North Yorkshire County Council
Joint Devolution Committee
Minutes of the remote meeting held on Wednesday, 30th November, 2022 commencing at 3.30 pm.
City of York Councillor Keith Aspden in the Chair and County Councillor Carl Les, County Councillor Gareth Dadd and City of York Councillor Paula Widdowson.
Co-optees: Zoë Metcalfe, Police Fire and Crime Commissioner, and Helen Simpson, Chair of the York and North Yorkshire LEP.
Officers present: Will Boardman, City of York Council; Simon Dennis, Office of the Police Fire and Crime Commissioner; Vicki Dixon, North Yorkshire County Council; James Farrar, York and North Yorkshire LEP; Ian Floyd, City of York Council; Gary Fielding, North Yorkshire County Council; Richard Flinton, North Yorkshire County Council; Daniel Harry, North Yorkshire County Council; Barry Khan, North Yorkshire County Council; Bryn Roberts, City of York Council; .
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Copies of all documents considered are in the Minute Book
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1 |
Election of a Chairman
Daniel Harry, the Democratic Services and Scrutiny Manager for North Yorkshire County Council welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Daniel Harry stated that as this was the first meeting of the committee, the first item of business would be the election of a Chairman.
City of York Councillor Paula Widdowson proposed that instead of electing a Chairman and a Vice Chairman, there should be Co-Chairs for the meeting and these should be the Leaders of City of York Council (Councillor Keith Aspden) and North Yorkshire County Council (Councillor Carl Les). The Chairing would be determined by where the meeting was held, with City of York Councillor Keith Aspden chairing meetings in York and County Councillor Carl Les chairing meetings in North Yorkshire.
This was seconded, a vote was taken and on a show of hands Councillors Keith Aspden and Carl Les unanimously elected as Co-Chairs.
Resolved –
That Councillors Keith Aspden and Carl Les be elected as Co-Chairs.
City of York Councillor Keith Aspden in the Chair.
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2 |
Election of a Vice Chairman
It was unanimously agreed that it was no longer necessary to elect a Vice Chairman as Co-Chairs had been elected.
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Apologies for absence
There was no apologies as all four voting members of the committee were present, as were the two co-opted members.
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Declarations of Interest
There were none.
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Public Questions or Statements
There were none.
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6 |
York and North Yorkshire Devolution Programme Management and Joint Committee Terms of Reference - Report of the Chief Operating Officer, York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership
Considered -
A report by James Farrar, Chief Operating Officer, York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership regarding Programme Management and the Joint Committee Terms of Reference.
Barry Khan, Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services), North Yorkshire County Council made some introductory comments regarding the process of devolution.
City of York Councillor Paula Widdowson queried why non-Executive members could not be nominated as substitutes for this committee.
Barry Khan said that this was because the committee was constituted as a joint committee of the respective council Executives. However, this could be reviewed and the remit of the committee widened, subject to agreement by both councils.
Will Boardman, Head of Corporate Strategy and City Partnerships at City of York Council, introduced the report.
Some of the key points highlighted in the report are as summarised below:
· Following the announcement of the ‘minded to’ devolution deal on 1 August 2022, plans have been developed to follow the statutory process and develop implementation plans · A public consultation, which will run for eight weeks, is now underway and will conclude on 16 December 2022 · A Joint Committee has to be in place to oversee the implementation process of the devolution deal. It will have oversight of the development of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority subject to approval being made to proceed · The Institute of Consultation will review the findings of the consultation and provide an independent report for the Constituent Councils to consider before agreeing whether to submit the Scheme to Whitehall for Parliamentary Approval · It is important to state that a decision has not yet been taken about whether to create a Mayoral Combined Authority for North Yorkshire and York. It is prudent, however, to create a Joint Committee of the constituent councils to ensure there is an appropriate forum for discussions on devolution · Depending upon the outcome of the consultation, a full implementation plan for the Mayoral Combined Authority will be presented to the Joint Committee and the full Council meetings of City of York Council and North Yorkshire County Council
City of York Councillor Keith Aspden said that the Terms of Reference need to be amended to reflect the earlier election of Co-Chairs and the discussion around non-Executive substitutes
The Police Fire and Crime Commissioner, Zoe Metcalfe, said that the Office of the Police and Fire Commissioner were opening up a line of discussion with Government regarding the necessary transition work.
City of York Councillor Keith Aspden then turned to the recommendations at paragraph 10.0 of the report and proposed that the Terms of Reference be adopted, subject to previous discussions, and that the approach to programme management be noted.
This was seconded and a vote held. On a show of hands, all four voting members of the committee voted in favour.
Resolved –
a) That the Terms of Reference at Annex A be approved subject to clarification about whether non-Executive Members can be appointed as substitutes to the committee and that they are amended to reflect the appointment of Co-Chairs, as opposed to a Chair and Vice Chair b) That the approach to the programme arrangements currently in place be noted.
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7 |
York and North Yorkshire Brownfield Housing Fund and Net Zero Fund - Report of the Chief Operating Officer, York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership
Considered -
A report by James Farrar, Chief Operating Officer, York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership regarding the York and North Yorkshire Brownfield Housing Fund and Net Zero Fund.
James Farrar introduced the report and gave an overview of the key points, as summarised below:
· On the 1 August 2022 a Devolution Deal between the Government and the Local Authorities of York and North Yorkshire was announced · This included the award of £7million ‘Net Zero Fund’ funding across 2023/24 and 2024/25 and £12.7 million of devolved capital funding across 2023/24 and 2024/25, known as ‘Brownfield Housing Fund’ · The two investment programmes have to be delivered by March 2025 and so there is I effect 16 months in which to spend the funding · There will be a call for proposals launched in December 2022. Projects will then be identified, assessed and prioritised by June 2023 so that expenditure can begin in November 2023 · The prospectuses for both programmes are in the appendices to the report · The York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership currently operates a Green Book compliant assurance process, approved by DLUHC · The Joint Devolution Committee will make the following decisions within the process: 1) Agree the Project Scope Pack; 2) At the Expression of Interest stage, agrees the prioritised list of shortlisted projects; and 3) A Full Business Plan Stage approves individual investments.
City of York Councillor Paula Widdowson raised concerns about the very tight timeframe for the programme which may then present a number of missed opportunities. She asked what could be done to ensure that as wide a range of projects as possible was considered for funding under the programmes.
James Farrar said that a communications programme would be put in place to ensure that people were made fully aware of the programmes at the earliest possible opportunity.
North Yorkshire County Councillor Carl Les said that this was the first concrete example of what devolution could do for North Yorkshire and York and that it was good to see work focussed upon achievement of net zero emissions.
City of York Councillor Keith Aspden summed up and turned to the recommendations at paragraph 12.0 of the report and proposed that they be adopted.
This was seconded and a vote held. On a show of hands, all four voting members of the committee voted in favour.
Resolved –
a) That the Joint Committee endorsed the prospectuses and process for these two Funds to enable them to progress and call for proposals. b) That the Joint Committee noted the resource implications for delivering these programmes and that sign off for any expenditure will be approved by the S151 officers in accordance with their devolved responsibilities.
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Any other business which the Chair agrees should be considered as a matter of urgency because of special circumstances
There was none.
A recording of the meeting is available from the City of York Council website via the following link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csjfE53nE9g
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The meeting concluded at 3.50 pm.