1. Agenda
Teams Teleconferencing Tuesday 7 July 2020, 16:30- 18:30
Members of the Board
Council Leaders
L Cocking, Broxbourne Borough Council
A Williams, Dacorum Borough Council
L Haysey, East Herts District Council
D Williams, Hertfordshire County Council
M Bright, Hertsmere Borough Council
M Stears-Handscomb, North Hertfordshire District Council
C White, St Albans City and District Council
S Taylor, Stevenage Borough Council
S Bedford, Three Rivers District Council
P Taylor (Mayor), Watford Borough Council
T Kingsbury, Welwyn and Hatfield Borough Council
Council Chief Executives
J Stack, Broxbourne Borough Council
S Marshall, Dacorum Borough Council
R Cassidy, East Herts District Council
O Mapley, Hertfordshire County Council
S Bijle, Hertsmere Borough Council
A Roche, North Hertfordshire District Council
A Foley, St Albans City and District Council
M Partridge, Stevenage Borough Council
J Wagstaff, Three Rivers District Council
D Nolan, Watford Borough Council
R Bridge, Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership
M Bretton, Chairman
N Hayes, Chief Executive
Hertfordshire Growth Board
P Dell, Director – Hertfordshire Growth
2. Minutes
To confirm the Minutes of the Board meeting held on 2 June 2020
3. Hertfordshire Growth Board (HBG) Programmes update
Programme updates from Political and Chief Executive leads:
- MHCLG Engagement Workstream
- Hertfordshire Southern East – West Growth Corridor Programme Board
- Hertfordshire Northern East – West North Growth Corridor and NEC Joint Planning Update
4. Hertfordshire Growth Board (HGB)– MHCLG Workstream -Growth and Recovery Prospectus 2020 (working draft)
Confidential item – not for future publication due to the confidential and developing nature of the strategic matters covered by the report and appendices
5. Hertfordshire Growth Board (HGB) Communications Update
Presentation of the HGB microsite- Lucy Gravatt HGB Comms Lead
6. Hertfordshire Growth Board (HGB) Budget Update
7. Standing items
South West Herts Joint Plan
S Marshall, Dacorum Borough Council (verbal update)
Single Housing Investment Grant Harlow Gilston Garden Town update
P Dell, Hertfordshire County Council (verbal update)
8. Date of next meeting
The next planned meeting will be held on 8 September 2020 9.30 to 11.30 via Teams Teleconferencing unless advised otherwise. In the light of the stage reached in discussions with MHCLG, and inputs to the negotiation process that may be needed in July and August. Leaders are asked to agree to the scheduling of a further HGB meeting early August.
9. Any other business
If you require further information about this agenda, please contact Elaine Manzi, Democratic and Statutory Services, Hertfordshire County Council on Telephone 01992 588062, or email elaine.manzi@hertfordshire.gov.uk
Minutes
Attendance
Members of the Board
Council Leaders
L Cocking, Broxbourne Borough Council
A Williams, Dacorum Borough Council
L Haysey, East Herts District Council
D Williams, Hertfordshire County Council
M Bright, Hertsmere Borough Council
M Stears-Handscomb, North Hertfordshire District Council
C White, St Albans City and District Council
S Taylor, Stevenage Borough Council
S Bedford, Three Rivers District Council
P Taylor (Mayor), Watford Borough Council
T Kingsbury, Welwyn and Hatfield Borough Council
Council Chief Executives
J Stack, Broxbourne Borough Council
S Marshall, Dacorum Borough Council
R Cassidy, East Herts District Council
S Bijle, Hertsmere Borough Council
D Scholes, North Hertfordshire District Council
A Foley, St Albans City and District Council
M Partridge, Stevenage Borough Council
J Wagstaff, Three Rivers District Council
D Nolan, Watford Borough Council
R Bridge, Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
Local Enterprise Partnership
M Bretton, Chairman
N Hayes, Chief Executive
Hertfordshire Growth Board
P Dell, Director – Hertfordshire Growth
1. Apologies
There were no apologies for absence.
2. Minutes
The Minutes of the Board meeting held on 7 April 2020 were confirmed as a correct record subject to a minor amendment at 5.3. This currently reads:
‘Board members were disappointed to learn that the national Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) Bids for Brookfield and Broxbourne had been unsuccessful…’
This will be amended to: ‘Board members were disappointed to learn that the national Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) Bids for Brookfield and Baldock had been unsuccessful….’
The Chairman advised that papers for this and immediate future meetings would be published in the public domain on the county council’s website here once the meetings had taken place: https://democracy.hertfordshire.gov.uk/mgCommitteeDetails.aspx?ID=372
It was noted that in due course the papers would be published on the Hertfordshire Growth Board’s website once it had been developed.
Admin note- due to the fact that the meeting was held virtually, the minutes of the meeting will be signed by the Chairman at the next non virtual meeting of the Committee.
3. Hertfordshire Growth Board – Programme Update
3.1
The Board received a report providing an update on overall progress with the key Growth Board programmes including the roll out of the Covid-19 reviews.
3.2
The Board were interested to learn that officers would be meeting John McManus from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on 1 July 2020.
3.3
The Board welcomed the news that Lucy Gravatt had been appointed as the Hertfordshire Growth Board Communications Lead on a part time basis.
3.4
It was reported to the Board that good progress had been made on the Hertfordshire Southern East – West Growth Corridor Programme, and gaps where work or development was required had been identified.
3.5
The Board were pleased to learn that the East-West North Growth Corridor Programme and North, East and Central Joint Planning Programme had now been merged and the first meeting was to take place before the next Growth Board.
3.6
It was noted that work was also being undertaken in several other areas of the programme, including planning for the impact on local employment numbers and work on climate change and sustainability.
3.7
In response to a Board Member challenge, assurance was received that the costings for the programme would be presented to the next meeting of the HGB through the quarterly budget report.
3.8 RESOLVED
The Board noted the overall progress across the Growth Board programme and individual workstreams since the last meeting including the COVID-19 reviews that were taking place at programme and project level.
4. Hertfordshire Growth Board – Hertfordshire growth and recovery prosepctus 2020 (working draft)
Confidential item– not for future publication due to the confidential and developing nature of the strategic matters the report and appendices deal with
5. Hertfordshire Growth Board – Accelerating housing delivery project
group update
5.1
The Board considered a report outlining opportunities to accelerate housing delivery across the county.
5.2
In response to a board member challenge that any plans for housing needed to include social as well as affordable housing it was acknowledged that this was a consideration that would need be incorporated .
5.3
Assurance was also received that officers in the county council’s adult care services department, were working with district planning teams to consider accommodation development for adults with learning disabilities.
5.4
In response to a board member question, it was confirmed that officers had sufficient information to support the initial work on the exploration of development of new settlements within the county.
5.5
The board discussed the issue of the viability of housing development schemes, and the importance of the need for viability assessments was acknowledged.
5.6 RESOLVED
The Board
- Noted the work that had been carried out on the Accelerated Housing Delivery proposal,
- Agreed that the emerging conclusions regarding potential accelerated housing numbers, trajectories and intervention costs, be used in initial discussions with MHCLG.
6. Hertfordshire Growth Board – Communications update
6.1
Members received a report updating progress since April 2020 to get the Hertfordshire Growth Board branding and website presence established.
6.2
The Board received a presentation outlining the proposed branding for the Hertfordshire Growth Board. This was unanimously received favourably by members.6.3
The delays in the communication activity targets due to the impact of COVID-19 were acknowledged by the board.
6.4 RESOLVED
The Board
- Noted the progress and reasons for the amended milestones and give any feedback on progress and next steps, and
- Gave positive feedback to proceed with the new visual identity and HGB branding that had been shared in the presentation.
7. Hertfordshire Growth Board – Hertfordshire local enterprise partnership economic update
7.1
The Board received a presentation outlining the economic update since the last meeting of the board.
7.2
The board acknowledged the figures presented that beginning of the impact of COVID-19 on the county with a predicted £35bn economic downturn in GVA and an estimated 80-100,000 job losses.
7.3
The Board agreed that a significant focus of work would be to support the county through recovery from the post-Covid recession, predicted to last 3 years.
RESOLVED
Members noted the presentation.
8. Standing items of business
8A South West Herts Joint Plan
8.1
Members were advised that at a future meeting of the board, they would receive the results of a strategic growth study.
RESOLVED
The Board noted the update.
8B Single Housing Investment Fund – Harlow Gilston Garden Town update
8.2
The Board learn that officers had received a contracting letter from Homes England and confirmed that this now enabled a start to be made on the contracting stage.
RESOLVED
The Board noted the update.
9. Date of next meeting
The next meeting will be held at am on 7 July 2020 at 4.30pm at County Hall or by Teams Teleconferencing (to be advised closer to the date).
10. Any other business
None recorded.
Agenda item 3 - Growth Board Programmes Update
Report Author: Patsy Dell, Hertfordshire Growth Board (Tel: 07949 887794)
1. Purpose of report
1.1
This report provides an update on the overall progress of the key Growth Board programmes. More detailed updates also appear in other reports on this agenda as follows:
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Workstream – Submission of Growth and Recovery prospectus (item 4 on this agenda);
- Communications Workstream update (item 6 on this agenda);
- Growth Board Growth Fund budget update (item 7 on this agenda);
2. Overall Growth Board Work Programme Update
2.1
By way of recap, the March HGB meeting agreed priority work for the next six – nine months (at that time the period of focus for negotiations with HM Government) including:
- Meeting the commitments set out in the letter to the Secretary of State from January 2020 on behalf of all Leaders;
- Responding to the invitation from MHCLG to work with them to develop a proposition to secure HM Government support (including our level of ambition, what can be achieved in next five years (delivery and devolution new models);
- An initial portfolio of prioritised corridor delivery projects known as ‘Wave 1’ including:
- Where detailed Business Cases for infrastructure interventions could be developed in time for Spending Review (SR) 2020 (i.e. before summer recess);
- Progress that can be made over the next 0 – 5, 6 – 10 years development and delivery window;
- Projects which will contribute to accelerated outcomes and recovery: employment sites, jobs and housing delivery (with increased affordable housing availability).
2.2
As set out previously, these agreed priority programmes and projects are now also being gateway reviewed for their contribution to Covid-19 recovery.
3. Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Workstream
3.1
Leaders will be aware of the productive engagement we have had with Government throughout Winter 2019 and Spring 2020. MHCLG have continued to encourage Hertfordshire to develop their proposition and a timetable to develop / agree the proposals is being worked to. Through the on-going contact with MHCLG we have been encouraged not to lose pace on the work on our growth deal proposition and in developing Hertfordshire’s contribution to national and local economic recovery.
3.2
Since the last update, work has been focussed on further developing the Growth and Recovery prospectus and reviewing the governance and delivery arrangements that the Growth Board wants to put forward in the asks/offers to government. A workshop was held with all Leaders and Chief Executives on 25 June 2020 to work through potential governance and delivery models and clarity about the preference at this stage was established. Our draft prospectus now identifies nearly £2bn investment sought from Government.
3.3
A meeting with MHCLG Deputy Director John McManus is taking place on 1 July 2020. This will review progress with the development of the draft prospectus document, the components of the Hertfordshire offers and asks, and the timeline as currently understood for the autumn fiscal event. Leaders will be updated on the outcome of that meeting ahead of the next Growth Board. The latest draft prospectus document is at item 4 on the HGB agenda.
4. The Hertfordshire Investment Fund
4.1
The work on the Hertfordshire Investment Fund (exploration of a potential regional impact fund) has been part of the MHCLG workstream and like all other parts of the HGB programme needs the impact of the Covid-19 situation considering. Chief Executives are undertaking this review.
4.2
At the same time, in order to demonstrate the extent of current local investment in growth, planning and place-based work in Hertfordshire, the Hertfordshire Chief Finance Officers (HCFO’s) group are gathering details of current budget commitments. Taken together these are expected to be significant with the County Council alone investing £150m pa in capital and £15m pa revenue.
5. Updates on Corridor Growth Delivery Programmes and workstreams\
5.1
Further development work has been undertaken on the ‘Wave 1’ projects/programmes featuring in the prospectus to MHCLG, including; assessing for post Covid-19 contributions to economic recovery, tightening the delivery proposals and quantifying the initial investment asks.
5.2
Initial gateway reviews on the current status of individual projects have been initiated with Lead Leader and Chief Executives. Creative Industries, Harlow & Gilston, Resetting the South East Herts Economy and Watford Junction Quarter have been completed. Reviews for the other projects are planned.
5.3
Work has commenced to put the two Growth Corridors onto a Programme Board footing with a focus on overseeing the development of the Wave 1 projects into fully fledged delivery programmes, working to a set of key deliverables and milestones linked to the timetabling agreed with MHCLG.
5.4
Project Management Office (PMO) supporting arrangements are being established and a common suite of planning and reporting documents is now in use at the Steering Group level. These will be tested and trialled within both East – West corridor boards over the coming months to ensure that they provide a consistent, streamlined and fit for purpose level of accountability and milestone reporting from local project management levels through the Corridor Delivery Boards and into HGB.
6. Southern East – West Growth Corridor
6.1
The Southern East – West Growth Corridor Board is now set up under these new arrangements and meets again on the 7July 2020 to progress a forward programme and review further development work priorities to ensure each project is on track to meet MHCLG milestones over the coming year and into 2021/22.
7. East-West North Growth Corridor Programme and North, East and Central Joint Planning work
7.1
The East-West North Growth Corridor Programme and North, East and Central Joint Planning work is making progress and a Northern corridor project review workshop has been scheduled with Leaders and CEXs for 2 July 2020. Following this review, work will be prioritised to fully scope out the suite of corridor delivery projects and to establish a clear forward work programme. This will include the development of supporting project management arrangements and identifying capacity to oversee further and more detailed development work, including gearing up to produce the fuller business cases needed to meet MHCLG milestones and timetabling.
7.2
A review of NECH Joint Planning progress and agreement of a forward plan is also scheduled for the 2 July 2020.
8. Update on Place Narrative, Branding and Communications workstream
8.1
The communications update is provided at item 6 on this agenda.
8.1
The Board received an update on this work at the last meeting. The team working on this is now feeding into the MHCLG negotiations. The MHCLG/Homes England’s relationship manager is working with the team and reviewing the Hertfordshire data.
9. Update on Growth Board Programme dedicated staffing and resources
9.1
Secondments to the Growth Board Director and communications lead roles were confirmed at the last meeting. Programme and Project Management support to the overall programme steering group as well as the growth corridors is also in place.
9.2
It will remain important that in-kind capacity from the teams across the Hertfordshire partners continues to be committed to the delivery of the programmes.
10. Next Steps
10.1
Priorities for the coming month are to move forward on the MHCLG engagement and the corridor projects feeding into the prospectus work.
10.2
Communicating this progress and next steps beyond the Growth Board will also be important. Briefing key stakeholders, and keeping other members and staff involved on the wider work in touch with what is happening will be needed. The communications workstream will be identifying actions to address that need.
11. Recommendation
11.1
That Leaders note the overall progress across the Growth Board programme and individual workstreams since the last meeting.
Agenda item 5 – Communications Update
Report Authors
Patsy Dell, Hertfordshire Growth Board (Tel: 07949 887794)
Lucy Gravatt, Hertfordshire Growth Board (Tel: 07747 762698)
1. Purpose of report
1.1
At the last meeting, we reported that work on branding/place narrative has been reviewed in the light of COVID-19 and new actions identified allowing this workstream to progress with pace. This report updates on progress since the initial visual identity concepts were presented to the June 2020 Board to get the HGB branding and website presence established.
2. Update on Growth Board Communications and Branding work
2.1
Since the last meeting, the HGB new logo has been approved and is now in the process of being deployed across all marketing assets, including internal documents, external communications and digital platforms. This roll-out has been re-aligned to coincide with the go live date of the new microsite. Leaders will see a short presentation of the new microsite at the HGB meeting.
2.2
The new HGB branding guidelines set out clear guidance for brand use, tone of voice, with a programme lexicon to ensure consistency of messaging across all partner comms channels. This will be shared at a briefing session with all HGB member comms leads across the Hertfordshire partners to aid smooth brand roll-out.
2.3
The success of the brand roll-out and keeping up a steady drum beat of key HGB messages is contingent on HGB comms workstream leads (across the partners) beingable to fully commit to the on-boarding and training sessions and continuing to engage with HGB comms and engagement activity as it gathers momentum.
2.4
The website has been designed to meet new accessibility requirements being brought in this September. From 7 July 2020 onwards, all HGB Board Papers will be published on the HGB site as both downloadable files and searchable web pages.
2.5
As part of this first stage of stakeholder engagement activity, a series of Hertfordshire Growth Board webinars have been confirmed over the summer. The response from leaders has been very positive with an excellent up-take so far. All webinars will be facilitated by 3Fox with sponsorship from Morgan Sindall Construction and infrastructure.
3. Activities June-July 2020
3.1
Table 1 provides an update on the key operational activities identified in the last report and in section 3 a roll forward to July 2020. All milestones and work are being kept under review.
3.2
Priorities for the coming month are to move forward on the MHCLG engagement and the corridor projects feeding into the prospectus work.
3.3
Communicating this progress and next steps beyond the Growth Board will also be important. Briefing key stakeholders, and keeping other members and staff involved on the wider work in touch with what is happening will be needed. The communications workstream will be identifying actions to address that need.
4. Next Steps – July-August 2020
Commence roll out of HGB branding on internal and external print, partner and digital communications
By Mid-July 2020
HGB Microsite user testing if not competed by end June 2020
By Mid-July 2020
HGB Microsite go-live date; contingent on Hertfordshire County Council testing
By 10 July 2020
HGB Comms lead briefing sessions on how to deploy HGB branding guidelines
10 July 2020 TBC
HGB Webinar: Aims and Objectives
16 July 2020
HGB Monthly Stakeholder Bulletin
Third week of July 2020
HGB Communications & Engagement Strategy
End July 2020
HGB Webinar: Economic Recovery Planning
13 August 2020
HGB Monthly Stakeholder Bulletin
Third week of August 2020
Agenda item 6 - HGB Growth Fund Budget update
Report Author: Patsy Dell, Hertfordshire Growth Board (Tel: 07949 887794)
1. Purpose of report
1.1
This report updates the Growth Board on the Budget profile and commitments for use of the Growth Board Growth Fund (GBGF) in 20/21. Appendix 1 includes the current budget profile summary.
2. Changes since the last report in April 2020
2.1
The 2020/2021 budget profile has been updated to include the development of the HGB visual identity, new microsite and a provisional sum for further legal support which may be necessary to support the engagement with HM Government on the Growth and Recovery prospectus (e.g. regarding any governance changes, development/delivery models etc).
2.2
The salary costs of seconded staff appointments are now being charged to the GBGF.
2.3
Total commitments from the GBGF (e.g. running of the Growth Board, consultants’ costs, Growth Board programmes, staffing capacity and support) from 2018/19 to the end of 2020/2021 are profiled at £1,036,000. This equates to a spend commitment from the fund of £86,333 per partner over three years or £29,000 (rounded up) per partner per year.
3. Growth Board Growth Fund – Retained Business Rates update
3.1
The fund is drawing on the Herts Business Rates retention pilot growth pot. Advice previously was that the fund was anticipated to exceed £2.3m and that it was not expected to be adversely affected by Covid-19. That advice remains unchanged.
4. Recommendation
4.1
Leaders are asked to note the report and agree the revised spend profile and commitments.