Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from David Malone and Tony Walker. It was also noted that Councillor King may be required to leave the meeting early.

Members are requested to declare the existence and nature of any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or other interests, not already on their register of interests, in any item on the agenda and withdraw from the meeting at the appropriate time.

Members were requested to declare the existence and nature of any disclosable pecuniary interest and/or other interest, not already on their register of interests, in any item on the agenda and withdraw from the meeting at the appropriate time.

There were no declarations of interest at this meeting.

To approve as a correct record and the Chair to sign the Minutes of the Clay Cross Town Board held on 18 June 2021.

RESOLVED – That the Minutes of the Clay Cross Town Board held on 30 April be noted by the Chair.

Board considered proposals to replace Councillor Dale on the board with Councillor Cupit due to his commitments on Derbyshire County Council’s (DCC) Cabinet. Councillor Dale stressed the importance held by the Board and that he would continue to take an interest and hold discussions outside of the meeting.

It was noted that Councillor Cupit would be able to bring local knowledge to the Board due to her role as a Councillor within the area.

Members agreed that rather than replace Councillor Dale, Councillor Cupit should be added onto the Board as an additional Member.

RESOLVED –

1.     That CCTDB noted the contents of the report;

2.     That the CCTDB endorsed Councillor Cupit as an additional Board Member in addition to keeping Councillor Dale on the Board.

The Assistant Director for Economic Development, Regeneration and Housing Delivery updated the Board on the Terms of Reference (ToR) as agreed with the working groups associated with the business cases. The Working groups had agreed to the ToR with the only change being that the frequency of meetings moved from monthly to every other month or as and when required.

RESOLVED –

1.     That the CCTDB noted the contents of the report;

2.     That the CCTDB agreed to the updated ToR for the working groups associated with the business cases. The only change being the frequency of the meeting from monthly to bi-monthly.

The Director of Growth and Economic Development presented the report which drew the Board’s attention to several key risks and issues that had emerged during the business case preparation phase.

The report listed seven risks which could be considered within three groups.

The first risk was centred on time scales and pressures for the work to be completed within the 12 month Government time scale. Progress against the programme would continue to be monitored, and the risk of any other significant delays reported to future Board meetings.

The second was around the creative hub and difficulties around future management arrangements. The Board was asked if they were able to recommend anyone who could manage the hub as well as any social enterprise that would need to be involved in Clay Cross Creative. Members were encouraged to email the Assistant Director for Economic Development, Regeneration and Housing Growth if they had any recommendations.

The third group related to the work on the Bridge Street site. Due to a lack of investment interest in new leisure facilities within the area, the Working Group would contemplate alternative development options.

Melanie Phythian reassured the Board that there was room for flexibility on the programme time scales.

It was recommended that the Town Board project team would develop a revised programme to outline those projects that would require longer to reach outline business case for submission.

A revised plan would be brought forward within the next month and a critical path would be established for each of the projects based on the updated baseline position.

The Board requested an update on risks and delays ahead of the next meeting.

Members were also made aware that because Town Deal Funding Agreements would be issued on a year-on-year basis and not for the length of the project, there was a low risk that the funding may stop before the project had been completed.

Melanie Phythian reassured the Board that the grant offer letter would highlight the annual profile through the programme and that the precedent had been set with growth details and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) did receive money that was profiled for them.

It was noted that the Board had expressed concerns surrounding the risk posed to the Council by the annualised basis for cash flows.

The Board agreed to present the idea of using the Creative Hub as a practical learning development opportunity to Chesterfield College.

RESOLVED –

1.     That the CCTDB noted the contents of the report.

2.     That the Board endorsed the measures for minimising programme delays and completing the required business cases for the projects identified in the Clay Cross Town Investment Plan.

Appendix To Follow

The Assistant Director for Economic Development, Regeneration and Housing Growth presented a range of scoping reports to the Board for their approval. These documents would provide clarity to the working groups in terms of their remit.

Town Board had a wide ranging discussion over the scoping documents. In particular, when discussing Clay Cross Connections, Members raised the option of looking into GPS Services if the Highways Analysis from Derbyshire County Council was not forthcoming but noted that this decision would have to be approved by the Board and DCC as the transport authority.

Members also heard that the Community Business Conversation had taken place the previous year and the result of this would be circulated to the Board.

It was clarified that point three of the Clay Cross Connections scoping document could be read that the Board were seeking reduce parking but this was not the case. It was highlighted that access to car parking should be considered as part of the survey that would be undertaken.

The Board were reminded that any low carbon energy network strategy must relate to DCC’s work on a network energy strategy.

Members discussed the reduced level of Towns Fund grant allocated to the Low Carbon Housing project. It was agreed that it would be preferable to demonstrate a quality project and that a smaller number of houses with a higher level of emissions reductions would now be the approach due to funding constraints.

A housing needs assessment for Clay Cross would be circulated to the Board following the meeting.

The Board noted that a soft market testing exercise would be taking place to identify further potential sites for the Low Carbon Work Space project.

RESOLVED – That the Board approved the scoping reports as presented.

Councillor Renwick thanked Members of the Board, Officers and Stake Holders for their continued work.

The Assistant Director for Economic Development, Regeneration and Housing Growth provided an update on the Cultural Development Fund and creative hub project. The Board heard that it was too early to enter a submission at this stage.

The date of the next meeting is scheduled to take place on 5 November 2021.

The Chair to move:-

That the public be excluded from the meeting during the discussion of the following items of business to avoid the disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3, Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, (as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006). 

RESOLVED -

That the public be excluded from the meeting during the discussion of the following items of business to avoid the disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3, Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, (as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006).

The Board considered a report to procure 3D building models which could be used to support the development of the business cases as well as engaging with various stakeholders such as the community and local businesses.

RESOLVED –

1.     That the CCTDB noted the contents of this report.

2.     That the CCTDB agreed to the photogrammetric 3D models to include ‘level of detail 3’ as well as additional layer, to include points of interest such as roads, pavements, parking, trees, water, bridges and rail.

Members were updated on the Towns Fund business case assurance quotes in order for them to select their preferred consultant.

RESOLVED – That the CCTDB selected MACE (through the SCAPE framework) submission for the business case assurance.

The Board received a list of options for the recently announced early release funding.

RESOLVED –

1.     That the Board noted the contents of the report.

2.     That the Board approved the prioritised list as presented to allow costings to be acquired for approval for a future board.

Members considered options for the redevelopment of the recently cleared former depot site on Bridge Street, Clay Cross.

The Board were also presented with opportunities for site assembly and the use of early release funding and the accelerated fund.

RESOLVED –

1.     That the Board noted the contents of the report.

2.     That the Board agreed for a meeting to take place between NEDDC Officers and the owner of a site adjacent to the former depot site and noted the update on other land assembly options.