MINUTES of MEETING of the STIRLING AND CLACKMANNANSHIRE CITY REGION DEAL JOINT COMMITTEE held via MS Teams on 5 October 2021 at 2.30 pm Present
Councillor Martha Benny Councillor Neil Benny Graeme Duff
Councillor Kenneth Earle
Councillor Ellen Forson (in the Chair) Councillor Chris Kane
Eileen Schofield Professor Leigh Sparks
In Attendance
Carol Beattie, Chief Executive, Stirling Council
Nikki Bridle, Chief Executive, Clackmannanshire Council
John Craig, Interim Head of Regional Programme Management Office Martin Dalziel, Team Leader, External Communications, Stirling Council Graeme Forrester, Lead Solicitor – Governance, Stirling Council
David Hopper, Public Transport and Sustainable Development Manager, Stirling Council Amy Kentley, Regional Programme Management Office
Pete Leonard, Strategic Director (Place), Clackmannanshire Council Sara McDermid, University of Stirling
Nick McGann, Communications, Clackmannanshire Council Nicole McIntosh, Regional Programme Management Office Paul Morris, Regional Programme Management Office
Stuart Oliver, Senior Manager, Economic Development, Stirling Council
Dr John Rogers, Executive Director, Research & Innovation Services, University of Stirling David McDougall, Governance Officer, Stirling Council (minutes)
CRD125 APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor Scott Farmer.
CRD126 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
None.
CRD127 URGENT BUSINESS
None.
CRD128 MINUTES – JOINT COMMITTEE MEETING 7 SEPTEMBER 2021
The minutes of the meeting of the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal Joint Committee held on 7 September 2021 were submitted for approval.
Decision
The minutes of the meeting of the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal Joint Committee held on 7 September 2021 were agreed as a correct record.
CRD129 FORWARD PLANNING
- JOINT COMMITTEE ROLLING ACTION LOG
The Joint Committee Rolling Action Log was submitted for information. The log had been reviewed and updated to remove completed actions and provided comment on outstanding actions.
In response to a query from a Member, it was confirmed that regular updates would be brought to Joint Committee from SCREAB and REF Boards once established.
Decision
The Joint Committee agreed to note the content of the Rolling Action Log.
(b) JOINT COMMITTEE FORWARD PLAN
A list of items on the Joint Committee Forward Plan was submitted for information.
Decision
The Joint Committee agreed to note the items on the Joint Committee Forward Plan.
CRD130 CRD PROJECT PERFORMANCE DASHBOARD
The Progress Report Dashboard had been produced for Joint Committee to provide a high-level summary of the status of the Deal. The Dashboard would be provided to Joint Committee on a quarterly basis.
The dashboard was used across the City Region Deal’s governance structure to monitor progress across all aspects of the City Region Deal. It was updated monthly and shared with both Scottish and UK Governments.
A RAG (Red, Amber, Green) scale was assigned to each programme and project by the Delivery Partners and then reviewed by the Regional Programme Management Office (RPMO).
The overall status of the Deal was Amber, which was the same as the previous quarter report which was shared in July. There were no actions required from the Joint Committee.
Decision
The Joint Committee agreed to note the progress made across the City Region Deal Programme as shown in Appendix 1 to the report.
CRD131 WALK, CYCLE, LIVE STIRLING – FULL BUSINESS CASE
Walk, Cycle, Live Stirling (WCLS) was the lead project within the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal Active Travel portfolio. The Full Business Case (FBC) for the project had been endorsed by the Scottish Government and was presented for approval by the Joint Committee. Following Committee approval of the FBC, the project would proceed to construction contract award delegation approval scheduled for November 2021.
WCLS would create two high quality active travel corridors with enhanced placemaking opportunities at key locations on the routes. The development would provide sustainable travel options which prioritised journeys on foot or by bike. These corridors would connect Stirling University, Forth Valley College, local schools, communities, employment centres, transport hubs, leisure, recreation and tourism opportunities with the wider Stirling and Clackmannanshire region and the city centre. If you are in the market for, our platform is your best choice! The largest shopping mall!
Approval of the FBC would enable the procurement process to be concluded with award of contract delegation permissions requested at Stirling Council’s Environment and Housing Committee in November 2021. Awarding a contract would enable the project to continue to construction and was planned for completion in the Spring of 2024.
Decision
The Joint Committee agreed:-
- to approve the Full Business Case for Walk, Cycle, Live Stirling; and
- to note that, following approval, the project would proceed to the Stirling Council Environment & Housing Committee to request award of contract delegations, with construction award being served in November 2021.
CRD132 LIVE BROADCAST OF CRD JOINT COMMITTEE MEETINGS
This report advised Joint Committee of the requirement for meetings to be accessible to members of the public; advised of the proposal to meet this requirement by live broadcast of CRD Joint Committee meetings; and asked Committee to agree to the live broadcast and recording of all meetings, starting from the next scheduled meeting of the CRD Joint Committee.
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 provided members of the public with a general right of access to local authority meetings subject to specified exclusions relating to, among other things, confidential and commercially sensitive matters.
The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 added an exclusion which allowed for the prevention of access to meetings where to allow access would pose a real and substantial risk to public health due to infection or contamination with coronavirus. This additional exclusion was to be repealed from 1 October 2021. Accordingly, all local authorities would require to provide live access for members of the public to meetings, subject to the pre-existing exclusions noted above.
To enable appropriate access for members of the public to meetings of the City Region Deal Joint Committee, it was proposed to use the system adopted by Stirling Council. During the period where Stirling Council had the Chair and was responsible for all Joint Committee meeting arrangements, the meetings would continue to take place using the established MS Teams system, but in addition to recordings being made available following the meeting, a live feed of each meeting would be available to watch via Stirling Council’s YouTube channel. Live broadcasting of these meetings would meet the requirements for public access to meetings.
Decision
The Joint Committee agreed:-
- to note that from 1 October 2021 all local authority meetings required to be accessible to the public ‘live’, including the City Region Deal Joint Committee which was established under Sections 56 and 57 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973; and
- to the live broadcasting and recording of all City Region Deal Joint Committee meetings, starting with the Joint Committee meeting scheduled for 2 November 2021.
The Chair declared the meeting closed at 3.10 pm