Agenda item

Following the last Board meeting, the Business Advisory Group slides had been circulated onto the Members.

Members noted that it had not been possible to provide an update at today’s meeting in relation to the Integrated Rail Plan and associated issues.  Members were referred to the ongoing discussions on the matter.  Given the recent outcome, M Swales would organise an internal workshop with a view to ascertaining how to take forward the work for South Yorkshire that was associated with the Integrated Rail Plan.  The internal workshop would consider a range of asks without losing any of the ambition, and to ascertain how to progress matters forward in representation to maintain and push the case.  A discussion would be held with the TEB, Leaders and Chief Executives at the local authorities regarding those ambitions to ensure that matters were still reconciled around the key issues.  Mayor Jones CBE and M Swales would attend the East Coast Mainline Leaders’ Meeting w/c 14 February 2022. 

M Swales referred to the recent meetings that had been held in relation to the work with West Yorkshire, with a view to pushing the work that was required around the connectively between Leeds and Sheffield and how to implement a governance mechanism.  The Mayors had written to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State ahead of the Convention of the North Meeting, to raise the points from across the North of Tyne and Wear through to Manchester and West Yorkshire.  It was hoped to provide the Board with further progress in due course.

P Kennan referred to a recent article that had been written by the Editor of the Rail Magazine, which referred to the remarkable consensus of emerging opposition to the Integrated Rail Plan not least across the north of England, where politicians, media and sub-national transport bodies were speaking with one voice in a way that had never been observed before.  The 16 northern Chambers of Commerce were coming together (including Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield) regarding the Transport for the North on the response to the IRP for consistent messaging for business.  He expressed concern at the current pace, and he hoped that the business input would provide an opportunity to feed in all of the issues.

M Swales commented that the formalising of any legal direction had not yet been determined.

The GB Rail Headquarters bid was now up and running and a steering group was in place.  There was good support from SYMCA which was being led by DMBC, and many private sectors were involved.  P Kennan was releasing social media information with a view to raising awareness of the bids, to be created by 16 March 2022.  He considered that 95% of the public would not have any knowledge of the SEP etc.  He suggested that members of the public should be reminded of the famous connections to Doncaster i.e.Sir Nigel Gresley CBE, the Flying Scotsman train, the Mallard train, the Harry Potter film which was linked with the Kings Cross to Doncaster Great Northern Railway and the Thomas the Tank Engine children’s cartoon.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 December 2022 be agreed as a true record.