Agenda and minutes

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting of the Economic Development, Environment and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel held on 23 February 2021 were taken as read and approved as a correct record.

The Transport and Infrastructure Manager and Infrastructure Programme Manager will be in attendance to provide an overview of the Middlesbrough Local Implementation Plan (LIP) and the plans for public consultation.

Recommendation: for Panel to determine whether further information is required.

The Transport and Infrastructure Manager and Infrastructure Programme Manager provided an overview of the Middlesbrough Local Implementation Plan (LIP) and the plans for public consultation.

The Local Implementation Plan was formerly the local transport plan and set out how the Council would implement its transport and infrastructure programme at a local level.  The Tees Valley Combined Authority’s (TVCA) Strategic Transport Plan had received formal approval and all five Local Authorities would be following that plan to ensure that their LIP dovetailed into the hierarchy of the wider TVCA Plan.

The LIP was a statutory requirement for all Highways Authorities to complete and set out the Council’s transport ambitions, objectives and goals.  It improved the changes of securing future funding from external sources including the Department for Transport (DfT) and the TVCA.  The Council engaged stakeholders to shape its transport policy.

The TVCA’s Strategic Transport Plan was an investment plan for different travel modes and how they helped deliver the key outcomes for the region.  The LIP would do the same but on a local level and the key drivers were:

• The Mayors Vision.
• Investment Prospectus.
• Housing Local Plan.
• Network Management Duty – to make sure a suitable transport network was delivered.
• Transport Asset Management Plan – to ensure assets were maintained with the funding available.
• Medium Term Financial Plan.

The key components of the LIP focussed on:

·         Reducing the number and severity of casualties on the Borough’s highway network.

·         Minimising congestion and managing traffic flow on the highway     network.

·         Improving highway network reliability and resilience.

·         Improving local air quality.

·         Removing transport as a barrier to accessing jobs, education and   training, leisure and retail opportunities.

·         Providing targeted interventions and measures to assist mode shift and allow highway users to make informed travel choices.

A hierarchy of need had been identified to help with a change in behaviour or modal shift, to encourage people to use cars less.  Improvements would be made to encourage more walking, cycling and use of public transport.  Roads would be used in the best way possible to make improvements for freight and goods, which in turn would improve the local economy and help local businesses to succeed.  It had been identified that building more roads was not sustainable as this would induce further demand.  If road building continued people would use cars all the time and this would not help the aims and objectives of the Council in terms of the green agenda to be met.  There was also a desire to get people as physically active as possible.

Traffic congestion was one of the major causes of economic decline, as the movement of people and goods was disrupted.  Building more vehicular infrastructure for cars was not sustainable and only achievable at the expense of public space.  This did not mean that vehicular improvements would stop, but ensure a more holistic approach was adopted for everyone.

All schemes would consider highway users in a priority order to ensure that sustainability was ingrained in projects to ensure that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20/51

The Head of Economic Growth and Infrastructure will be in attendance to provide an update on Middlesbrough Council’s successful bids for the High Streets Fund and Towns Fund.

Recommendation: for Panel to determine whether further information is required.

The Head of Economic Growth provided an update on Middlesbrough Council’s successful bids for the High Streets Fund and Towns Fund.

This funding opportunity dated back to 2019 when the government set out £3.6 billion across the UK to upgrade towns to allow them to have a meaningful say as part of the national levelling up agenda.  The two main funding programmes that Middlesbrough was eligible to apply for were the Future High Streets Fund (FHSF) and the Towns Fund.  The FHSF was launched in 2019 and Middlesbrough Council submitted an expression of interest in summer 2019 to outline its proposal in a competitive bidding process to help high street areas.  FHFS was a bespoke programme and specific high street areas had to be identified in the bid with a strategic case to fundamentally transform and upgrade high street areas.  With the benefit of the strategies that Middlesbrough Council had: the Town Centre Strategy that was extant at the time, emerging strategic and political developments across the Tees Valley and cross cutting themes with the Council; these plans provided themes to compiling the bid. 

There was an acceptance that online shopping would be a challenge to the high street and that diversification was required to bring town centres into the centre of communities as had been the case historically.  Town centres originally emerged as a centre for people gathering, trading, conducting business and social community functions.

In line with the Future High Streets Fund, in late 2019/early 2020, the opportunity for the Towns Fund presented itself.  It was less of a competitive process.  There was a lot of work on business case and very detailed analytical work was behind it.  Principally Middlesbrough’s eligibility was based on indices of multiple deprivation and the characteristics of its resident population.  Equally, Middlesbrough still had to make a strong case encompassing some of the changes that were required in the local economy and equally bringing the local community into active participation in the design and engagement in some of the funding programmes.

The FHSF bid was a Council led bid and it was Council business based on strategies developed over the years.  The Towns Fund bid had certain conditions, including that a Town Deal Board had to be established and a Town Deal Plan which was developed in 2020.  The Board was formed from representation from key stakeholders from the business, political and institutions such as colleges, universities, had come together with a remit to help to steer, shape, design and co-ordinate delivery of Middlesbrough’s regeneration priorities.  Whilst the Council was the accountable body of the Towns Fund it was a partnership bid with a partnership governance structure.

The FHSF was administrated and overseen by the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and was based on how towns could reinvent themselves to make sure high street areas had more relevance in modern society.  High streets had traditionally become more retail orientated meaning that they were much more susceptible and vulnerable to economic  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20/52

The next meeting of the Economic Development, Environment and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel would be held on Wednesday 21 April 2021 at 10.30 am.

The Chair will provide a verbal update on matters considered at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 11 March 2021.

The Vice Chair provided a verbal update on items considered at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 11 March 2021.  It was highlighted that the Panel’s Final Report on Pest Control had been approved by the Overview and Scrutiny Board and would be presented to the Executive for consideration on 11 May 2021.

None.