Agenda item

To acknowledge receipt of the funding and to approve the way forward for the project in more detail.

83.1           The report of the Deputy Chief Executive, circulated at Pages No. 137-145, set out information about funding which had been awarded to the Council from the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF). Members were asked to note the award of the funding to support the delivery of a bridge over the railway at Ashchurch to facilitate housing delivery; to note that Officers would continue to work to develop a delivery project in relation to the bridge and related development, in discussion with the relevant stakeholders including Network Rail, Gloucestershire County Council, landowners and developers; and to delegate authority to the Executive Committee to make all necessary decisions with regard to the government funding and to receive further status reports as the project progressed.

83.2           Members were advised that the HIF had been launched by the government in July 2017 to support housing delivery through the funding of vital physical infrastructure e.g. roads and bridges, with the opportunity to unlock 100,000 homes nationally. The fund was split into two key areas: forward funding – for larger schemes up to £250 million; and marginal funding – schemes up to £10 million. To support the delivery of the Joint Core Strategy (JCS) housing numbers, Tewkesbury Borough Council had entered a number of bids including a marginal funding bid to help deliver a bridge over the railway line at Ashchurch to support the development of the wider Ashchurch area. A further bid under the forward funding section, for the M5 J9 improvements and A46 off-line, had also been submitted but the results of that had not yet been announced. The award of the bid was for £8,132,465 and was based on unlocking development potential in the area for the delivery of 826 homes. This had been a highly competitive process and it was to be commended that the bid which Officers had put together had won the funding.

83.3           As part of the evidence gathering for the development strategy, transport planning modelling had taken place and this had reviewed various options of how housing growth could be delivered within the area. This work had tested the concept of a new bridge over the railway and the outputs indicated that, without such a new access point, development capacity would be severely restricted. At this stage it was not known where the bridge would go; the bid had not required specifics in terms of details or location so there was now a lot of work to do to deliver by 2021. Initial discussions had taken place with Network Rail which was supportive of the project, not least because it had a preference to close or alter the existing Northway level crossing due to safety concerns. Further conversations would need to be undertaken with Network Rail and other partners such as the Local Enterprise Partnership, Highways England, County Highways etc. in order to progress the project. In summary, the Deputy Chief Executive indicated that there were many unknowns at this stage and a detailed project brief would be required but the main purpose of the report currently before the Council was to make Members aware that the funding had been received. The Executive Committee would receive a report setting out how the project would work and to approve the setting up of a Working Group to take it forward. Any decisions required would be submitted to the Council except those delegated to the Executive Committee. In addition, the J9 Area Member Reference Panel would receive regular progress updates and a detailed communications plan would be put together so that all parties involved were kept fully apprised of the project.

83.4           In proposing the recommendation on the paper, a Member expressed the view that the Council had been lucky to win the bid which gave it a fantastic opportunity that it might not otherwise have had. It was understood that the details were currently fairly sparse in what would happen moving forward but the most important thing would be the full involvement of Members throughout the process and he felt the proposal before the Council was the most appropriate and effective way to continue. He also felt that delegation to the Executive Committee, with updates to the J9 Area Member Reference Panel, would ensure Members were fully informed. In seconding the proposal, a Member felt it was great to see the government investing in the Borough in this way and he thanked Officers for the hard work that had gone into the bid at very short notice. He felt it was a great achievement and asked Members to get behind the project so that Officers could move on and start to deliver.

83.5           During the discussion which ensued, a Member expressed the view that, whilst it was great to see the Council winning a bid for such an amount of money, he questioned what would happen to the surrounding roads. In response, the Deputy Chief Executive explained that the project for which the HIF money had been won was not a substitute for the larger issues on the A46. Another Member questioned whether the Council would still be robust with developers and landowners to ensure they continued to contribute towards Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy as they still had obligations which they must adhere to. In response, the Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that the Council would continue to be robust in that respect. In response to a further query regarding consultation, the Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that there would be a number of strands coming out of the project and a large part of that would be the communications strategy which residents would be integral to.

83.6           Referring to the fact that the funding was to ensure vital physical infrastructure was in place to unlock the development at Ashchurch, a Member expressed particular concern about the link road between Twigworth and Innsworth and questioned whether development in that area would need to be put on hold until the vital physical infrastructure was in place. In response, the Deputy Chief Executive explained that the funding bid being discussed at the current meeting was purely for Ashchurch; the funding bids for Twigworth and Innsworth were completely separate. In addition, Members were advised that, at the same time as the bid for HIF monies had been made, a second bid had been submitted for the Innsworth/Twigworth link road but this had not been successful; the Council had been advised that further information on that funding process may be provided in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. The Deputy Chief Executive undertook to discuss the Member’s particular concerns in that regard following the meeting.

83.7           Concern was expressed that the details of the funding seemed to imply the Council would need to have built the bridge by 2021 and it was considered this was extremely soon given the work which needed to be done to get to that point. In response, the Deputy Chief Executive indicated that 2021 was the date given by the government but he needed to have a conversation with the Homes and Communities Agency to understand exactly what was expected at that point. At this stage he was assuming the project would need to be delivered by 2021; it was a complex issue and there may be room for manoeuvre but at this stage he was unsure.

83.8           A Member indicated that, ever since he had seen the first press release about the funding he had thought it was good that the Council was able to attract that kind of money from the government; however, now that he understood the funding was linked to a bridge over the railway line he was unsure how that would unlock housing. He was of the view that, wherever a bridge was built in that area, it would cause traffic chaos in Northway. He felt there was no way it would work unless the funding was instead used for a link to the A46 to try and solve some of the issues which were already experienced on that road. Accordingly, he proposed, and it was seconded, that the Council note the funding award of £8,132,465 to support a link to the A46 for facilitating housing delivery; that Officers continue to work to develop a delivery project in relation to the link to the A46 and related development, in discussion with the relevant stakeholders including Network Rail, Gloucestershire County Council, landowners and developers; and to delegate authority to the Executive Committee to make all necessary decisions with regard to the government funding of £8,132,465 and to receive further status reports as the project progresses. In response, the Deputy Chief Executive advised that the HIF funding was specifically to provide an infrastructure connection to unlock the site for development and therefore its purpose was not up for discussion/amendment. He also reminded Members that the funding was not meant to provide infrastructure which would be a substitute for an A46 offline solution – no one would suggest this was a perfect solution to the traffic issues in the area on its own but it would go some way in helping enable the development which was planned. The Chief Executive indicated that, in effect, the proposal would refuse the funding that the Council had been offered. The seconder of the motion expressed his disappointment that the Council would not be able to change the way the funding was spent as it seemed ludicrous to build a bridge that would serve only to cause more traffic chaos. In response, the Deputy Chief Executive reiterated that indicative modelling had been undertaken as part of the bid and that had suggested there was capacity to free up some of the development sites in the area with a bridge; this was the reason the funding had been awarded. Officers were fully aware of the traffic issues on the A46 but this particular bid was not seeking to address that. A Member expressed concern that the Council seemed to be on the verge of giving the funding back and he felt that would be a huge mistake; he was of the view that the funding was there and should be used. In addition, another Member indicated that the A46 Partnership was looking for an off-line solution to the problems with the A46 so this was not something to be addressed with the HIF money currently under discussion. He also pointed out that the bridge could not be built by the Borough Council alone and that it would need all of its partners to work with it. He felt the conversations needed to be had with stakeholders before Officers would know whether it was possible to build the bridge and its cost; if it was found to be unfeasible then Officers would have to look at the issue again but the work needed to be done in the first instance to understand if there were issues and what they were.

83.9           Following advice from the Borough Solicitor, the proposer of the motion indicated that, as it was not possible to change what the funding was for, he would instead propose that recommendations 1 and 2 on the report be noted and that 3 be amended “that the Council go back to the government with a request that the funding be reviewed and that the grant be reassigned so that it could be used to support a link to the A46”. Upon being seconded, and voted upon, the proposal was lost. Accordingly, the recommendation on the papers, duly proposed and seconded, was put to the vote and it was

                  RESOLVED          1. That the funding award of £8,132,465 to support the delivery                                   of a bridge over the railway at Ashchurch to facilitate housing                                delivery be NOTED.

                                                2. That Officers continue to work to develop a delivery project                                    in relation to the bridge and related development, in                                                    discussion with the relevant stakeholders including Network                              Rail, Gloucestershire County Council, landowners and                                             developers.

                                                3. That authority be delegated to the Executive Committee to                                      make all necessary decisions with regard to the government                                  funding of £8,132,465 and to receive further status reports                                     as the project progressed.