Spatial Planning Infrastructure Partnership

Spatial Planning and Infrastructure Partnership – Local Transport Board 21 March 2013 Agenda item: 6 Report author: Tom Flanagan Contact: Tom.Flanagan@.gov.uk Tel: 01865 815691

Local Transport Board – Assurance Framework

Introduction

1. The purpose of the report is to advise the SPIP Board in its role as the Shadow Local Transport Board (LTB) of the final details of the Assurance Framework submitted to the Department of Transport (DfT), seek confirmation of the position of Chairman of the LTB and advise on the next stage in the prioritisation of schemes for submission to DfT by July 2013.

Background

2. To recap - in response to the Coalition Government’s commitment to localism the Department of Transport (DfT) has announced its firm intention to devolve funding for local major transport schemes to Local Transport Bodies (LTBs) from 2015. LTBs will be voluntary partnerships between Local Authorities (LAs), Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and other stakeholder organisations. In order to ensure that the devolved system provides appropriate safeguards for the use of public funds and is able to deliver value for money it will need to have an Assurance Framework in place.

3. The DfT has asked that local partners submit their draft Assurance Framework by the end of February 2013 and an indicative list of prioritised local major schemes by the end of July 2013. It has been confirmed that £16m of devolved local major scheme funding will be made available to Oxfordshire for the 2015-19 spending period.

4. Following approval by County Council’s Cabinet to the draft Assurance Framework at its meeting on 29 January, the Director of Environment and Economy wrote to 25 partner organisations setting out the details of the proposals to establish Local Transport Board and seeking comments. The proposals were also presented to the Oxfordshire LEP Board at its meeting on 8 February.

5. The following organisations responded by the deadline for consultation returns and all offered their support for the proposals: Oxford City Council, Council, Network Rail, Highways Agency, SEMLEP (South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership - overlapping the Cherwell District) and Oxfordshire LEP.

6. The Oxfordshire LEP, while supporting the proposals has requested that they be allowed to have two representatives in order to cover the extent of knowledge and input that will required to feed into the Local Transport Board deliberations and to provide support in reporting back to the LEP Board.

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7. The request from the Oxfordshire LEP was approved at the County Council Cabinet meeting on 26 February and the Assurance Framework submitted to the DfT by the deadline of 28 February, see attached Annexe. Formal feedback from the DfT on the Assurance Framework is awaited.

8. The position of the Chairman of the LTB needs to be confirmed and given the accountability body role of the Local Transport Authority (LTA), i.e. the County Council it is proposed that the Chairman of the LTB is a representative from the LTA.

Scheme Assessment and Appraisal

9. A minimum requirement of the DfT’s Assurance Framework is an open and transparent assessment framework and a robust appraisal process that is independent of the scheme promoter. It includes specific requirements to set out a detailed transport business case and demonstrate high value for money. In order to comply, an independent Programme Office will be established by the accountable body, this office will be independent of scheme promotion and co-ordinate all scheme appraisals in conjunction with partners.

10. The SPIP has a successful track record of collaborative working, the partners support an integrated approach to infrastructure investment and it has already undertaken a prioritisation process for key schemes. The next stage is to assess which of the prioritised schemes are eligible for the local major scheme funding of £16m that will be devolved to the LTB and to draw up a prioritised list of those schemes that it is anticipated will receive funding for submission to DfT by July.

11. Preliminary discussions with colleagues in neighbouring authorities, and , have indicated that there may be an approach to independent cross-boundary appraisal that would satisfy the DfT requirements. The Programme Office would liaise with a nominated neighbouring authority to undertake the formal appraisal work on a scheme-by-scheme basis. A Memorandum of Understanding is currently being drafted for agreement with neighbouring authorities to take this forward and a report will be presented on this arrangement in due course.

Recommendations

Acting as the Shadow LTB the Board is requested to:

i. Receive and endorse the draft Assurance Framework as submitted to the Department of Transport; ii. Confirm that the Chairman of the Local Transport Board should be a representative of the Local Transport Authority; and iii. Note the next stage in provisionally allocating the £16m devolved funding to prioritised schemes and request that a report on this is presented to the next meeting.

HUW JONES Director for Environment, Economy & Customer Services Oxfordshire County Council

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