Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from those Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

Apologies were received from Cllr Alison Munro, Cllr Bill Armer, Cllr Harry McCarthy, Chris Friend and Jonathan Milner.

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on the 12 August 2024.

The minutes of the Panel meeting held on the 12 August 2024, will be submitted for approval at the next panel meeting.

Members will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have any disclosable pecuniary interests or any other interests, which may prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items.

No interests were declared.

Most agenda items take place in public. This only changes where there is a need to consider exempt information, as contained at Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. You will be informed at this point which items are to be recommended for exclusion and to be resolved by the Panel.

All agenda items were considered in public.

The Panel will receive any petitions and/or deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also submit a petition at the meeting relating to a matter on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Members of the Public must submit a deputation in writing, at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting and shall subsequently be notified if the deputation shall be heard. A maximum of four deputations shall be heard at any one meeting.

No deputations or petitions were received.

To receive any public questions.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, the period for the asking and answering of public questions shall not exceed 15 minutes.

Any questions must be submitted in writing at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting.

In accordance with Council Procedure rule 11, Mr Chas Ball, Secretary from Kirklees Cycling Campaign attended the meeting and asked a number of questions.  Responses to the questions were provided by the Service Director for Skills and Regeneration.

To note and comment on the annual update on the Council’s major transport capital programme.

Contact: Rashid Mahmood Head of Major Projects and Ilyas Ramjan

Strategic Partnership Lead.  Tel: 01484 22 1000

Edward Highfield, Service Director, Skills and Regeneration, provided an update on the Kirklees Major Transport Capital Schemes Annual Report for 2024.  The Panel was advised that the aim is to bring an annual report through the democratic process.  The annual report will look back in terms of what has been achieved and the progress and then looks forward for the next 12 months regarding what specific actions, delegations and decisions are needed to keep the transport programme moving.  An approach like this is welcomed and is warranted given the scale of the programme.

This was undertaken last year; however, a lot of the focus last year was on the inflation review and particular effort on phasing the Cooper Bridge Programme which took up 90% of the attention last year.  This year, the hope is that it will be business as usual. The appended report aims to set out what the key projects are, recognising that this is not the totality of the highways capital programme, this is just the transport infrastructure projects which are largely funded through the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.  The report also sets out what those projects are and their current status.  Some are delivered and completed and are being evaluated, some are currently on site and are being delivered, and some projects have planning permission and a contractor lined up and ready to go, and some are further out in time.

Some have been pipelined which means they are still a priority and there is an ambition to deliver them, however, at this moment in time there is no funding associated with the project.  They are on the ‘shelf’ and while it is disappointing they are not being delivered, when funding does become available, the intention is to match pipeline projects to whatever funding opportunity comes along.  There are a set of known projects either at concept or outline business case stage which will enable these projects to be matched to the requirements of funders which will stand the council in good stead for the future.

RESOLVED:

That Edward Highfield be thanked for providing an update on Kirklees Major Transport Capital Schemes, Annual Report 2024.

The Panel will receive a presentation providing a progress update on Our Cultural Heart.

Contact:  Edward Highfield, Service Director, Skills and Regeneration.  Tel: 01484 221000

Cllr Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance and Regeneration, introduced the item advising the Panel that looking around Huddersfield town centre there is a great deal of work on demolition being undertaken.  Initially the work was inside therefore it was not visible, however it is now possible to physically see boots on the ground working to deliver the vision for Huddersfield.

Edward Highfield, Service Director, Skills and Regeneration, presented an update on the Our Cultural Heart development. Referring to the presentation slides, the Panel was provided with a summary of progress so far, a reminder in terms of the masterplan, an update on the phasing and progress in relation to phases one and two and beyond.

In summary, the Panel was reminded that the Huddersfield Blueprint, was launched in June 2019, with the aim of transforming the town centre.  Cultural Heart is one of the six target areas and is not the entirety of the blueprint, but delivery of the Cultural Heart is the big standout flagship initiative within the blueprint.  The blueprint sits under the priority of the Corporate Plan, to continue to invest in the towns and villages as a recognition of the economic future of Kirklees and the importance of the town centres despite the challenges being faced in local government.  It is therefore important to remain ambitious, and talk about the economy as much as possible and what is going to generate future opportunities for residents and also the tax base of council, to ensure a strong alignment between this agenda and the council’s Corporate Plan.

The Panel was informed that the overall construction budget for Cultural Heart is included within the council's Capital Plan, and while it may seem like a big number, it is over a period of time.  This is not additional funding it is planned into the budget cycle over a long period of time.

In terms of construction, whilst the buildings are important, it is what happens inside the buildings that really matters, that is what people experience and the quality that it needs to offer. As work is being undertaken on the construction side, work is also being undertaken with council services to prepare the pre-opening and the opening and operation of the individual services. 

To give some assurance, there is a Town Centre Operations Management Board, which co-ordinates the integration of the decision making of those individual services in terms of wider governance.  The Cultural Heart project reports to the programme board internally, to an officer led programme board on a monthly basis, and also reports through to Cllr Turner, Portfolio holder for Regeneration.

The Panel was informed that progress is reviewed regularly by Cabinet through the gateway process.  Going through the concept, the outline design, the more detailed design, and actual decision to proceed or not, is a Cabinet decision and this is done on a staged process through what is called gateways.

Phase one,  has been through the contract award, and is on site delivering, and future  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.