Agenda and minutes

Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings to watch them in person at any of the venues across the County. Publicly accessible meetings held in County Hall will be webcast, which means they are available to be watched live or recorded on our website. Please see our webcasting notice here. The Committee may, in certain circumstances, resolve to hold part of the meeting in private. If this is the case, you will be required to leave the meeting.

Venue: Committee Room 'D' - The Henry Bolingbroke Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Holly Tween  Tel: 01772 537955 Email:  holly.tween@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome and Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made by all in attendance.

 

Apologies were received from Paul Evans and Katherine O'Connor.

2.

Declaration of Interests

Minutes:

Alan Cavill declared an interest in item 15, specifically in the Blackpool Town Centre and Blackpool Quality Corridors projects.

 

Michael Ahern declared an interest in item 15, specifically in the Uclan EIC project.

 

Martin Kelly declared an interest in items 13 and 15, specifically in the Blackburn Town Centre and Lomeshaye projects.

3.

Minutes of the meeting held on 05 June 2019 pdf icon PDF 360 KB

Minutes:

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting held on 05 June 2019 be approved as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

4.

Minutes of the Special meeting held on 10 September 2019 pdf icon PDF 200 KB

Minutes:

Resolved: that the minutes of the special meeting held on 10 September 2019 be approved as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

5.

Matters Arising

Minutes:

There were no matters arising that were not on the agenda.

6.

Social Value Update Report pdf icon PDF 235 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Martin Hill, Employment and Skills Coordinator, Lancashire Skills Hub, updated the committee on progress made on the social value metrics.

 

The social value metrics were now aligned with the National Framework, the National Themes Outcomes and Measures, and the Growth Deal programme was delivering in line with profile. It was intended that the dashboard would be updated regularly and could be used to publicise the integration of social value in the Growth Deal programme.

 

It was commented that Lancashire was the only LEP to be monitoring and presenting social value in this way, and that it should be made more prominent. It was noted that it had been requested to put social value back on the LEP website.

 

It was highlighted that case studies regarding social value were well received by government and often made an impact in communications, and members were encouraged to work with delivery partners to illuminate the effect of projects and the wider programme on individuals.

 

Resolved: that

 

1.  the update on the metrics, dashboard and case studies was welcomed

 

2.  the Programme Manager meet with SKV Communications to discuss proactively marketing social value stories

7.

Growth Deal Communications Update pdf icon PDF 103 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Anne-Marie Parkinson, Programme Manager, presented the communications update, which set out all communications undertaken between December 2018 and August 2019.

 

It was commented that although it was good for other organisations to promote their projects, there was scope for the LEP to generate more communications and for PR to be more proactive.

 

Resolved: that the update be noted

8.

Reporting to Lancashire Enterprise Partnership Board

Minutes:

Resolved: that the need to more proactively market Growth Deal projects, and particularly publicise social value stories, should be raised with the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership Board

9.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

The Chair reported that this would most likely be his last meeting. The committee expressed their thanks and best wishes.

10.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held at 1.30pm on 4 March 2020 in Exchange Room 8, County Hall, Preston.

 

The programme of meetings for 2020 is scheduled as follows, taking place at 1.30pm in The Exchange, County Hall, Preston:

 

4 March 2020 – Exchange Room 8

3 June 2020 – Exchange Room 9

2 September 2020 – Exchange Room 9

18 November 2020 – Exchange Room 9

24 February 2021 ­­– Exchange Room 9

Minutes:

The next meeting was scheduled for 1.30pm on 04 March 2020 in Exchange Room 8, County Hall, Preston.

 

The programme of meetings for 2020 was agreed as follows, taking place at 1.30pm in The Exchange, County Hall, Preston:

 

04 March 2020 – Exchange Room 8

03 June 2020 – Exchange Room 9

02 September 2020 – Exchange Room 9

18 November 2020 – Exchange Room 9

24 February 2021 – Exchange Room 9

11.

Exclusion of the Press and Public

The Committee is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, it considers that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as indicated against the heading to the item.

Minutes:

At this point the Growth Deal Management Board approved that the meeting move into Part II, Private and Confidential, to consider the remaining agenda items as they contained information defined as confidential or exempt in accordance with the relevant paragraph of Part I to schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as set out in each report or presentation. It was considered that in all circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

12.

Programme Evaluation Report

Minutes:

Georgia Siora, Warwick Economics and Development, presented an update on the second interim Evaluation Report, giving an overview of the programme so far, outlining the metrics and contribution of five exemplar projects, providing information on findings under each of the five key themes, and highlighting some issues for consideration.

 

In discussion and questions, the following points were highlighted:

 

·  It was important that delivery partners invest time and resources into capturing project impact and outcomes, and report them

 

·  There was pressure on projects to deliver outputs by the agreed dates, but it was important to keep telling government that the full impact of a project may not be seen that early

 

·  It should be ensured that strong links were continued to be made with Boost

 

Georgia was thanked for her attendance.

 

Resolved: that the update was noted

13.

Programme and Projects Update Report

Minutes:

Anne-Marie Parkinson, Programme Manager, presented the programme update report.

 

It was highlighted that the programme was delivering in accordance with the agreed milestones and no significant queries had been raised in relation to the last quarterly report submitted to Government in September, and 99% of funding had been allocated to projects.

 

Attention was brought to the dashboard at Appendix A, and it was noted that a forecast schedule for all core outputs reporting to Cities and Local Growth Unit will be produced for the next meeting.

 

Neil Stevens, Development Support Manager, Highways, Lancashire County Council, updated the committee on the M55 Link Road project. It was noted that an agreement with the developer had been delayed, and other options were being sought. A further report would be produced in December.

 

Resolved: that the update is noted.

14.

Growth Deal Finance Report

Minutes:

Joanne Ainsworth, Principal Accountant – Capital and LEP, presented the finance report showing the fund's position as at the end of September. It was noted that to date 48% of funds had been paid out to projects.

 

It was highlighted that it was increasingly important to monitor any slippage and for projects to report any contingencies, particularly where projects were reporting outputs such as housing or jobs right at the end of the programme.

 

It was noted that any clawback from projects would come back into the LEP for future investments. It was commented that, although this would only happen in exceptional circumstances, consideration should be given to developing a procedure to deal with this, and be communicated to delivery partners well before the end of the programme to ensure transparency.

 

Resolved: that

 

1.  The spend profile and forecast be noted

 

2.  Consideration be given to developing a process to deal with project clawback

15.

Unallocated Funding Recommendations

Minutes:

Anne-Marie Parkinson presented the report on funding recommendations for business cases and investment proposals in respect of the unallocated funding available within the Growth Deal programme.

 

The committee discussed each project in detail and asked questions.

 

It was agreed that, at this point in the Growth Deal programme, the Alker Lane project would represent a risk in terms of deliverability of works by March 2021. As such, members concluded that the project should no longer be considered further under the current programme due to complete March 2021. It was agreed that the Alker Lane project could be retained as a pipeline project should further funding be identified with longer delivery timescales.

 

The committee were also asked to consider how best to use any further potential unallocated funding, and options would be developed for the new year.

 

Resolved: that the Growth Deal Management Board:

 

1.  Recommend to the next meeting of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership Board Growth Deal funding approval for the projects listed below, subject to the finalisation and execution by Lancashire County Council (as accountable body for the LEP) under the guidance of the Directors of Corporate Services and Economic Development and Planning, of a Grant Funding Agreement and other relevant legal documentation as may be necessary to protect the interests of the LEP:

i.  ACADEME Plus - £0.471m

ii.  Blackpool Town Centre Quality Corridors - £0.450m

iii.  Burnley NW – Padiham Town Hall - £0.300m

 

2.  Instruct the Growth Deal Programme Manager to complete the review of the following projects:

i.  EIC Drone Command and Control Centre - £1.341m

ii.  Blackburn Town Centre Phase 2 - £0.630m

iii.  Burnley-Pendle Growth Corridor Manchester Road Junction - £0.660m