Agenda item

Report of the Executive Director of Place

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director of Place, which provided an update on the Coventry Station Masterplan.

 

The Coventry Station Masterplan programme was set to deliver transformational improvements to Coventry Railway Station. The Coventry Station Masterplan was developed in response to a 2014 study that looked at the city’s future rail needs. It was initially approved at Cabinet in March 2015, funded by Local Growth Deal. Since then, the scheme had developed extensively in terms of design and scope to meet the needs of an aspirational and growing city. This report submitted detailed the current proposals that had been developed over the last 18 months, in partnership with the rail industry and other stakeholders.

 

It was noted that Coventry Station had experienced the highest growth in rail passengers in the last 5 years outside of London.  It was one of the busiest stations on the West Coast Mainline, after London and Birmingham New Street, but since opening in 1962 it had seen little investment or updating.  It was given Grade II listed status by English Heritage in 1995, due to its modern architecture.  Apart from the generally tired nature of the existing buildings, there were genuine capacity issues and it was essential that a fitting gateway to the city be created to underpin the redevelopment at Friargate and the wider city regeneration.  It was also vital that a station be created that supported continued growth in patronage to underline the City’s case for the retention and enhancement of rail services post HS2.  The Station Masterplan was an integral part of the City Centre Area Action Plan and the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP’s Strategic Economic Plan, and was central to the City Council’s economic regeneration and improving connectivity to the wider region, including UK Central and HS2.

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The City Council, working with Friargate LLP, had established a collaborative approach between Network Rail, the Department for Transport, the wider rail industry and Coventry and Warwickshire LEP to develop proposals to meet these objectives. As a consequence of this work the scope of the scheme had extended and the total programme had increased to £82.4m, which included £11.8m contingency which was good practice for rail schemes.

 

Coventry Station Masterplan would deliver extra capacity, accessibility and a better first impression of Coventry, within the station through the following new infrastructure:-

 

•  A second footbridge connecting all four platforms and extended platform canopies;

•  A second station entrance building, facing outwards onto Warwick Road and providing step free access to platforms;

•  A 644 space multi-storey car park;

•  A bus interchange connected directly to the station building via a new access tunnel under Warwick Road;

•  Highway improvements;

•  Bay platform (NUCKLE 1.2)

 

The highway improvements would provide the bulk of the infrastructure required to deliver the Friargate Masterplan and make provision for future Rapid Transit services via the railway station. A detailed summary of the scheme changes and enhanced programme from March 2015 to date was set out in Appendix 1 of the report.

 

The Coventry Station Masterplan works would be delivered in conjunction with NUCKLE 1.2, its ‘sister’ scheme, which would provide a new bay platform to enable service between Coventry and Nuneaton of two trains per hour, and provides extra capacity for additional services to support major events at Coventry Arena.  The relocation of the existing Coventry to Nuneaton service into the bay platform would also improve performance and provide reliability benefits to longer distance services through the main station platforms.

 

As previously agreed, £27.4m was available for the Coventry Station Masterplan. In addition, a further £0.96m was approved for the Station Access scheme by Cabinet as part of the Friargate Bridge deck scheme. This funding was sufficient to deliver the station access tunnel under Warwick Road, the new footbridge and canopies, partly fund the NUCKLE 1.2 bay platform and develop the detailed designs for the other elements.

 

Additional funding options were being sought to fund the rest of the Masterplan programme, including:

 

•  A package of West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Devolution Deal and CWLEP Local Growth Deal 3 funds; and

•  Prudential borrowing used to finance the 644 space multi storey car park, repaid from car parking income received which would be used to repay capital in interest charges (the change in ownership of parking at the station was subject to Department for Transport approval, which had been received ‘in principle’).

 

Construction of the bus interchange, car park, new station building and highway works would not commence until the funding had been secured and ongoing commercial negotiations with Friargate LLP concluded, which was anticipated by autumn 2017, well before construction works were due to commence in 2019 for these elements. However, there were ongoing design and project management costs being incurred and these cost would be incurred at risk until this point.

 

A combination of further Growth Deal, Network Rail and partner funding (Warwickshire County Council and Coventry City Council) had already been committed to the NUCKLE 1.2 scheme, as part of the overall NUCKLE 1.2 scheme budget of £18M.

 

The Masterplan works at the station would be complemented by £2.4M of works funded by Network Rail and currently being delivered by Virgin Trains, which was providing enhancements to the existing station building. This was further complemented by the recent improvements to the station forecourt area and Station Square undertaken by Coventry City Council and Friargate LLP.

 

Subject to funding approval, it was expected that all works would be completed by 2021.

 

It was noted that much of the land required for the Masterplan proposals and NUCKLE 1.2 scheme was within the ownership of Network Rail. Some of the land required for the scheme were also subject to leases or other interests, or owned by various third parties. It was proposed, at this stage, to commence negotiations with all necessary landowners for the acquisition of their interests to enable delivery of the various aspects of the proposals. The report indicated that the Council may need to exercise Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) powers if required to deliver the bus interchange and parts of the new highway infrastructure if land interests could not be secured by negotiation. Should this be required, a further cabinet report would be submitted to seek approval to agree land acquisition costs as a result of negotiations, or to authorise the use of and/or make the necessary order for the implementation of CPO powers if deemed necessary. The scheme design aimed to minimise the extent of third party land required and there were clear benefits of introducing new road links and improving highway capacity for all stakeholders, however land assembly would remain a risk to the delivery project until this had been achieved.

 

The new footbridge, station building and multi-storey car park would be delivered under Network Rail Permitted Development Rights and would require Listed Buildings Consent, while planning permission would be required to deliver the new bus interchange.  Friargate LLP would submit a reserved matters application for changes to the highway. 

 

The Cabinet noted that the report had been considered by the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee at their meeting on 18th January 2017, and that a briefing note outlining their recommendations was circulated.  In particular, in addition to endorsing the recommendations to Cabinet, they recommended that:-

 

i)  Scrutiny be included in the reporting process relating to the Coventry Station Masterplan.

 

ii)  The finances of the Masterplan are carefully monitored, including any additional proposed income streams.

 

RESOLVED that, subject to the outcome of ongoing commercial negotiations with Friargate LLP, the Cabinet:-

 

1.  Agree the additional recommendations proposed by the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee.

 

2.  Approve the revised cost plan as detailed in section 5.1 of the report, and authority to submit a funding bid through the WMCA Devolution Deal.  Following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration, delegate authority to the Executive Director for Place,  to become the accountable body, and authority to the S151 Officer to enter into the appropriate funding agreements with the Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, West Midlands Combined Authority and Department for Transport. 

 

3.  Approve the preferred option designs for Phase 2 of the Coventry Station Masterplan shown in appendix 2, option B of the report, to take forward to detailed design for the remaining elements including the bus interchange, second station building and multi-storey car park at Coventry Station and the completion of technical, legal and regulatory industry approvals for these remaining scheme elements.

 

4.  Approve the enhanced footbridge scheme and associated canopy extensions design as shown in appendix 4 option B of the report as the City Council’s preferred option.

 

5.  Approve the addition of an enhanced highway scope that includes western and eastern highways works as shown in appendix 4 of the report.

 

6.  Delegate to the Executive Director for Place, after consultation with Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration, authority to survey land and to negotiate the acquisition of all land interests necessary to deliver all aspects of the Masterplan proposals.

 

7.  Approve the submission of the necessary planning applications to deliver the bus interchange and highway infrastructure as shown in appendix 2 and 4 of the report respectively.

 

8.  Approve that NUCKLE 1.2 funding be packaged with the Coventry Station Masterplan and any funding shortfall can be made up with Devolution Deal funding, subject to approval via the WMCA Assurance Framework.

 

9.  Approve to proceed the procurement for the design and construction of the footbridge and canopies, detailed design for the wider scheme and procurement of a Rail Advisors Framework to provide external rail expertise for this project and future requirements.

 

10.  Note that a further cabinet report will be submitted before awarding construction contracts for the scheme for Member approval.

 

11.  Following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Place, to:-

 

a.  Contract with suppliers for the delivery of the design at Coventry Station;

 

b.  Negotiate and enter into on behalf of the Council all associated agreements that support construction and completion of design, including but not limited to Asset Protection Agreements with Network Rail and agreements with rail industry parties to facilitate investment in the station;

 

c.  Negotiate and contract with Network Rail and other land owners for the necessary land access and rights in order to construct the Coventry Station Masterplan and NUCKLE 1.2 proposals;

 

  d.  Negotiate and enter into an agreement with the Department for Transport for the City Council to fund and enter into ownership of the multi-storey car park;

 

  e.  Agree award of contracts following competitive tender procedures for the detailed design for the wider scheme and procurement of a Rail Advisors Framework.

 

  f.  To become the accountable body for Local Growth Deal 3 if successful. 

 

12.  Recommend that, subject to the outcome of ongoing commercial negotiations with Friargate LLP, the Council:

 

  i.  Approve the revised cost plan as detailed in section 5.1, give authority for prudential borrowing of £10.9m subject to final approval by the Department for Transport and authority to submit a funding bid through the WMCA Devolution Deal.

 

  ii.  Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Place to become the accountable body if successful and authorise the Executive Director for Resources to enter into the appropriate funding agreements with the Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and West Midlands Combined Authority.

 

  iii.  Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Place following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration and Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources to effect any draw down resources from the programme contingency budget referred to in section 5.1, table 1.