Bradford Council is a constituent member of West Yorkshire Combined Authority (the Combined Authority) and Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “Z”) provides a headline summary of this relationship. The report also outlines progress on shared ambitions, key strategies, investment and service delivery undertaken in partnership with the Combined Authority and LEP.

Recommended –

That Members comment on and support the on-going relationship and partnership working with the CA and LEP.

(Jamie Saunders – 01274 434123)

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “Z”) was submitted to the Committee to provide Members with a headline summary of the relationship as a constituent member of West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA).  The report also outlined the progress on shared ambitions, key strategies, investment and service delivery undertaken in partnership with WYCA and LEP.

Since 2014 Bradford Council had together with WYCA been delivering the country’s largest Growth Deal and were also responsible for collaborating with partners to deliver the West Yorkshire + York Transport Fund. Combined Authority projects were estimated to deliver £398 million to benefit local people and the wider economy of the city region.

The Managing Director of WYCA attended the meeting and made a presentation to Members with details of the politicians involved, WYCA personnel and the four key priority areas as below.  It also gave an overview of Bradford’s role, its own priorities and highlights for Bradford.

Boosting productivity

Enabling Inclusive Growth

Delivering 21^st Century Transport

Supporting Clean Growth

Resolved –

(1)  That Officers of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority be thanked for their attendance.

(2)  That the Committee welcomes the positive highlights and key Bradford priorities in the report, and requests a further report in 12 months time.

ACTION: Strategic Director, Place

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “BA”) updates the committee on the outcome of the delivery of the 2018/19 programme of schemes of the West Yorkshire Transport Strategy.

Recommended –

That progress on transport programmes across both Integrated Transport Block and Highways Maintenance Block allocations in the 2018/19 financial year be noted

(Richard Gelder – 01274 437603)

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “BA”) was submitted to the Committee to provide Members with an update on the outcomes of the delivery of the programme of schemes for 2018/19 as part of the West Yorkshire Transport Strategy.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) developed and adopted a long term plan to deliver a modern, integrated transport system to support the plan for sustained and healthy economic growth.  The strategy was based around five core principles:

Road network

One system, public transport

Places to work and live

Smart futures

Asset management and resilience

The updates included the Bradford Interchange and Forster Square Station, West Yorkshire+ Transport Fund and Air Quality (and the impact on public health).

The report provided some examples of the projects being undertaken and their progress to date or completion as appropriate.  These included Safer Roads Projects, Traffic Signal Asset Management, Road Safety Cameras, Street Lighting, Department for Transport Cycle City Ambition Grant (CityConnect2), Safer Roads Initiatives, Workplace Travel Plans and Electric Vehicles Charging Points. 

There was also a breakdown of the profiled capital costs provided in the documents appended to the main report.

Resolved –

That the Committee notes the progress on transport programmes across both Integrated Transport Block and Highways Maintenance Block allocations in 2018/19, and requests an update report in 12 months time.

ACTION: Strategic Director, Place

The report of the Assistant Director, Economic and Development(Document “BB”) is provided for information to give an update on the progress made and plans for stimulating and accelerating housing and economic growth.

Recommended –

That Members consider the content of the report, progress made to date and plans for stimulating and accelerating housing and economic growth.

(Lorraine Wright – 01274 432516)

The report of the Assistant Director, Economy and Development (Document “BB”) was submitted to the Committee to provide an update on progress made and the plans for stimulating and accelerating housing and economic growth.  The report also included updates on policy changes and identified priority areas for spending the allocated budget.

The Council was committed to ensuring the supply of the right types of homes to meet local need with an annual target of 2476 new homes to include 587 affordable dwellings.

Using the Government’s standardised method, however reduced the estimate to 1703 per year of which 411 was the affordable component.

Details of performance against targets were set out for the most recent years, which noted that the affordable housing delivery was significantly lower than the current and proposed targets.

Funding of £500,000 was allocated annually for three years to stimulate housing and economic growth activity with approval for unspent monies to roll over.

Resolved –

(1)  The Committee notes the contents of the report, and expresses its concern that future housing delivery targets may not be met.

(2)  The Committee requests that a further report be presented in 12 months to include more details on the Housing Delivery Test Action Plan.

ACTION: Assistant Director - Economy and Development

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “BC”) provides an update to a previous report of this committee on 24 July 2019 and includes details of the outcomes of a library needs assessment undertaken during May 2019 to July 2019 and indicative findings of a subsequent district wide public engagement exercise.

The findings from both the assessment and engagement exercises will be used to support the development of proposals for the future delivery of library services and delivery of the agreed budget savings for the financial year 2020-21.

Recommended –

That Regeneration and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee consider the updates provided and advise Officers on any future reporting requirements.    

(Phil Barker – 01274 432616)

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “BC”) was submitted to the Committee to provide an update to the previous report and included details of the outcomes of a library needs assessment undertaken during May 2019 to July 2019 and indicative findings of a subsequent district wide public engagement exercise.

The findings from both the assessment and engagement exercises would be used to support the development of proposals for the future delivery of library services and delivery of the agreed budget savings for the financial year 2020-21.

Since the previous report of this Committee on 24 July 2019, the library service had concluded a district wide library needs assessment which provided the basis for a district wide public engagement exercise which closed on 20 December 2019.

Officers were able to provide details of the outcome of the public engagement exercise.  Discussions with colleagues in Health and Wellbeing resulted in a proposal that was included in the latest budget report to the Executive to promote health and wellbeing.

As part of the next stage of the proposal’s development the future delivery of library services would be available for public and staff consultation during the first quarter of 2020 and prior to consideration by the Executive.

Resolved –

That the Committee requested that the final report containing options for the future of the Library Service be presented to this Committee at its meeting on 4 March 2020 – this date being subject to discussion with the Chair and officers.

ACTION: Strategic Director, Place

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “BD”) provides an update of the report to this committee on 24^th July 2019 and outlines the context in which Bradford Museums and Galleries currently operates.

It outlines the current position of the Museums and Galleries Service and the regional context and reports on the proposed plan for a potential transition year in 2020 – 2021.

Recommended –

That the Regeneration and Environment Committee consider the content of this report and the positive work that is taking place in the Museum and Galleries Service contributing to the cultural offer across the Bradford District.

(Phil Barker – 01274 432616)

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “BD”) was submitted to the Committee to provide an update to the report of 24^th July 2019 and outlined the context in which Bradford Museums and Galleries operated.

It outlined the existing position of the Museums and Galleries Service and the regional context and reports on the proposed plan for a potential transition year in 2020 – 2021.

Bradford Museums and Galleries were challenged to achieve significant revenue savings (£260,000 in 2019/20 and a further £500,000 from 2020/21).  Whilst target savings of £260,000 in 2019/20 were being delivered, the challenge of £500,000 further savings in 2020/21 remained in the plan.

The cultural offer of the District was simultaneously under review and being reframed to meet the opportunities of the City of Culture 2025 bid and other large cultural initiatives.

The Museums and Galleries Service needed a broader vision and an overarching plan for its purpose and delivery, in order to achieve the agreed budget, wider culture opportunities and to deliver a modern Museum and Galleries Service.

The report included details of Learning and Engagement work undertaken as well as a time line for a detailed action plan.  There was also a request relating to funding support as per the report from the Director of Finance relating to time limited funding to support the development of the new sustainable model of delivery.

Resolved –

That the Committee welcomed the positive outcomes detailed in the report and requests an update report in November 2020.

ACTION: Strategic Director, Place

The report of the Chair Of the Regeneration and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Document “BE”) presents the Committee’s Work Programme 2019-20.

Recommended –

That the Work programme 2019-20 continues to be regularly reviewed during the year.

(Licia Woodhead – 01274 432119)

The report of the Chair of the Regeneration and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Document “BE”) was submitted to the Committee to inform Members of the continuing work programme for 2019-20.

Resolved –

That the Work Programme 2019-20 continued to be reviewed throughout the year.

ACTION: Scrutiny Lead