ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD High House Production Park , Friday, 18 10:00 Vellacott Close, November 2016 Purfleet, Essex, RM19 1RJ Quorum: 3 (to include 2 voting members) Membership Mr Geoff Miles Chairman Cllr Kevin Bentley Essex County Council Cllr Paul Carter Kent County Council Cllr Rodney Chambers Medway Council Cllr Keith Glazier East Sussex Council Cllr Rob Gledhill Thurrock Council Cllr John Lamb Southend Borough Council Angela O’Donoghue Further Education/ Skills representative Myroulla West Higher Education representative For information about the meeting please ask for : Ian Myers (Secretary to the Board) [email protected] Tel: 03330134575 Page 1 of 116 Meeting Information All meetings are held in public unless the business is exempt in accordance with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1972. Most meetings are held at High House Production Park, Purfleet. A map and directions to can be found http://hhpp.org.uk/contact/directions-to-high-house- production-park If you have a need for documents in the following formats, large print, Braille, on disk or in alternative languages and easy read please contact the Secretary to the Board before the meeting takes place. If you have specific access requirements such as access to induction loops, a signer, level access or information in Braille please inform the Secretary to the Board before the meeting takes place. For any further information contact the Secretary to the Board. The agenda is also available on the Essex County Council website Page 2 of 116 Part 1 (During consideration of these items the meeting is likely to be open to the press and public) Pages 1 Welcome and Apologies for Absence 2 Minutes 5 - 14 To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meetings held on 16 September 2016 and 10 June 2016 3 Business Case Approvals 15 - 32 4 LGF Capital Programme Management Update Report 33 - 76 5 M20 Junction 10A 77 - 82 6 LGF Proje ct Changes Report 83 - 92 7 Amendment to Skills Capital Programme: Hadlow 93 - 100 College 8 Amendments to Skills Capital Programme: Canterbury College Report to follow 9 Update from Canterbury College re: Funding A verbal update will be received from Graham Razey and Paul Sayers in relation to the Canterbury College skills project in Swale, Kent which was approved at the last SELEP Accountability Board meeting on the 16 th September 2016. 10 Half Year Financial Report and Forward Look 101 - 114 11 Future meeting dates 115 - 116 To agree the dates of future meetings. 12 Urgent Business To consider any matter which in the opinion of the Chairman should be considered in public by reason of special circumstances (to be specified) as a matter of urgency. Exempt Items Page 3 of 116 (During consideration of these items the meeting is not likely to be open to the press and public) To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of an agenda item on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as specified in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 or it being confidential for the purposes of Section 100A(2) of that Act. In each case, Members are asked to decide whether, in all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption (and discussing the matter in private) outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 13 Urgent Exempt Business To consider in private any other matter which in the opinion of the Chairman should be considered by reason of special circumstances (to be specified) as a matter of urgency. Page 4 of 116 Friday, 16 September 2016 Minute 1 ______________________________________________________________________ Minutes of the meeting of the SELEP Accountability Board, held in High House Production Park Vellacott Close, Purfleet, Essex, RM19 1RJ on Friday, 16 September 2016 Present : Cllr Rodney Chambers Medway Council Cllr Mark Dance Kent County Council Cllr David Finch Essex County Council Cllr Rupert Simmons East Sussex Council Cllr John Lamb Southend Borough Council Angela O’Donoghue FE & Skills (FEDEC) Myroulla West Higher Education (HEIs) Amy Beckett SELEP Suzanne Bennett Essex County Council Adam Bryan SELEP Chris Burr Southend Borough Council Kim Cole Essex County Council Dominic Collins Essex County Council Richard Dawson East Sussex County Council Stephen Gasche Kent County Council Steve Hewlett Medway Council Stephanie Mitchener Essex County Council Accountable Body Cllr Gagan Mohindra Epping Forest District Council Rhiannon Mort SELEP Mark Nickalls East Sussex District Council Lorna Norris Essex County Council Sarah Nurden Kent and Medway Economic Partnership Andrew Osborne Ashford Borough Council Tim Rignall Thurrock Council John Shaw Sea Change Sussex Lisa Siggins Essex County Council 1 Welcome and Apologies for Absence Apologies were received from Mr Geoff Miles, Cllr Keith Glazier who was substituted by Councillor Rupert Simmons and Councillor Paul Carter who was substituted by Councillor Mark Dance. Apologies also received from Councillor Rob Gledhill. 2 Minutes Councillor Lamb pointed out that the minutes of the meeting held on Friday 24 Page 5 of 116 Friday, 16 September 2016 Minute 2 ______________________________________________________________________ June 2016 incorrectly stated that he represented Thurrock Council rather than Southend Borough Council. It was confirmed that they would be amended accordingly but were otherwise agreed as a correct record and signed on behalf of the Chairman 3 Business Case Approvals including Independent Technical Evaluation The Board received a report from Rhiannon Mort the purpose of which was to make the Board aware of the value for money assessment of business cases for schemes having been through the Independent Technical Evaluator (ITE) process to enable funding to be devolved to scheme sponsors (county and unitary councils) as part of the capital programme management. The Board received clarification of the situation regarding the assessment of value for money assessment in respect of each of the two cases. Clarification was also provided regarding Eurostar service delivery which would be affected by the Ashford International scheme. Resolved: 1. To approve the business case for the following scheme which has been assessed as presenting high value for money and demonstrates medium to high certainty of achieving this: • A127 Bridge & Highway Maintenance (£1,000,000) 2. To approve of the business case for the following scheme which has been assessed as presenting high value for money, but demonstrates low to medium certainty of achieving this: • Ashford International Rail Connectivity (£5,627,000) 3. To approve the increase in Local Growth Fund (LGF) allocation to Ashford International Rail Connectivity (Ashford Spurs) project from £5,000,000 to £5,627,000. 4 Capital Programme Management The Board received a report from Rhiannon Mort which updated the Board on the latest position of the Local Growth Deal Capital Programme The Board sought details of the underspend and discussed the risks and mitigation put in place. Resolved: 1. To note the updated spend forecast for 2016/17 and future years of the LGF programme; 2. To note the forecast requirement for re-profiling of LGF spend between 2016/17 and future years of the LGF programme; 3. To note the LGF projects that have incurred changes under the 10% tolerance; and 4. To note the project deliverability and risk assessment. 5 Skills Capital Fund Approval The Board received a report from Adam Bryan which presented recommendations regarding three projects submitted under the auspices of the Skills Capital Page 6 of 116 Friday, 16 September 2016 Minute 3 ______________________________________________________________________ Building Projects and Equipment fund. As requested by board members at the special Accountability Board on 24th June 2016, two projects were resubmitted for consideration. A third project, erroneously overlooked during the last bidding round, has also been subject to assessment. Members had a lengthy debate in respect of the funding request relating to Canterbury College, Swale Campus Construction Extension as this involved funding at 90% of the total cost of the project. Reservations were expressed by some Members due to the level of funding involved but it was also pointed out that the project would have an enormous positive impact on the local area. There followed a show of hands with 4 Members voting in favour of approving the request and 1 member abstaining. Thereafter it was Resolved: 1. To approve the allocation of £116,783 from the fund to the Harlow College, E-Hub - for supporting Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. 2. To approve the allocation of £223,798 from the fund to Canterbury College, Swale Campus Construction Extension – to meet local and regional skills needs around the construction sector; subject to an acceptable outcome from the completion of an independent technical/financial appraisal of the project. 3. To note that in considering 1 and 2 above The bid does not meet the match funding requirement of 50% as it is requesting funding at 90% of the total cost; and 4. To note that in considering 1 and 2 above The bid does not meet the minimum score required for a compelling case of 130/144 with a score of 82. 5. To agree that any overspend arising from an over-allocation of the Skills Capital pot is funded by headroom in the broader Local Growth Fund programme and managed as part of the overall approach to LGF capital programme management. It should be noted that an approval of 2.1.2 to the amount requested will result in an over-allocation of the fund of £14,661. 6. To decline the application for funding of £112,159 by the Creative Skills, Touring Technical Theatre Masterclasses on the basis of it not meeting the minimum scoring threshold for funding of 72, with a score of only 18 out of 144. It was also agreed that representatives from Canterbury College be asked attend a forthcoming meeting of the Board to provide reassurance regarding it receiving a 90% funding contribution and to provide an update concerning project deliverability.