Agenda for MCA - Housing and Infrastructure Board on Tuesday, 15th March, 2022, 1.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting

Items
No. Item

10.

Welcome and Apologies

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

 

Apologies for absence were noted as above.

11.

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

Minutes:

Members declared interests in respect of agenda item 6 regarding schemes in their own council areas. 

12.

Urgent items / Announcements

Minutes:

None.

13.

Public Questions on Key Decisions

Minutes:

None. 

14.

Minutes of Previous Meeting - 1 March 2022 pdf icon PDF 243 KB

Minutes:

C Blackburn provided an update on the actions arising from the Board meeting held on 1 March 2022, and were noted as follows:

 

·        A paper would be presented at the next meeting detailing the successes of previously implemented flood prevention initiatives.

 

·        A discussion would take place at the next meeting around the Levelling-Up Agenda and consideration around a holistic view with regards to local services and infrastructure required to support new housing schemes.

 

Councillor Fox asked that a paper be produced and presented at the next meeting around the Levelling-Up Agenda and the Board’s role.  ACTION: C Blackburn. 

 

Post meeting addition - In response to the action under item 6 regarding checks on the country of origin of schemes’ finances, M Swales can confirm that although our Assurance Framework (which complies with the HMT Treasury Green Book) does not include requesting details on the country of origin of schemes’ finances, we do ask for confirmation that the full funding is available to deliver schemes, but this is limited to the bank or other sources of financing such as a local authority or institutional investment company.  However, the MCA Assurance Team is considering this request as it may be that we are able to request this information as part of the due diligence on the Financial Case, whilst reserving the right to both do further due diligence and also seek clawback on our funding should new / different information come to light at a later time.

 

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 March 2022 be agreed as a true record.

 

15.

Programme Approvals pdf icon PDF 162 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

S Sykes presented a paper which requested that the Board recommend one Brownfield Housing Fund (BHF) project to the MCA Board for full approval.

 

The paper also requested the Board to release grant to assist with the continued development of two projects whose Strategic Business Cases (SBC) had been approved during 2021. 

 

Full details of all the projects, key risks identified and any specific conditions which were recommended to be met prior to contracting/grant drawdown were included within the papers and the Board considered each project separately.

 

The Board welcomed and supported the projects presented at today’s meeting. 

 

RESOLVED – That the Board approve:

 

i)        Progression of “Attercliffe Waterside” project to the MCA for full approval of £4.08m Brownfield Housing Funding to Sheffield City Council (SCC) subject to the conditions set out in the Assurance Summary attached at Appendix A. 

 

ii)      Approval of £0.06m Gainshare Funding for development costs of the “Doncaster Natural Flood Management” project from Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council (DMBC). 

 

iii)     Approval of £0.06m Gainshare Funding for development costs of the “Doncaster Surface Water Mitigation” project from Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council (DMBC).

 

iv)     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 at numbers two and three above.

16.

South Yorkshire Digital Infrastructure Strategy Delivery Plan pdf icon PDF 160 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

C Blackburn introduced a paper which requested the Board to consider and approve the final draft South Yorkshire Digital Infrastructure Strategy Delivery Plan. 

 

The Board was reminded that the South Yorkshire Digital Infrastructure Strategy had been approved by the MCA Board on 20 September 2021, where it was requested that the Housing and Infrastructure Board prepare a Delivery Plan for implementation of the Strategy and oversee delivery. 

 

The draft Delivery Plan had been presented at the December 2021 meeting of the Board, where Members had made several comments and suggestions.  In particular, concerns had been raised around securing resources to support the South Yorkshire Digital Team. 

 

Taking account of feedback from Members of the Board, a final draft Delivery Plan was presented at Appendix A for the Board’s consideration and approval. 

 

The Board noted that identified actions and interventions were estimated to cost £1.88m over the next 5 years, with around £1.1m of this required to deliver the short-term (next 2 years) priority interventions. 

 

Funding to support the implementation of the Delivery Plan’s actions, including supporting the existing Digital Team, has been included within the MCA 2022/23 Business Plan and budget. 

 

R Shepherd provided the Board with an overview of the overarching key priority actions / interventions set out in the Delivery Plan, which were underpinned by five key goals. 

 

The Board were informed that work on several actions was currently underway.  Actions were also contained in the Delivery Plan where it had been identified that there would need to be future spends.  Indicative cost levels had been identified wherever possible against each action; however, further work would be required in some areas to identify and refine costs.

 

In relation to the Project Gigabit programme, the Board was informed that an initial pre-procurement stage to undertake an Open Market Review (OMR), was launched in South Yorkshire on 4 February 2022. 

The OMR is used to consult the digital infrastructure telecom providers to understand their existing and future build plans, which provides the data to define the Intervention Area where Project Gigabit funding could be targeted.  This was a critically important and a necessary initial stage in developing the Project Gigabit programme in South Yorkshire.

 

Procurement of a provider (led by Department of Communities, Media and Sport and supported by the Digital Team) was due to begin in November 2022, with programme roll-out expected from late 2023.

 

The Board noted that Yorkshire Water, with a consortium of partners, had bid for Government funding to pilot an innovative Fibre in Water scheme, delivering advanced broadband and mobile services via drinking water mains. 

 

If successful, the scheme would improve digital connectivity at The Seam (Barnsley’s digital campus), Dodworth Business Park and poorly served communities in Penistone.

 

The Board noted that the actions contained within the Delivery Plan would be updated on an ongoing basis with further progress updates provided at future Board meetings.

 

The Board requested that bi-monthly progress update reports be scheduled into the Board’s Forward Plan of work.  ACTION: R Shepherd.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

17.

Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 76 KB

Minutes:

The Board considered its Forward Plan.

 

Councillor Jones highlighted that a number of programmes contained on the Forward Plan had slipped.  (For example, Modern Methods of Construction Ecosystem and an update on the Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Programme Delivery). 

 

C Blackburn acknowledged Councillor Jones’ comment. 

 

In relation to the Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Programme Delivery, C Blackburn reported that a preferred supplier had now been identified following a procurement exercise for the supply and installation of the Electric Vehicle Chargepoints.  The SYMCA were currently in the final stages of working with local authority partners and SYPTE to finalise a contract with the preferred supplier. 

 

It was anticipated that delivery on the first phase of the programme would commence towards the end of March 2022/early April for the installation of approximately 280 Electric Vehicle Chargepoints across South Yorkshire.

 

Discussions were currently taking place with local authority partners to seek to secure further funding to support a Phase 2 of the programme. 

 

D Allen asked if a draft schedule of future Board meeting dates could be shared with Board Members. 

 

C Blackburn replied that a future schedule of Board meeting dates would be circulated when the new Mayor had been elected and had given their approval to the cycle of all future SYMCA meetings. 

 

RESOLVED – That the Board noted the Forward Plan. 

 

18.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

C Blackburn reported that a meeting of the SYMCA Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be held on 23 March 2022. 

 

The Committee had requested that updates be provided at their meeting on 23 March 2022 with regards to the progress being made to develop the South Yorkshire Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Programme and progress in delivering the SYMCA’s Brownfield Housing Programme.