The Clackmannanshire bridge to ochils

9 March 2021

MINUTES of MEETING of the STIRLING AND CLACKMANNANSHIRE CITY REGION DEAL JOINT

COMMITTEE held via MS Teams on 9 March 2021 at 2.30 pm

Present

Councillor Ellen Forson (In the Chair) Councillor Martha Benny

Councillor Kenneth Earle Councillor Neil Benny Councillor Scott Farmer Ms Eileen Schofield

In Attendance

Nikki Bridle, Chief Executive, Clackmannanshire Council Carol Beattie, Chief Executive, Stirling Council

John Rogers, Executive Director, Research and Innovation, University of Stirling Brian Roberts, Chief Operating Officer, Stirling Council

Pete Leonard, Strategic Director (Place), Clackmannanshire Council John Craig, City Region Deal Office, University of Stirling

Jim Boyle, Section 95 Officer

Dave Hunt, Programme Management Officer, Clackmannanshire Council Bruce McLure, City Region Deal Programme Manager, Stirling Council Councillor Donald Balsillie, Clackmannanshire Council

Stuart Oliver, Senior Manager, Economic Development, Culture & Tourism, Stirling Council Emma Fyvie, Emma Fyvie, Senior Manager, Development, Clackmannanshire Council Debbie Carter, City Deal Programme Manager, Clackmannanshire Council

Lindsay Thomson, Senior Manager, Legal and Governance, Clackmannanshire Council Gillian White, Committee Services, Legal and Governance, Clackmannanshire Council

CRD83     APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTIONS

None.

CRD84     DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

John Rogers, Executive Director, Research and Innovation, University of Stirling advised that he was also attending the meeting in his capacity as interim Head of the Regional Project Management Office and that he would endeavour to make it clear in which capacity he was acting.

CRD85     MINUTES – SPECIAL MEETING 5 FEBRUARY 2021

The minutes of the special meeting of the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal Joint Committee held on 5 February 2021 were submitted for approval.

Decision

The minutes of the special meeting of the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal Joint Committee held on 5 February 2021 were agreed as a correct record.

CRD86     CITY REGION DEAL QUARTERLY DASHBOARD

Following the agreement at Joint Committee 5 February 2021 that the Deal will move into Delivery with the issue of the Grant Offer Letter for FY 2021/22, Joint Committee will receive a quarterly Dashboard report.

The report had been provided to enable Joint Committee to familiarise themselves with the format of this Dashboard and report. Future dashboards will be provided to Joint Committee in meetings held in April, July, October and January each year. In the update, the overall status is assigned as ‘Amber’. There are no actions required from the Joint Committee.

Decision

The Joint Committee agreed to note the City Region Deal Quarterly Dashboard.

Councillor Neil Benny provided feedback on the format of the Dashboard, requesting that the use of acronyms and abbreviations is limited where possible; and also asked if the name of the designated senior officer could be added to each of the projects.

Action

John Rogers, Executive Director, Research and Innovation, University of Stirling

CRD87     FORWARD PLANNING

  • JOINT COMMITTEE ROLLING ACTIONS LOG

The Joint Committee Rolling Action Log as at 9 March 2021 was submitted for information. The log had been made up of actions outstanding from previous minutes and members had the opportunity to question progress on the actions.

Decision

The Joint Committee agreed to note the content of the Rolling Action Log.

(b)   JOINT COMMITTEE FORWARD PLAN

A list of items currently on the Joint Committee Forward Plan as at 9 March 2021 was submitted for information. The Forward Plan had been populated with the Joint Committee monthly meeting dates.

Decision

The  Joint  Committee  agreed  to  note  the  items  on  the  Joint  Committee  Forward  Plan.

CRD88     OUTCOMES OF THE DELEGATED GROUP WORK ON IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

Following the signing of the Deal in February 2020 the country went into COVID response. The impact of this on the Deal had been under revision during the Financial Year 2020/21 and had included a number of iterations of the Implementation Plan reviewing the milestones and financials across the 10 years of the Deal against the impacts of COVID.

The Joint Committee established a Working Group which was delegated to work with the Regional Programme Management Office (RMPO) to finalise the Implementation Plan and Financial Profile.

The report, submitted by the RMPO presented an overview of the key outcomes of the work of the delegated group in the period 30 July – 3 November 2020; and recommendations for consideration by Joint Committee.

Decision

The Joint Committee agreed:

  1. To note that the Implementation Plan and Financial profile presented to and approved by Joint Committee 5 February 2021 was built from the work undertaken by the Delegated Group as summarised in this paper;
  • To note the Assumption/Problem/Solution matrix (as outlined in Appendix 1) used by the Delegated Group as their framework for engagement to ensure that:
  1. the working group operated within the delegations given to them by Joint Committee;
  • there was a common set of objectives across the partnership to shape thinking;
  • projects that could support the recovery phase from COVID were prioritised to come forward where possible to the earlier years of the Deal in order to provide the greatest economic impact;
  • partners would confirm to the Delegated Group that a robust review on readiness to deliver projects against the milestones and spend profile laid out by them in the Implementation Plan had been conducted and;
  • the overall implementation plan would be analysed to ensure that the projects were aligned to maximise benefits and in such a way as to minimise intra-deal competition between projects.
  • To note the flexibilities in current Deal practice outlined in the paper which have been secured with UK and Scottish Governments’ and which will support partners’ plans to mitigate the risks related to COVID impacts, particularly in relation to the financial resilience of partners;
  • To note that partners undertook a full review of financial options to smooth the Financial Profile and support the financial constraints across the partnership as a result of COVID including looking at borrowing and Financial Transactions;
  • To note that partners made adjustments to projects in order to smooth the profile and support financial constraints including:
  1. realignment of Scotland’s International Environment Centre (SIEC), through a formal change control process, from a programme to a project to accelerate economic impact and recovery contribution;
  • Clackmannanshire Council seeking internal approval for the allocation of some of the Clackmannanshire Council capital budget previously assigned to land purchase for SIEC to early stage development of SIEC;
  • the agreement that the Clackmannanshire Fund (£8m) would be profiled from Year 5 of the Deal onwards.
  • To approve the following recommendations from the Delegated Group to Joint Committee:
  1. To approve the proposal to bring forward a paper to September Joint Committee on an Innovation Thematic Board to support the work of the Innovation Investment Strand;
  • To confirm that the work of the Delegated Group as outlined 30 July 2020 has been completed satisfactorily against the delegations provided by Joint Committee and that the group will now fold.

CRD89     SKILLS & INCLUSION PROGRAMME OUTLINE BUSINESS CASE

The report by Emma Fyvie, Senior Manager (Development), Clackmannanshire Council, presented the Skills & Inclusion Business Case for approval.

Decision

The Joint Committee agreed to:

  1. Approve the Outline Business Case (OBC) provided at Appendix 1 ; and
  • Note progress since the OBC was endorsed by Scottish Government in October 2019

Action

Emma Fyvie, Senior Manager (Development), Clackmannanshire Council

Councillor Farmer raised the issue of governance around the sign off of business cases and the question of how to engage elected members in both Clackmannanshire and Stirling Councils. Lindsay Thomson advised that the Joint Committee does have delegated authority to take all decisions in terms of the business cases but recognised that the Joint Committee has a responsibility to engage with representatives of all partner organisations prior to the full business case stage.

Carol Beattie, Chief Executive, Stirling Council advised that Stirling Council had taken a holistic approach to providing information to elected members, and recognised that time must now be built into the process to support convenors. Nikki Bridle, Chief Executive, Clackmannanshire Council also advised that there had been discussions with the chief officers’ group to put in place a critical pathway to formalise that internal governance.

Councillor Farmer suggested that the Chief Officers’ Group take an action forward to consider formalising engagement with representatives of all partner organisations and come back to the Joint Committee with proposals, taking into account that where there are cross-border implications, it may be more effective to hold joint briefings.

Action

Chief Officers’ Group

CRD90              REGIONAL ENERGY MASTERPLAN OUTLINE BUSINESS CASE

The report by David Hopper, Sustainable Development and Public Transport Manager, Stirling Council provided the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal Joint Committee with contextual information on the Regional Energy Masterplan – detailing the requirement for the project and the origins with regards to the City Region Deal.

In accordance with HM Treasury Green Book Guidance, a Five Case business case model had been completed for the Regional Energy Masterplan – which set out the justification for the proposal and examined the potential delivery options to enable a decision to be made on the best way to progress to bring the greatest value and benefits to the City Region.

The business case had been through internal governance and had been approved to go to Joint Committee.

This report outlined the governance arrangements for the project, along with the delivery programme and cost. The principal purpose of this report was to seek approval from Committee to proceed with the Regional Energy Masterplan process.

There is no match funding requirement from Stirling Council or Clackmannanshire Council for this element.

Decision

The Joint Committee agreed to:

  1. Note the strategic importance of the Regional Energy Masterplan;
  • Note the endorsement from Scottish Government of the 5 stage Business Case for the Regional Energy Masterplan;
  • Approve the recommendations from the business case to progress the Regional Energy Masterplan;
  • Approve the capital allocation of up to £200K from the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal to fund the delivery of this project;
  • Delegate the authority to the Chief Executives of Stirling and Clackmannanshire Councils to deliver the project on the basis of the funding of up to £200K being provided from the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal fund; and
  • Note that regular progress updates will be provided to the Joint Committee as the project progresses.

Action

David Hopper, Sustainable Development and Public Transport Manager, Stirling Council

Councillor Neil Benny requested that details of what’s actually within the business cases should be shared with all elected members and partner organisation representatives, rather than the business case itself. It was suggested that a briefing session should be arranged between agreement of the outline business case and a reasonable period prior to consideration of the full business case by the Joint Committee. He suggested that the Regional Project Management Office factor this into the timeline for business cases going forward.

Action

Regional Project Management Office

The Chair declared the Meeting closed at 3:25pm .