Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Ms A Macpherson, Mr S Lambert.

To disclose any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests.

Mr S Bowles declared an interest in relation to Item 6 as he sat on the Local Enterprise Partnership Board.

Of the meeting held on 06 November 2018.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 6 November 2018 were agreed as an accurate record subject to the following change:

·         Ms L Clarke OBE was absent but recorded as present.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to put a question or raise an issue of concern, related to Environment, Transport and Locality Services.   Where possible, the relevant organisation to which the question/issue is directed will be present to give a verbal response.  Members of the public will be invited to speak for up to four minutes on their issue.  A maximum of 30 minutes is set aside for the Public Questions slot in total (including responses and any Committee discussion). This may be extended with the Chairman’s discretion. 

For full guidance on Public Questions, including how to register a request to speak during this slot, please follow this link:

https://www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/council-and-democracy/getting-involved/how-to-get-involved/

There were none.

For the Chairman of the Committee to provide an update to the Committee on recent scrutiny related activity.

The Chairman had nothing to report.

Members will receive an update on the work of the Bucks Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (BTVLEP).

In particular, Members will review the BTVLEP’s response to, and progress towards the recommendations made in the Government review of Local Enterprise Partnerships and the key challenges and opportunities.

Members will also have an opportunity to consider the draft Local Industrial Strategy.

Background information required for this item can be found below:

·         Government LEP Review July 2018 - Full report and Recommendations

·         BTVLEP response to the governments recommendations-Implementation Plan

·         BTVLEP Response - Board Meeting Paper

·         Local Industrial Strategy - BTVLEP Website

·         Local Industrial Strategy Prospectus 

Other useful information can be found in BTVLEP Board Meeting Minutes

·         BTVLEP Board Meeting Report to agree Response and Implementation Plan

·         BTVLEP Accountability and Assurance Framework

Contributors:

·         Martin Tett, Leader Buckinghamshire County Council

·         Neil Gibson, Executive Director, TEE

·         Richard Harrington, Chief Executive BTVLEP

The Chairman welcomed Mr Tett, Leader of the Council; Mr Harrington, Chief Executive of Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (BTVLEP) and Mr Gibson, Executive Director for TEE Business Unit.

Mr Harrington introduced the item with a verbal presentation and provided an overview of the current work of the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The full discussion can be viewed on the webcast of the meeting.

Mr Harrington highlighted the following points:

·         There had been £100m government funding into LEP’s over the last 5 years.

·         The government review of LEPS was reported on in November 2017.

·         In January 2018 government had produced guidelines around governance and transparency of LEPs.

·         In July 2018 there was a strengthening LEPs review. 

·         BTVLEP responded in September 2018 around geography and in October in relation to governance recommendations.

·         In December 2018 BTVLEP circulated their first draft of their Local Industrial Strategy (LIS) – (details and links to the LIS can be found in agenda pack).

·         The BTVLEP would be finalising their economic vision in June 2019.

Mr Harrington provided a summary of the government’s LEP review and the BTVLEP response and progress towards the recommendations. The full response could be found on their website (links within the agenda pack). The overview highlighted the following:

·         The review was in two parts: 1. Geography and 2. Governance and BTVLEP responded in October 2018.

·         There had been no official response from government. However, BTVLEP had moved forward on the recommendations.

·         In relation to the governance recommendations, BTVLEP now published all of its decisions and papers on their website and they had held their first annual general meeting on the 8^th March 2019. They had also put in place urgent decision making processes.

·         The LEP review recommended private sector dominance on LEP boards. The guidance required two thirds majority of private sector Members. To retain the 5 public sector members, they had increased the number of board members to 15 and a recruitment process had been completed with an ongoing process for other vacancies.

·         LEPs were under the control of local authorities so they were required to have an independent secretariat. The BTVLEP were therefore revising a suite of secondments and service level agreements.

·         There had been significant improvement around governance and movement towards incorporation.

Mr Harrington also provided a verbal overview of the Local Industrial Strategy (LIS). The following points were raised:

·         BTVLEP was 1 of 3 trail blazing areas.

·         The purpose of the LIS was around increasing productivity and increasing earning potential.

·         A steering group had been established  and  stakeholder workshops were held to build the propriety areas for the LIS.

·         The draft LIS had been created and it was designed to be distinctive of place, identifying what the economic assets of place were and creating industries of place. Examples of Pinewood, Silverstone, Life sciences and future mobility and transportation were given.

·         The draft went to the Growth Board on the 11 January 19 and it would be on the website from 25^th January for wider  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Members will review and assess the progress towards completion and implementation of the Inquiry recommendations.

Contributors:

Martin Tett, Leader

Bill Chapple, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment

Lisa Michelson, Head of Strategic Planning and Infrastructure

The Chairman welcomed Mr Tett, Leader; Mr Chapple, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment; and Ms Michelson, Head of Strategic Infrastructure Planning.

The full discussion can be found on the webcast and the detail of the recommendation focus can be found in the progress report within the agenda.

Mr Tett introduced the item with an overview which included the following points:

• The Local Planning Authorities in Buckinghamshire had been proceeding with establishing growth plans through the Local Plan process.  Two of the districts (AVDC and WDC) had completed their Examination in Public hearings and could be adopting a Local Plan this year.   South Bucks District Council and Chiltern District Council were expected to consult on a Local Plan in 2019.  These local plans would establish the growth plans to 2033.
• The County Council was supporting the development of the local plans.
• Planning was taking place within the existing world and context and in parallel, work was looking at the longer term strategic economic infrastructure, e.g. England’s Economic Heartland, East West Rail etc.
• Government had published its preferred corridor for the expressway – Milton Keynes to Oxford.
• The longer term strategy was being led by England’s Economic Heartland.
• The Government had responded to the National Infrastructure Commission report ‘Partnering for Prosperity: a new deal for the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford Arc, November 2017’ as part of the autumn budget announcements in 2018 which set a few key positions.  It reinforced the ambitions for significant growth across the Ox-MK-Camb Corridor for 1 million new homes (to 2050) and designated the Corridor as a key economic priority area nationally.
• In addition, the Department for Transport had been pushing forward with determining a route for a new Expressway within the corridor (announcement expected in 2019).  The growth timeline for these strategic infrastructure projects went further than the timetables for the Local Plans; they consider growth projections to 2050 – or even further out in the case of the new corridor expressway.  The decisions on these and detail of implementation and impact was not yet established.
• The Expressway was integral to the recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission.
• The Expressway Corridor along with East West Rail would see significant housing growth which meant that potential development sites needed to be identified.
• The challenge was to cope with the world as it was known now and respond to emerging government policy and how to shape that policy. Members were reminded of how growth needed to be well planned and well supported e.g. the series of link roads around Aylesbury as it grows as a town. Aylesbury itself was under significant pressure. The Aylesbury Garden Town initiative was looking at how the Town Centre could be rejuvenated.
• Members heard how the Bucks Strategic Infrastructure Plan had been in development for two years. It contained  high level of information and would be the foundation document to help the new council set the future infrastructure needs of the county
• The recent Modernising Local Government (MLG) decision in November of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Members will agree upcoming items on the work programme and have an opportunity to discuss potential future topics to be considered.

The Committee will be developing their work programme for 2019/20 over the next couple of months.

Members noted that a work programme workshop would take place on the 5 March 2019 to develop the programme for 2019/20.

The next meeting will be held on 05 March 2019 at 10:00am, County Hall, Mezzanine Room 1.

The next meeting will be held on the 5 March 2019 at 10:00am, at County Hall, Mezzanine Room 1.