20210326 CLEP Board Minutes
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CUMBRIA LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIP MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF CUMBRIA LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIP HELD BY VIDEO CONFERENCE ON FRIDAY 26 MARCH 2021 AT 9.30AM DIRECTORS PRESENT Lord Richard Inglewood, Chair; Jim Jackson, Deputy Chair; Cumbria County Council represented by Stewart Young; Barrow Borough Council represented by Lee Roberts; Graham Booth; Steve Cole; Copeland Borough Council represented by Mike Johnson; John Coughlan; Steve Curl; Eden District Council represented by Mary Robinson; Julie Mennell; Emma Porter; Mike Smith OBE; Lorrainne Smyth, Chief Executive ACTion with Communities in Cumbria; Sarah Swindley; Rebecca Weston; Nigel Wilkinson and Andrew Wren. IN ATTENDANCE • Harry Colwell, Baines Wilson LLP • Cath Dutton, Careers Hub Manager (Item 12) • Sami Falou, Cities and Local Growth Unit, BEIS • Alison Hatcher, Representative of Cumbria County Council, Accountable Body • Jen Hewitt, Office Manager, CLEP • Andrew Hill, Company Secretary • Craig Ivison, Head of Skills (Item 10) • Mark Johnson, Head of Strategy and Policy, (Item 7) • Jo Lappin, Chief Executive, CLEP • Mitchell McCombe, Futures Forum • Sarah Peak, Export Manager (item 13) • Neil Robinson, Chair, Logistics Sector Panel (Item 6) • Ian Wheeler, Head of Clean Energy (Item 7) 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE 1.1. Apologies for absence were received from Carolyn Dodwell, Mike Starkie (Copeland Borough Council represented by Mike Johnson) and Peter Allen (Lake District National Park Authority). 2. DECLARATIONSDRAFT OF INTEREST 2.1. The Deputy Chair declared an interest in any matters to be discussed in relation to which the Lake District National Park Authority has an interest and also declared a commercial interest in Project Gigabit. He would therefore take no part in discussions on the matters. !1 2.2. Nigel Wilkinson disclosed an interest in the Lakes Line Improvements, as the business he managed was a member of the Lakes Line Community Rail Partnership. He also declared an interest in Optimising Connectivity 2 – South Windermere in that the business he managed had an interest in property that the path and cycle track may cross. He would therefore take no part in discussions on the matters. 2.3. Lee Roberts declared an interest in any matters in which Barrow Borough Council had an interest, including the Marina Village, and he would therefore take no part in discussions on any such matters. 2.4 Steve Curl declared an interest in any discussions related to Vertical Farms in which he had a non-pecuniary interest. He would therefore take no part in discussions on the matter. 2.5 Mike Johnson also declared an interest in any discussion relating to Vertical Farm and would take no part in discussions on this matter should they arise. 2.6. Sarah Swindley declared an interest in the Lake District Foundation Grants Programme for businesses, mentioned as part of the Net-Zero Carbon item on the agenda and would therefore take no part in discussions on this matter. 2.7 All Local Authority members of the Board declared an interest in Item 11 (Local Government Reorganisation) and agreed that they would take no part in discussions on that matter. 2.8 Emma Porter declared an interest in any rail or road programmes as the company that she is Managing Director of would likely tender for such projects, including Carlisle Station. She would therefore take no part in discussions on such matters. 3. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING 3.1 The minutes of the previous Board meeting held on 22 January 2021 were discussed. The Chair asked the Board if they had any additions or amendments to make to the minutes. The Board confirmed that there were no such additions or amendments and accordingly IT WAS RESOLVED that the minutes be approved in the form provided. 4. UPDATE FROMDRAFT THE CHAIR, DEPUTY CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR 4.1. The Chair provided an update to the meeting on the following matters: (a) The Chair had been involved in various discussions in relation to the Shared Prosperity Fund and emphasised that it is now clear that CLEP will not be involved in disbursing the Fund. (b) NP11 - The Chair provided a brief update in relation to the NP 11 Board meeting that had been held earlier in the week and mentioned in particular that NP11 was concerned that the North as a whole makes !2 representations on appropriate matters that are best done at a Northern level. (c) Local Government Reorganisation – CLEP had been lobbied by various parties. This issue was to be discussed in more detail later in the meeting. (d) The Chair mentioned that there had been various meetings with the Cumbrian MPs and points of discussion included infrastructure, Freeports and the proposed coal mine. (e) The Chair and the Chief Executive had held a meeting with Simon Fell MP to discuss the problems facing Ulverston and in particular the planned closure of the GSK site. (f) Borderlands Economic Forum – the Chair had attended an induction meeting and stated that the Forum had made a good start and would be a good link for CLEP. (g) The Chair advised the Board that he had attended a private meeting about the future of forestry organised by Confor at which Anne-Marie Trevelyan had been in attendance. It was clear that there were different approaches to the future of forestry. (h) The Chair mentioned that the majority of his time has been spent in relation to Newton Rigg and that he and the Chief Executive had provided evidence to the EFRA Committee in the House of Commons. He had emphasised in particular the wider impact that the closure of Newton Rigg would have on Cumbria. The next step was that the Committee would send a letter to the relevant Minister. Developments thereafter were awaited. (i) LEP Scrutiny Board – The Chair and Chief Executive had appeared in front of the LEP Scrutiny Board. (j) The Chair had attended a meeting of the Cumbria Leadership Board and provided an economic update. (k) In the House of Lords, the Chair had provided a question about levelling up. DRAFT (l) The Chair had attended a briefing by the Chair of Radioactive Waste Management regarding Geological Disposal Facility. 4.2. The Deputy Chair informed the Board that much of his focus has been on Investment Panel work, on which further details would be provided under the relevant agenda item. He suggested to Board members that they might wish to watch Countryfile on Sunday evening for an item in relation to National Parks with implications for the Lake District National Park. !3 4.3. The Vice-Chair updated the meeting on the following matters: (a) The Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal – had now been signed, providing £350 million of Government investment and an expectation of approximately £100 million of matched funding across the whole Borderlands area. Delivery could therefore now formally start, although some projects had already started. (b) The Community Renewal Fund - Cumbria Council is the lead authority on this, with the fund being launched last week. Proposals for up to £3 million of funding are invited from any one of the District areas. The funding must be spent by 31 March 2022, with proposals to be submitted by 17 May 2021. The Investment Panel would be invited to prioritise these projects so that they could be submitted to MHCLG by 18 June 2021. (c) Project Gigabyte – the Vice-Chairman emphasised that this was a hugely important project for Cumbria with somewhere in the region of £5 billion of investment. Gigabyte connectivity is a significant issue in Cumbria at present, with the aim of the project being to provide as close to 100% gigabyte capability to UK properties as possible. 40% of UK property currently had gigabyte connectivity, but for Cumbria only 7% of properties had that capability. Negotiations had resulted in the underspend of around £1 million on the current broadband top-up scheme, which was to be carried forward. The Vice-Chair suggested that Jonathan Harris could present to a future Board Meeting in relation to the Project. Members agreed that this would be helpful. Action Point: The Chief Executive to invite Jonathan Harris to attend a future meeting of the Board to provide a presentation on Project Gigabyte. (d) Northern Transport Acceleration Council (NTAC) - The Vice-Chair explained that the NTAC had been set up by Grant Shapps. He had attended a recent NTAC meeting at which the new bus strategy had been the most significant item of discussion. The County Council had received £1.5 million from the Rural Mobility Fund, which was a pilot project for on-demand bus services in rural areas. The bus strategy requires Local Authorities to enter into enhanced partnerships with bus operators in their area. If this was not done, they would not be eligible for theDRAFT future operating grants from the Government. (e) The first stage of the Design and Build Contract for the Carlisle Southern Link Road had now been awarded and was in the standstill period. (f) Various staff changes were taking place at Cumbria County Council. The Chief Executive, Katherine Fairclough, was leaving to join the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Julie Crellin (Section 151 Officer) was leaving to join the City and Guilds as a Senior Manager. Allan Harty and Alison Hatcher had also been internally !4 promoted. Board members offered their congratulations to Alison Hatcher on her appointment as Assistant Director for Growth and Infrastructure. 5. MATTERS ARISING NOT COVERED ELSEWHRE ON THE AGENDA 5.1. The Chief Executive invited the Board to note the update and advised that this would be covered by exemption. She then made specific reference to the BAE 150-year anniversary celebrations and advised members that Maisie Hunt, CLEP’s Head of Secretariat was liaising with Steve Cole’s team about how best to support this event.