Not for publication – exempt information as defined in paragraph 41 (Information provided in confidence relating to contracts) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. It is considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information).
Minutes:
Anne-Marie Parkinson presented the programme update report.
It was noted that in terms of measuring performance against the Lancashire’s Growth Deal objective, the programme is still in its infancy in relation to realising outputs and outcomes, with significant reporting not to be expected until towards the end of the programme 2020/21. The Committee were informed that the programme is delivering in accordance with Lancashire’s Growth Deal agreed milestones and Government reporting requirements.
No queries have been raised in relation to the last claim submitted to government in March 2017.
The Committee considered the project summary document. It was highlighted that at the last meeting nine projects were marked amber or red with issues to resolve. Significant work had been done with project sponsors over the past quarter resulting in issues being resolved on 6 of these schemes.
The latest claim for the Preston City Centre Improvements project advised there had been overspend against the profile for Phase 2 works, and slippage to Phase 3 delivery milestones. The change request submitted to provide the revised budget and milestone profile for delivery of Phase 3 had been rejected, as the required information had not been provided. A further change request had been requested; this was expected by the end of July and would include timescales. To reduce the risk to the programme, no Growth Deal Funding would be provided to the project until the business case was received and plans for the delivery of the scheme were considered satisfactory.
Discussions were ongoing with the project sponsor in relation to the output targets for the Burnley, Hyndburn, and Pendle Growth Corridor. It was noted that the project sponsor was allocating additional resources to resolve the queries and that they were confident a solution could be reached.
Concerns were raised regarding the Preston Western Distributor, as only an outline business case had so far been received. It was noted that the ownership of this project was shared between the Growth Deal Management Board and the City Deal Board. It was a retained scheme, and timescales need to be sequenced with the Transport for Lancashire Committee and the Department for Transport. A report would be taken to the City Deal Board in June, after which a report would be brought to the Growth Deal Management Board. The business case would be completed later this year. It was commented that it was a very significant road development to take from nothing to a business case, and the design and planning processes had been done.
It was noted that overspend had been reported in relation to the A6 Broughton Bypass project. A change request would be submitted for the project to re-profile the spend; however, this would not affect the Growth Deal.
An update on the Lancaster HIC was included at Appendix B.
A query was raised regarding infrastructure projects in general and the need to ensure costs and timescales were clearly set out and monitored as, without clear programmes, the Committee was unable to properly support projects to mitigate risks. It was accepted that there would be unknown elements, but that these could be made clear in the plans.
It was therefore requested that programmes including estimated costs and timescales be presented to the Committee for the following projects: Preston City Centre Improvements, Broughton Bypass, Preston Western Distributor.
Resolved:
1) That the report be noted
2) That the Committee receive the HIC update found at Appendix B
3) That the infrastructure projects Preston City Centre Improvements, A6 Broughton Bypass, Preston Western Distributor are requested to produce a project programme including estimated costs and timescales
4) That the infrastructure projects Preston City Centre Improvements and A6 Broughton Bypass are requested to submit changes requests, reflecting the deadlines and the level of information as advised by the Growth Deal Programme Manager