Agenda and minutes

Venue: This meeting will be held remotely. The meeting can be viewed live by pasting this link into your browser: https://youtu.be/6QBoBb8PYXc

Contact: Michelle Salmon, Governance Services,  Tel: 024 7697 2643, Email:  michelle.salmon@coventry.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

8.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

 

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) noted that Councillor Bigham was a City Council representative on the West Midlands Combined Authority Transport Delivery Committee.

9.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 73 KB

(a)  To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 23rd September 2020

 

(b)  Matters arising

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 23rd September 2020 were agreed as a true record.

 

Further to minute 4/20 headed ‘Employment, Skills and Training’, the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) noted that the information that they had requested relating to the breakdown of unemployment data and Kickstart Scheme placements, had been circulated to Members.

 

Information had also been circulated relating to the ‘Gigafactory’ and Members were advised to direct any questions they may have on the matter to Steve Weir, the Council’s Head of Economic Growth.

 

 

10.

Very Light Rail Progress Update pdf icon PDF 611 KB

Briefing Note of the Director of Transportation and Highways

Minutes:

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a Briefing Note and Presentation of the Director of Transportation and Highways that provided an update on the progress of very light rail (VLR).

 

Since the last briefing to the Board in December 2019, significant progress on VLR had been made with vehicle assembly underway at NP Aerospace.The vehicle would now be ready for Factory Acceptance Tests to commence in December 2020 and would move to Dudley in February 2021 to undertake 8 weeks of Site Acceptance Testing - the Dudley Innovation Centre Test Track facility and a workshop was currently under construction. The innovations and design within the vehicle were subject to Patent Applications which were currently underway.  A key aspiration for the project was to ensure the product developed the manufacturing capability within the region, this would be key to the manufacturing strategy for both the vehicle and track form.

 

The Board noted that TDI had sourced 67% of the supply chain for the prototype vehicle from the UK.

 

Significant progress has been made on the track workstream. Since May 2020, significant work has been undertaken to reach an agreed concept to take forward to detailed design. The concept to be progressed was approved at the end of September 2020 and was now in the detailed design phase, expected to be complete by May 2021. Once the design had been approved, component testing would be initiated.

 

The track concept was subject to a Patent Application and this was underway.

 

In order to build a Test Track of the new trackform to initiate integrated system testing, further funding was required for which a bid to the DfT was being developed to put forward a case for £8.8m investment to achieve Proof of Concept and progress the route workstream.

 

Coventry City Council continued to progress the route workstream to develop the first route to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. Utilities and drainage surveys were underway to assess route alignment options and the team were about to commission a package of work to progress the outline design concept. In addition, further feasibility work to explore a potential extension to Ansty Park, had been commissioned as a Park and Ride facility which could increase the Benefit to Cost Ratio of the proposed first route. Funding to continue progress on the workstream was also required and would  form part of the DfT bid due to be submitted in late January 2021. To support the submission to DfT, an outline Economic Impact Assessment (EIA) detailing the benefits that VLR would deliver, through enabling R&D, mobilising a new manufacturing sector in the region and providing an attractive affordable rail based system for small cities, had been commissioned.

 

In parallel to the above, the Authority were progressing work to develop and confirm city-wide transport objectives and future transport needs, taking into consideration last mile solutions (such as cycle super-highways and e-scooters) and how this would integrate with VLR. A VLR network plan  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

Coventry Local Air Quality Action Plan pdf icon PDF 74 KB

Briefing Note of the Director of Transportation and Highways

Minutes:

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a report and Presentation of the Director of Transportation and Highways that provided the Board with an update on the Coventry Local Air Quality Action Plan.

 

The City Council is under Ministerial Direction, issued in February 2020 and entitled Environment Act 1995 (Coventry City Council) Air Quality Direction 2020, to implement the local plan for NO2 compliance. 

 

A Full Business Case for the local plan is to be submitted to the Secretary of State by 31st October 2020 as draft, subject to the Cabinet’s approval in December 2020, to enable JAQU to instigate their internal review processes ahead of submission of the final Full Business Case.

 

Schedule 1 of the Direction set out the detailed package of measures that the Minister was instructing the City Council to implement and reflected the Council’s preference not to proceed with a Clean Air Zone. The package of measures included a segregated cycle route between the city centre and Coundon, engagement measures with schools, businesses and local communities aimed at encouraging active and sustainable travel, and a series of highway schemes aimed at reducing congestion and facilitating dynamic traffic management on the routes into the city centre from the west. This included Holyhead Road, where NO2 levels were at their highest.

 

The Government had provided £24.5 million in grant funding for the implementation of this package, in addition, the Council had secured a further £5.8 million in grant funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority’s Transforming Cities Fund for the B4101 Spon End scheme, which formed one of the highway schemes within the package. 

 

Engagement work undertaken on the A4600 corridor in 2018-20 had resulted in increased active travel and mode shift. In schools, car journeys for school travel reduced by 8.5%, transferred to walking, cycling and scooter. Local residents reduced single occupancy car trips by 11%, with an increase in walking and bus trips of 9%. 

 

Other projects that complemented this package included the installation of one of the most extensive networks of electric vehicle charging points in the country, with around 250 charging points installed to date and funding being secured for a further 100. The Council had also worked with National Express and Transport for West Midlands to secure funding for ten electric buses, which began operation in August 2020. The project includes the installation of solar panels and battery storage at the bus depot to enable the power used to run the buses to be generated on site. Further, the Council has secured funding from Highways England for the E-Fleet project, and was in the process of procuring 70 electric vehicles, mostly vans, that would operate as part of the Council’s fleet, but would also be available for local businesses to borrow and trial on a “try before you buy” basis.

 

The main Local Air Quality Action Plan was approved by Cabinet on 21st July 2020, following which officers have been working on the delivery programme of the package with significant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

Work Programme 2020/2021 pdf icon PDF 52 KB

Report of the Director of Law and Governance

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) notes the Board’s Work Programme for 2020/2021 and that the item originally intended for this meeting relating to ‘Two Friargate’ will be re-scheduled to a future meeting of the Board once planning permission has been acquired for the development.

 

13.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved

Minutes:

There were no other items of public business.