Joint Devolution Committee
Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 23 October 2023 commencing at 3.30 pm.
Present (voting members): North Yorkshire Councillor Carl Les in the Chair. City of York Councillor Claire Douglas, City of York Councillor Peter Kilbane and North Yorkshire Councillor Annabel Wilkinson (substitute for North Yorkshire Councillor Gareth Dadd).
Co-optees: Zoë Metcalfe (Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner) and Helen Simpson (York and North Yorkshire LEP).
In attendance: Councillors George Jabbour and Mike Jordan, NYC
Officers present: Richard Flinton, NYC; Barry Khan, NYC; Daniel Harry, NYC; Elizabeth Jackson, NYC, Nick Edwards, NYC; James Farrar, Y&NY LEP; Paul Clark, Y&NY LEP; Andrew Leeming, Y&NY LEP; Ian Floyd, CYC; Debbie Mitchell, CYC, Samuel Blyth, CYC; Helen Whiting, CYC; Jenni Newberry, OPFCC.
Remote attendance: Lindsay Tomlinson, CYC.
Apologies: North Yorkshire Councillor Gareth Dadd (with North Yorkshire Councillor Annabel Wilkinson acting as substitute)
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Copies of all documents considered are in the Minute Book
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Welcome by the Chair, introductions and apologies for absence
The Chair, Councillor Carl Les, welcomed everyone to the meeting.
There was an apology for absence from North Yorkshire Councillor Gareth Dadd. Barry Khan, Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) at North Yorkshire Council advised that the Chief Executive of North Yorkshire Council had used his urgency powers to appoint Councillor Annabel Wilkinson as substitute for the meeting.
Members were advised that the meeting would be recorded and broadcast and available to view on the North Yorkshire Council website.
The link to the recording of the meeting is here - Joint Devolution Committee - 3:30pm , 23 October 2023 - YouTube
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Minutes of the meeting of the committee held on 24 July 2023
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Declarations of Interest
No declarations of interest were made at the meeting.
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Questions and Statements by the Public
There were no public questions or statements.
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A joint report by Debbie Mitchell, Chief Finance Officer, City of York Council and Nick Edwards, North Yorkshire Council, which provided an update on the financial aspects of the Combined Authority (CA).
Debbie Mitchell introduced the report and gave an overview of the key points. The costs of implementation were being monitored and recorded and it was hoped to keep within the approved funding. The budget for the Combined Authority would be presented at a future meeting and work was ongoing to update SLAs.
Resolved –
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Net Zero Funding
A report by James Farrar, Interim Director of Transition, York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, regarding the allocation of £7m of funding to a programme of Capital and Revenue projects that would deliver significant carbon reductions and contribute to York and North Yorkshire’s ambition to be net zero by 2034. The report contained recommendations for an over commitment of the funding for additional schemes to be funded from the mayoral Investment fund.
James Farrar introduced the report and gave an overview of the key points, as summarised below:
· The funding consisted of £6m capital funding for delivery of net zero projects and £1m revenue funding for development of projects · Applications had been invited for both elements at the start of the year and following initial assessment a prioritised list had been put forward to full business case stage. External consultancy had undertaken an independent appraisal process and recommended the projects outlined at Section 4 of the report for approval. · Five key project areas were included in the initial route map, and all except industry were included in the current list of projects. · Geographically, projects were based in all NYC ACC areas and the City of York · The table at 4.3 outlined the proposed revenue programme totalling £905k, and the table at 4.6 gave details of the proposed capital projects which totalled £6.281m. An additional £360k of management costs were associated with the project. · The total programme budget of £7.536m was an over-commitment, but this was recommended as some slippage was to be expected as the target completion date was March 2025, and the additional £536k could be underwritten if all activity took place. Councillor Claire Douglas thanked officers for their work on this, the first significant investment of the Combined Authority. The strong commitment to making the region carbon negative and partnership working was noted.
The voting members of the committee indicated their unanimous support for the recommendations in the report.
Resolved –
That subject to the final Net Zero programme level business case being approved by Central Government and the release of the £7m grant funding, the Joint Devolution Committee resolves to:
1) Delegate authority to the NYC Corporate Director for Finance (S151) to accept the £7m grant funding.
2) Approve £905,514 towards the proposed revenue programme (as detailed in section 4.2).
3) Approve £6,281,224 towards the proposed capital programme (as detailed in section 4.5).
4) Approve £350,000 towards the programme management costs (for the purposes set out in section 4.8).
5) Note that the total Net Zero programme budget is £536,738 more than the grant available.
6) Approve this over commitment (up to a maximum of £536,738) to be funded from the Mayoral Investment Fund.
7) Delegate responsibility to MCA Director of Transition, in consultation with the Local Authority Chief Executives, to approve any minor adjustments to proposed grant funding amounts to projects.
8) Note that the delivery of the proposed Net Zero Fund programme will lead to substantial Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions reductions, making a significant contribution to York and North Yorkshire’s ambition to be net zero by 2034.
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Devolution Progress Update
A verbal update by James Farrar, Interim Director of Transition, York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, on work in relation to the creation of a Combined Authority.
· The next key milestone was the Order being laid before Parliament, which was expected in the next two weeks. Once the Order was laid the timescale for creation of the CA would be known but it was hoped the CA would be created in January, enabling LEP staff to be TUPE transferred at the end of January. The Mayoral election was proposed for 2 May, and OPFCC staff would TUPE transfer to the CA on 6 May. · Work was underway on the creation of a broad economic framework, which could be supported by both Councils and brought to the Joint Committee for approval in December. More detailed work would then be undertaken by the Mayor once elected. · Adult Education Budget – the Joint Committee had already approved the submission of a bid for implementation funding which had been approved in full and and resources were now being recruited to put this in place before the Mayoral election. · Transport – NYC and CYC were working closely together on draft proposals for a Strategic Transport Plan which would be presented to the Joint Committee early in the new year · Housing – Brownfield Funding had been allocated and recommendations would be brought to the Joint Committee in December. James Farrar then responded to a question in relation to the transport plan and confirmed that the York and North Yorkshire transport plans would be combined.
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Committee Work Programme
A report by Barry Khan, Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services), North Yorkshire Council, outlining the proposed work programme for the Committee, which was attached at Appendix A for Members to note.
Paul Clark introduced the report and gave an overview of the key points as summarised below:
· As an update to the published programme the Route map to Carbon Negative report was being put back from December to the January meeting. · Dates for the meetings in January would be confirmed once the Order was laid
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Any other business which the Chair agrees should be considered as a matter of urgency because of special circumstances
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The meeting concluded at 3.47 pm.