Agenda item

The Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Principal Officer, Transport and Highways Policy that

·    Updated Cabinet on the progress to date in relation to the development and future delivery of the Growth Deal 3 Major Scheme: Oldham Town Centre Regeneration and Connectivity, which is part of the Greater Manchester Transport Capital Programme.

·    Advised Cabinet of the Governance process associated with Growth Deal Major Schemes and the implications this has for Oldham, particularly in terms of resources and funding.

·    Sought delegated approval for a number of matters to ensure that delivery timescales could be met and grant take-up was maximised.

Cabinet were informed that Oldham Council had been awarded a £6 million Local Growth Deal 3 grant by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority for a major scheme ‘Oldham Town Centre Regeneration and Connectivity’. The spend deadline for this funding was March 2021.

The scheme had so far been granted Programme Entry status in the Greater Manchester Transport Capital Programme. The Combined Authority’s governance process required the Council to prepare and submit Conditional and Final business cases to TfGM for approval before it could access the grant. Under the GMCA governance process, the scheme contingency

would be held centrally by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) in a single pot, rather than at individual scheme level.

Following submission of an outline programme to TfGM in June 2017, work was now underway to finalise the programme of works that would make up the scheme and to develop the Conditional Business case for submission to TfGM for approval. The programme was being designed to complement a final Town Centre Masterplan once agreed.

Cabinet noted that various delegated approvals were being sought which were intended to ensure that the programme could be delivered within the March 2021 spend deadline and grant take-up was maximised. The options available for procuring the works were also set out in the report.

Cabinet asked that their thanks be passed on to the officers involved in putting the bid together.

Cabinet was recommended to note:

·       That the Greater Manchester bid to the third round of the Local Growth Fund in July 2016 included a £25 million bid for funding towards the Oldham Town Centre Regeneration and Connectivity scheme (1.1).

·       That the Growth Deal 3 Major Scheme Oldham Town Centre Regeneration and Connectivity had been allocated £6 million and gained Programme Entry status in the Greater Manchester Transport Capital Programme on the basis of the Strategic Outline Business Case produced by Oldham Council for the June 2016 bid (1.3).

·       That an outline programme for the £6 million was submitted to Transport for Greater Manchester in June 2017 (1.4).

·       The GMCA governance process and guidance associated with Major Growth Deal funded schemes (2.1).

·       That there were two main gateways to obtaining Full Approval following Programme Entry Status: Conditional Approval and Full Approval and that passing these gateways would be done through the submission of business cases (2.3).

·       That TfGM had agreed that a hybrid governance process was more appropriate for this scheme which would involve obtaining Conditional Approval via GMCA for the overall programme under the Major Scheme governance process and subsequent Full Approval for sub-packages of work under the minor works governance process, which was delegated to the GM Transport Strategy Officer Group (2.6).

·       That under the GMCA Governance Process, scheme promoters, including Oldham, were required to initially cash-flow their own scheme development and business case preparation costs. Subject to eligibility these would be recoverable on gaining Conditional Approval (3.1).

·       That under the GMCA Governance Process, the contingency allowance for Growth Deal 3 schemes would be held centrally by GMCA, not by the scheme promoter, and would be at programme level rather than at individual scheme level (3.2).

·       That Unity had been commissioned to progress scheme design, which was required to obtain Conditional Approval, and to ensure that delivery timescales aligned with the wider town centre regeneration programme. This involved spending Council resources which would be recovered from the £6 million Growth Deal 3 allocation on gaining Conditional Approval (4.3).

·       That some schemes in the proposed GD3 programme already had scheme design and delivery budgets available in Oldham’s transport capital programme, for example King Street Bridge (M0127) and Retiro Street (within M0121), which were being used to develop those schemes to Conditional Approval status. Achieving Conditional Approval status would enable scheme design costs to be reclaimed, which would free up resources in the transport capital programme. Further resources associated with scheme delivery would also be freed up when Full Approval status had been achieved (4.3).

·       That delivery of some elements of the package had commenced, for example Middleton Road Bridge, which was providing match-funding (4.5).

Cabinet was recommended to agree:

·       That authority was given to the S151 Officer and the Deputy Chief Executive People and Place to sign off the business case for submission to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) for Conditional Approval of the overall programme (2.8).

·       That authority was given to the S151 Officer and the Deputy Chief Executive People and Place to sign off the mini business cases or shift statements for submission to TfGM for Full Approval of sub-packages of work (2.8).

·       That Authority was given to the S151 Officer and the Deputy Chief Executive People and Place to sign off any requests to draw down central contingency during scheme delivery (3.2).

·       To ringfence any freed up resources to the transport capital programme for delivery of other transport priorities to be agreed by the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods in consultation with Capital Investment Programme Board (4.4).

·       That authority was given to the relevant Cabinet Member to make any changes to the GD3 programme deemed necessary after Conditional Approval had been attained (ie between Conditional Approval and Final Approval, and potentially during the scheme delivery phase (4.10)).

Options/Alternatives considered:

Option 1 – to proceed with developing and delivering the Growth Deal 3 Major Scheme: Oldham Town Centre Regeneration and Connectivity by approving the recommendations. This would ensure that the project met the GMCA governance requirements and secure the necessary GMCA approvals to enable the development and delivery of the programme by March 2021, and maximise the take-up of the £6 million available.

Option 2 – not to approve the recommendations. This would lead to delays in the development and delivery of the programme, which could result in the loss of grant funding and compromise the Council’s reputation at GM level as an authority that delivers, which could impact on its ability to secure grants through other GM bidding opportunities.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet would consider the commercially sensitive information contained at Item 15 of the agenda.