Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

(a)  To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 21^st November 2018

(b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 21^st November 2018 were agreed and signed as a true record.

There were no matters arising.

Presentation and Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

(Note: Councillor O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration and Councillor Welsh, Deputy Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration have been invited to attend the meeting for this matter)

The Scrutiny Board received a briefing note and presentation that provided details of the partnership working between Coventry City Council (CCC) and Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) which was increasing innovation and productivity, and ensuring the leadership of the region in defining the future of mobility in the UK. Councillor O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration, attended the meeting for the consideration of this item. Dr Nick Mallinson, HMVC Programme Manager, WMG, also attended at the commencement of the meeting, in respect of the discussion on the very light rail.

The briefing note indicated that UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) - A consortium of Coventry Council, Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) and WMG, would establish the UKBIC, a cutting edge manufacturing research facility which would help to transition the UK to become a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of batteries for vehicle electrification. £80m grant had been secured through the Faraday Challenge, with the City Council as lead body. Scheduled for launch in early 2020, the UKBIC would enable industry, via open access, to scale up and commercialise advanced technologies central to the development of batteries, initially for the automotive sector but with wider application.

Reference was made to R&D in the Steel Industry. The Board were informed that WMG were in the process of creating a range of facilities and a dedicated support programme for companies in Coventry and Warwickshire to understand every aspect of the steel process and develop new products. The project had received £1m funding through Growth Deal and would unlock benefits for manufacturing businesses across the region.

UK Connected Intelligent Transport Environment (UKCITE) was a project to create the most advanced environment for testing connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV). It involved equipping and testing over 40 miles of urban roads, dual-carriageways and motorways with ‘talking car technologies’ to establish how these technologies could improve journeys, reduce traffic congestion, and provide entertainment and safety services through better connectivity.

CAV Testbed was a joint project with Transport for West Midlands and numerous technology partners including WMG and Jaguar Land Rover to develop a route linking Coventry, Birmingham and Solihull, centred on the A45 that would be set up as a test route for CAV. This included roadside technology for monitoring and communicating with the test vehicles allowing performance of CAV technology to be rigorously examined. The installation of the technology would take two years and the CAV routes would be operational for at least eight years after that.

Europe’s first multi-million-pound Smart City Mobility Centre would be based at the University of Warwick’s Wellesbourne campus. The Centre brought together WMG’s research expertise and Jaguar Land Rover’s leading research and engineering capabilities to develop driverless capable vehicle testing. This would be in real world conditions alongside a specially designed 5G communications network on the University of Warwick’s main campus.

The briefing note referred to Mobility Data Institute. The West Midlands  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

There are no outstanding issues

There were no outstanding issues.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) considered the Work Programme for the current municipal year and discussed the scheduling of proposed issues for consideration at future meetings of the Board.

RESOLVED that the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3):

1)  Notes the Work Programme for 2018/2019 including an additional meeting to be arranged in March 2019, with the date to be determined.

2)  Approves that a date for a Green Space Strategy Task and Finish Group meeting be determined.

3)  Agrees that arrangements be put in place for a visit to Dudley to view the test track facility once the test vehicle is operating there. 

The Board received an update from the Chair, Councillor McNicholas, on a recent meeting that he had attended with representatives from the Canal Basin Trust and the Canal and River Trust, with discussion centring on what the Canal Basin could offer the city and the need for a vision. It was acknowledged that the views from the meeting tied in with the recommendations from the Canal Basin Task and Finish Group. Reference was made to the option to visit other cities to see the works that had been undertaken around the canal networks. 

RESOLVED that the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3):

1)  Notes the update on the Canal Basin.

2)  Agrees that arrangements be put in place for a visit to see developments around a canal and to understand any lessons to be learnt.