A new departure for the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, which met online rather than in person for the first time, due to the coronavirus restriction on meetings and gatherings.
The Combined Authority can use online meetings while councils cannot (until the law changes), because the Mayor has a ‘power of general competence’ which means he can do anything the Board can do, with a few important exceptions. The online meeting at least enabled Board members to give their views to guide the Mayor’s decisions – and a number of non-urgent items were deferred.
Technologically it worked rather well, and it will be interesting to see whether remote meetings in local government will be allowed to continue and become more common even after the present situation is over.
I was there as usual as Chair of the Combined Authority Overview & Scrutiny Committee, to ask questions put together by the Committee. The Overview & Scrutiny Committee itself also couldn’t meet in person as it usually does two days before the Board meeting, so we assembled our questions by email over the weekend. Clearly the question of Covid-19 was on everyone’s mind.
The Board received the Forward Plan – March 2020 and agreed the Designation of Monitoring Officer and Director of Angle Holdings Ltd and the Designation of Scrutiny Officer.
The Overview & Scrutiny Committee had asked for the Mayor to make a statement on Covid-19 and the Combined Authority’s response, which he did 7.1 Combined Authority Response to Covid-19 (7.1 – Appendix A, 7.1 – Appendix B, 7.1 – Appendix C).
The Budget Monitor Update – March 2020 item was deferred.
The Overview & Scrutiny Committee asked how the Combined Authority’s Treasury Management Strategies 2020-21 (2.2 Appendix 1 – Capital Strategy , 2.2 Appendix 2 – Treasury Management Strategy, 2.2 Appendix 3 – Investment Strategy, 2.2 Appendix 4 – Minimum Revenue Provision Statement) would be reviewed, as the shock to the economy of Covid-19 might mean they would need more frequent and in-depth review. This will be a matter for the Combined Authority’s Audit & Governance Committee in the coming year.
The Market Towns Programme – Approval of Masterplans for Huntingdonshire (3.1 Appendix 1 – St Ives, Huntingdonshire – Prospectus for Growth Market Town Masterplan, 3.1 Appendix 2 – Huntingdon, Huntingdonshire – Prospectus for Growth Market Town Masterplan, 3.1 Appendix 3 – Ramsey, Huntingdonshire – Prospectus for Growth Market Town Masterplan) for St Ives, Huntingdon and Ramsey were approved. I asked on behalf of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee why we had not received the information we had been promised two months ago, about how councillors and communities were being engaged in these masterplans, and was told this response would be given to us by the end of the week.
Two items from the Combined Authority’s Transport & Infrastructure Committee, on Lancaster Way A142 – A10 Roundabout Improvements and St Neots River Great Ouse Northern Crossing Cycle Bridge, were deferred to a future meeting. The Overview & Scrutiny Committee had wanted to know which projects in the St Neots Masterplan would receive the funding which would have been spent on the abandoned crossing project. We were told a call was being put out for ideas.
The Board agreed a £100m Affordable Housing Programme (Non-Grant) – Cambridge City, Histon Road, Development Loan to Laragh Homes for a development including affordable housing in Histon Road in Cambridge. The Overview & Scrutiny Committee had asked what the tenure of the affordable homes would be, and what accessibility standards they would be built to. We were told that the original plan of six affordable rent and four shared ownership had been amended to seven affordable rent and three shared ownership. The properties will be built to Part M4(2) accessibility standards, ‘accessible and adaptable dwellings’. One Board member drew attention to the total of £21.6M now spent by the Combined Authority with this particular developer.
The Business Board Governance Review was agreed.
On behalf of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee I asked about the Enterprise Zone Funding Utilisation report and which assumptions would need to be revisited in the light of Covid-19. The Combined Authority had information for businesses on its website at https://cambridgeshirepeterborough-ca.gov.uk/news/issue-number-3-unprecedented-support-for-business/ which was current at the time of the meeting.
The Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Sector Strategy was deferred. The Overview & Scrutiny Committee had asked how this would be reviewed in the light of the economic effects of Covid-19, and I was told that all strategies were being reviewed.
The Overview & Scrutiny Committee has an online meeting scheduled for Monday (30 March), but we are still unsure whether we will be legally permitted to hold it. Strange and uncertain times.
