Decision details

The Cabinet received a report of the Executive Director for Place and Economic Growth, which advised members that Oldham Council had secured capital funding for the development of an outline/full business case (OBC/FBC) to support a highway scheme in Oldham town centre. The report also outlined the steps that the Council would need to take to procure the necessary support to develop the scheme in the appropriate timescales and to meet the funding requirements for both development and future delivery of the scheme.

The Cabinet was informed that the Greater Manchester CRSTS programme business case had been submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT) in September 2021 by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) on behalf of themselves and all 10 Greater Manchester districts. Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) received confirmation of the full regional CRSTS allocation of £1.07bn for spend across 2022/23-2026/27 on 1^st April 2022.

On 29^th July 2022, the DfT, as the funders of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, had confirmed the delivery plans and funding allocations to each city region and sent a funding letter to each City Region Mayor.

One scheme included in the delivery plan is the Oldham-led Streets for All: Oldham Town Centre Connectivity (Phase 2) scheme for St Marys Way (Henshaw Street – Yorkshire Street). This scheme had been developed over the past year and had now secured Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) assurance through TfGM processes to move to the next stage of scheme development, utilising some of the approved DfT CRSTS capital budget.

Resolved:

1.    That the grant offer from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) for delivery of an outline/full business case (OBC/FBC) for the scheme on St Mary’s Way be accepted.

2.    That approval be granted for the Executive Director (Place and Economic Growth) on behalf of the Council to enter into a Funding Delivery Agreement with TfGM in relation to the proposed scheme development.

3.    That the intention to bring the additional resource into the transport capital programme in 2023/24 and complete development of the scheme in the appropriate timescales be noted.

4.    Approval to procure and make tender awards relating to the necessary external support required to develop the outline/full business case (OBC/FBC), be delegated to the Executive Director for Place and Economic Growth, or further delegation depending on the values of the awards.

5.    Approval be granted to use part of this resource to appoint temporary support to Council teams, as required, to progress design options, stakeholder engagement and production of the full business case to secure further capital funding for Oldham.