Agenda item

Briefing Note of the Director of Law and Governance.

To receive a presentation

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a presentation on an overview of the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) Portfolio.

The presentation highlighted the following:

·  Economic Development Strategy

o  A new five year strategic framework to shape economic development in Coventry to 2027 was under development which succeeded the  Economic Growth & Prosperity Strategy

o  It was one of key strategies for delivering One Coventry Plan which aimed to increase economic prosperity and tackle the causes of inequality and climate change

o  It closely aligned with the new Skills Strategy

·  2014 – 2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme

o  This programme would run until 2023. There were four principles strands; CW Business Support Programme; CW Innovation Programme; CW Green Business Programme and the CW Skills 4 Growth Programme.

o  This programme will be replaced by the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) but overall less funding would be available. The fund was not  operational at the time of the meeting but would be awarded by the West Midlands Combined Authority area.

·  West Midlands Gigafactory

o  Outline planning permission had been achieved and would create 6,000 well-paid, highly skilled jobs and thousands more in the wider supply chain.

o  It would help to protect 105,000 jobs in the automotive industry and contribute £434 million per annum in GVA to the UK economy

o  It would further establish Coventry and Warwickshire as the centre of excellence for UK battery manufacturing

·  Inward Investment

·  Social Value

·  Strategic City Centre Regeneration and Development Projects

o  Friargate

o  A new office led, mixed use district for the city next to Coventry Station. The site was approximately 15 hectares, and the development was being led by the Friargate Joint Venture which the Council was a 50/50 partner in

o  City Centre South

o  Significant private and public sector investment would transform a key part of the city centre. There would be approximately 1300 new homes, new retail and commercial space and new public spaces.

o  The Council were working with the developer and WMCA (£98m of grant funding) to bring forward delivery arrangements and the major developer

o  Progress was demonstrated through almost £15m of expenditure on land assembly, demolition, Planning and Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) activities to date

o  The developer anticipated being on site in late 2023.

·  Transport and Innovation

o  Transport Strategy Team were responsible for the Coventry Transport Strategy and policy framework, scheme development, business cases  and securing funding.

o  There were a number of innovative schemes being developed including Coventry Very Light Rail; Electric / Zero Emission Vehicles; Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and New transport technology 

·  Development Management 

o  Development Management considered the transport impacts of new development, Design Standards and Development related transport schemes

o  There were a number of Major Developments which were underway including Eastern Green – A45 Junction / cycle routes; Keresley – Link Road / cycle routes; City Centre regeneration projects; University of Warwick Masterplan 2030 and the Gigafactory / Airport

o  The team were responsible for design standards including the Transport Design Guide for new development and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems

o  There was a Section 106 Programme which had secured £7.5 million for schemes with more in pipeline when triggered.

The Board questioned officers, received responses and discussed the following issues:

·  The replacement for the European Social Fund would result in less funding being available to the City. The new fund would be commissioned by WMCA. The Council was making a case to WMCA as to how funding should be allocated. It was expected that the WMCA commissioning process would begin before the start of the year.

·  The majority of Coventry Airport sits within Warwick District.

·  Social value was measured through the TOMs tool (themes, outcomes and measures) which has a list of suggested interventions.

·  Green Business Programme was accessible for community interest companies but charities would not meet the criteria of a small or medium sized enterprise. The team supported businesses to use grants to reduce their energy usage.

·  Outline planning permission for Gigafactory was for battery production any other usage would require additional planning permission.

·  It was important to engage people and communities with the climate change consultation.

·  Further information on the inward investment achieved over the past five years was requested, although it was noted that was difficult to identify to level of influence Coventry City Council had in achieving inward investment.

·  Demolition timescales for buildings in the Friargate district were not available as that was the responsibility of the Joint Venture company. .

·  The car parks behind Central Six would be developed in accordance with market conditions.

·  The hotel at Friargate would be 100 beds.

·  It wasn’t possible to say whether the CPO enquiry would result in plans for City Centre South (CCS) to be amended to include social housing at this point.

·  An updated Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) for CCS would be published in time for the CPO enquiry in January.

·  Friargate 1 and 2 were connected to Heatline. Where buildings brought forward by joint venture on the Friargate development, there was agreement they would be connected to Heatline.

·  Whether other areas of the City would be redeveloped other areas of the City Centre were discussed. There were no other significant schemes planned, but it was expected that the development of City Centre South would be a catalyst for other improvements.

·  Network Rail were looking at updating the design for the proposed platform 5 at Coventry Station.

·  There was a feasibility study taking place to consider 4 possible new stations across the City.

·  Midlands Connect had done two studies – one on a Coventry/ Leicester/ Nottingham line and the other one KNUCKLE. It was felt both studies merited further investigation but funding was needed from central government to develop the business cases. It would take approximately 10 years for a direct line to Leicester to be developed but a slower alternative (but faster then the current provision) could be implemented in the meantime if that was something the rail authorities decided to do.

·  An explanation was given as to how Very Light Rail (VLR) would share space with other highway users. It was hoped developers would be on site in 2023 and vehicles operational in 2024 for initial testing but this was subject to change.

·  The programme of on street electric charging points was to enable people to charge vehicles without the need to run cables across the street.

·  Legislative changes for E-scooters were expected late 2023 or early 2024.

·  The e-scooter pilot scheme at Warwick University was being expanded to connect from the University through designated routes to the station and city centre. The existing operator contract was due to end in November 2022.

·  There were around 250-300 hire cycles in the City. The scheme was being expanded on a commercial basis.

·  Work would be undertaken with Rugby Borough Council on Ansty Park transport improvements.

·  A question was asked regarding bus ticketing and making it easier to purchase tickets between companies which could be considered in more detail in the item at the next meeting.

·  It was noted that there were benefits of having drinking water fountains and cycle repair tool kits on cycle paths to help encourage people to use them.

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

1)  Considered the content of the presentation

2)  Identified further questions for officers

3)  Identified the following for consideration for inclusion on a scrutiny work programme

a.  City Centre South

b.  Assessment of ring and ride bus service and cyclical bus routes

c.  Culture Based Jobs

d.  Local cycling walking infrastructure plan

e.  Climate Change

f.  Impact of average speed cameras

4)  Requested the following be circulated to the Board

a.  Timescales for City Centre South including key points for Member engagement

b.  Information on overseas Inward Investment over the last 5 years including case studies

c.  Information on how the CPO Enquiry would link through to Planning Committee