding had been secured for an innovative Fibre in Water scheme being delivered by Yorkshire Water, which will deliver advanced broadband and mobile services via drinking water mains.

In relation to the Connected by Water Plan, a political engagement plan was being developed and the Plan had recently been promoted at the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Flood event on 14 June. 

Resolved that the Board:

·       Noted the Digital Infrastructure Strategy progress report at Appendix A.

·       Noted the Connected by Water Plan progress report at Appendix B.

Resolved that the Forward Plan be noted.

As there was no other business to discuss, the Chair thanked everyone for their attendance and contributions and closed the meeting.