18 March 2019 SEMLEP Northampton Waterside Enterprise
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SEMLEP NORTHAMPTON WATERSIDE ENTERPRISE ZONE BOARD MEETING 18th March 2019 10am –12 noon Jeffrey Room, The Guildhall, Northampton Borough Council, St Giles Square NN1 1DE Access and Parking Arrangements: Please contact Marina Stafford on 01604 837078 or email [email protected] should you require a parking space (on a first come, first served basis). Please make your way to the Jeffery Room, which is up the old stairs, then up the ramp into the new part of the building; the room is directly in front of you. Alternatively please head to the One Stop Shop and ask for Marina Stafford on 01604 837078. AGENDA 1. Welcome, Introductions and Apologies 2. Declarations of Interest 3. Minutes from Previous Meetings 4. Overview of the Waterside Enterprise Zone 5. Project Updates (paper attached) a) Vulcan Works b) Horizon Park c) St James Mill Road d) Four Waterside 6. Financial update (paper attached) 7. Waterside Enterprise Zone Risk Overview (paper attached) 8. Northampton’s High Street Fund proposal (verbal update) 9. Development of Northampton’s Economic Growth Strategy (verbal update) 10. A.O.B LIST OF INVITEES Members Cllr Jonathan Nunn, Chair of the EZ Board and Leader, Northampton Borough Council Peter Horrocks CBE, Chair of SEMLEP Dr Kerry Mashford OBE Cllr Tim Hadland, Northampton Borough Council Cllr Ian Morris, Northamptonshire County Council Terry Neville, University of Northampton Brian Binley, SEMLEP Invited Observers (who will not necessarily attend every meeting): Rowena Limb, BEIS (or nominee) Hilary Chipping SEMLEP George Candler, Northampton Borough Council Rick O’Farrell, Northampton Borough Council Neil Darwin, Northampton Borough Council Kevin Langley, Northampton Borough Council Craig Forsyth, Communications, NBC Roy Boulton, Northamptonshire County Council Stuart McGregor/Carol Wood, LGSS Finance Andrew Lewer, MP SEMLEP NORTHAMPTON WATERSIDE ENTERPRISE ZONE BOARD MEETING Minutes of the meeting held on Monday, 29th October 2018. PRESENT: Board Ann Limb* (Chair) SEMLEP Cllr. Jonathan Nunn * Leader, Northampton Borough Council Cllr. Tim Hadland* Northampton Borough Council Clive Faine * (CF) SEMLEP, Chair of Property Development and Infrastructure Delivery Group Hilary Chipping SEMLEP Terry Neville* University of Northampton George Candler Northampton Borough Council Rick O’Farrell Northampton Borough Council Neil Darwin Northampton Borough Council Stuart McGregor Northampton Borough Council Carol Wood Northampton Borough Council Sean Prosser Northampton Borough Council Marina Stafford Northampton Borough Council (Minutes) APOLOGIES Brian Binley * SEMLEP Board Member Cllr. Ian Morris * Northamptonshire County Council Andrew Lewer MP, Northampton South Roy Boulton Northamptonshire County Council Craig Forsyth Northampton Borough Council Rowena Limb * - Board member. 1. Welcome and Introductions AL welcomed all to the meeting and advised that she had been the Chair of SEMLEP since 2011 and as at the end of January 2019, she would be leaving SEMLEP and therefore would not be chairing a further Enterprise Zone Board. AL advised that she did not believe it was prudent to hold an EZ Board meeting until, at least, March 2019, when it was anticipated that the appointment of a new Chair of SEMLEP would be known. However, AL advised that if something urgent arose and a Board meeting was required, she would be happy to chair such a meeting. SEMLEP are currently recruiting for new private sector Board members and for the new Chair, as Tom Wells stands down from the Board at the end of October and Clive Faine would also be standing down from the Board at the end of October. 1 | P a g e AL wished to record her thanks for TN’s contribution and that of the University over the years and AL was pleased to record that her last EZ Board Meeting was being held at the University’s new campus. 2. Declarations of Interest There were no Declarations of Interest. 3. Minutes of the Meeting held in June 2018 The Notes were agreed as a true record of the meeting. AL thanked JN for chairing the meeting on her behalf, the first and only EZ Board Meeting that she had not chaired since its inception. 4. Project Updates Waterside Campus TN advised that there were 14,000 people on site, the first few weeks of the first academic term had gone very well, and TN was pleased to advise that a lot of items on the Risk Register had not happen. There had been one or two minor issues which had cropped up, as one might have expected for such a large project, the most recent being students causing issues by parking in Far Cotton and the Far Cotton residents were complaining on a daily basis. Another issue which had cropped up was residents being disturbed at all hours by take-away deliveries being delivered to the incorrect address (one resident and his family having been woken up at 3.30 a.m. that morning by a pizza delivery). The Park and Ride facility was going extremely well, with 700 people using the scheme on a daily basis. AL congratulated TN on what had been achieved. JN advised he was very impressed, particularly with the quality of the development and confirmed that the authority would continue to work with the University. AL confirmed that she would be pleased to report this information back to the SEMLEP Board and would suggest that a SEMLEP Board meeting be held at the University in order that the Board can look at the entirety of the University at some point in 2019. TN advised that although he was pleased with the usage being made of the Park and Ride facility, there were still plenty of spaces not being utilised and the University were thinking of offering this facility to the NHS. Currently staff are parking for free at the campus, due to the ticket machines not yet having been installed, but this will change from the beginning of December and therefore further use of the Park and Ride facility will take effect. Currently car park no. 4 is invariably empty. 2 | P a g e AL queried the number of students at the University, due to the national trend being down on previous years. TN advised that the University was currently 150 students above target. Vulcan Works RO’F advised that one tender had been received. Interview being held next week and it is expected, following a report to Cabinet, to award the contract in January 2019. If this is agreed, RO’F expects work to commence on site in February 2019, with completion due March 2020. The University were now considering to transfer their Fine Arts/Photography School to the site and RO’F acknowledged that this transfer would enhance the Cultural Quarter tremendously. HC enquired what impact, if any, the Fine Arts School would have upon the project outcomes. RO’F advised he had only just received this news, prior to the meeting, and would need to review this. HC requested RO’F liaise with Judith Barker of SEMLEP on outputs. Action Point: RO’F to liaise with Judith Barker on outputs. Horizon Park RO’F confirmed that all site investigations had now taken place and was pleased to report that all was well and the site can be delivered, although there were some issues regarding access and confirmed that the authority were liaising with the Highways Authority regarding this. GC advised that Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH) had been keen to have their office accommodation on the site, with a report going to Cabinet in April 2018. Following the submission of this report, NPH withdrew from progressing with their proposals, but have since come back to the table with continued interest. NPH were keen to move onto the site and have expressed a strong desire to manage the build themselves. Currently the authority’s auditors were undertaking due diligence and their report is expected by the end of this week. At this point, the authority will then be in a position to see if the proposition is viable. If the auditors advise that the proposition is not favourable, then the authority will need to discuss the future use of the site. CF – Within the financial model, there is still showing a substantive contribution from BRU, without NPH, this figure will not be achievable. GC responded that a lot depended on what happened with the Four Waterside site, as this could generate further interest, particularly around the office accommodation sector. 3 | P a g e St. James Mill Link Road RO’F advised that as the road forms part of the public highway, Northamptonshire County Council, as Highways Authority, were requested to tender. NCC came in with a scheme which was far too expensive. The scheme originally started at £600,000 and the authority set aside a budget of £2 million. The scheme costs are now estimated at £4.7 million. The authority have spent considerable time challenging costs and the scheme has currently reduced to £4 million. A major issue which has occurred and which was not known previously, is that there are significant drainage issues that would need to be corrected before the extension of the road could be progressed. An independent report was commissioned, which could pull costs down, but by going down this route, further significant delays would be incurred. It was acknowledged that at the current time there were significant, tough decisions to be made re whether the authority should progress with the extension of the road. JN advised that at one time it was mitigation issues which had been causing delays, but that the authority now finds itself, when trying to set future budgets, with additional costs for the road extension and difficult decisions would need to be made. It was acknowledged that there was a need to separate the benefits of extending the road from the costs and that GC and JN were meeting with Cosworth on Friday of this week in order to update them of the issues that were facing the authority with regard to the proposed extension of the road and JN admitted that it was currently very difficult to see if the authority could progress due to the new issues.