Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed all members to the meeting, and invited those present to introduce themselves.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Donna Livesey and Laurence O’Connor.

Lancashire County Council had not formalised the appointment of  County Councillor Aidy Riggott, so he was present as an observer in advance of that process being completed.

To receive any declarations of interest in any items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider a report setting out governance and decision making arrangements for the Town Board.

Members considered the report which set out the governance and decision making procedures to be followed and raised the following points:

In relation to the provision within the terms of reference to allow urgent decisions to be taken, why was there representation from Burnley Council in addition to the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board, when the premise of the Board is that it is separate to the Council?

As Burnley Council remains the Accountable Body for the funding, this representation ensures that as the  Accountable Body for the programme can provide procedural advice if necessary.    It was not envisaged that there would be a large number of urgent decisions.  The first step would be to attempt to arrange a special board meeting as set out in the Terms of Reference, and only if this was not possible would the urgency route be followed. 

On occasion there could be a situation where a large number of members declared an interest in an item for decision by the board, resulting in the board effectively being inquorate for that item.  In that situation, the Council’s Monitoring Officer could consider the circumstances and grant a dispensation (or exemption) which would allow conflicted members to vote on that issue.

Given the differences between the local authority governance and procedures and the private sector, an optional short explanatory session would be organised for members.

RESOLVED, that the Town Board noted:

a.    The appointment of Karen Buchanan as Chair and Leon Calverley as Vice-Chair of the Board.

b.  The membership of the Board, and it was unanimously agreed that the Term of Office for all members of the Town Board will be for a maximum of three years.  In the case of elected members (which includes Councillors, County Councillors, MP and PCC representative) the three year term will come to an end if they are no longer in office, or they are removed by the principal authority  

c.  That the Town Board note the Terms of reference and Code of Conduct with the following addition in relation to conflicts of interest:

‘Where a situation arises that due to the number of members with conflicting interests it is unlikely that the quorum will be met and no decision could be taken, the Council’s Monitoring Officer may issue (in writing) a dispensation (or exemption) which would permit members to consider and vote on that issue.  A record of any dispensations issued will be maintained alongside the register of interests.’

To consider a report which introduces the Long-Term Plan for Towns programme.

Members considered the report introducing the Long-Term Plan for Towns (LTPT) and discussed the following:

The requirements of the Board to oversee the development of the ‘Long-Term Plan’, a long-term strategic document, and submit to the Department for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities (DHLUC) by 29^th July 2024.  The plan must include:

·         A 250 word vision statement – setting out where the Board and residents would like to see the town at the end of the 10-year programme.

·         Strategic case for change, supported by evidence, planned direction of travel.

·         Community involvement – from Board membership to engagement (to date & future).

·         High-level delivery milestones over the life of the 10-year plan.

·         An initial 3-year investment plan.

Plan Boundaries:

·         The Burnley LTPT plan area as set out by government is based on the definition of a ‘Built Up Area’ (BUA) and only includes the Burnley BUA.  Whilst there is scope to make representations to alter the boundaries within  the spirit of the programme this should not introduce additional, separate towns.

·         Paragraph 12 of the report set out suggested amendments to the boundary which would not introduce additional population, but were key green spaces, active travel routes and heritage assets.

·         Members queried whether Queen Street Mill was included as the site appeared to be transected by the plan boundary. 

·         Whilst the additional areas were welcomed, it was agreed that the Brun Valley Forest Park would also meet the criteria, hosting a variety of active travel routes, open space and not introducing additional population.  This also means that the Burnley Youth Theatre is included in the plan area.

·         Whilst additional population areas such as Hapton, Padiham, Cliviger & Worsthorne could not be directly included in the plan, some of the interventions would benefit residents of these areas too. 

·          The Board should clearly acknowledge and communicate that the reason these areas weren’t included was because of the scheme guidance specifically around not being permitted to introduce new population areas.

Expenditure:

·         Further guidance awaited, although an indicative spending profile had been received totalling £19,510,000 as £490,000 will be top-sliced to fund the government’s central programme support, the High Streets and Towns Taskforce.

·         An initial three-year plan for investment would need to be submitted alongside the long-term plan detailing broad areas of expenditure (related to the three themes of  Safety & Security, Transport & Connectivity and High Streets, Heritage & Regeneration), demonstrating need, how the interventions link with others, and potential match funding sources.

·         The initial £250,000 capacity funding was being supplemented by both the Council and Burnley College in terms of staff time being provided ‘in-kind’.  This allows the balance remaining to be used to support project delivery.

·         Lancashire County Council offered development support for example employment/skills, transport etc.  LCC also had pending funding applications which if successful might provide appropriate match-funding for some interventions.

·         Was there a way to add a weighting score to procurement in order to prioritise local firms?  The Council had stringent procedures to follow, and whilst social value could be considered  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider the Draft Community and Stakeholder Engagement Plan and the proposals for early consultation.

The board considered the report setting out the initial steps that had been taken due to the short timescales, and the engagement plan for the programme.

Members also discussed the following:

The initial work was intended to provide some initial high-level data, in essence via an online survey and range of engagement activities in communities to facilitate participation offline too.  One example being a supermarket style token bank to indicate priorities.

Engaging communities would be a huge challenge, and would need careful consideration.  It was acknowledged that surveys were not always the best method of engaging but could provide quick high-level data to be built upon given the short timescales.

The need to engage to determine the priorities for the area and the most appropriate interventions to support the vision.

Members discussed the need for an Engagement Working Group which would be chaired by a member of the board, and draw in membership from the wider community with appropriate skills.  Phil Jones volunteered to Chair the group.

 It was RESOLVED that the Board:

i.              Approved the Community and Stakeholder Engagement Plan at Appendix 1;

ii.              Established an Engagement Working Group and nominated Phil Jones to chair that group.

iii.             Approved the proposals and budget for early consultation

iv.             Would receive a report at the next meeting outlining potential costs moving forward and any overheads that may be incurred.

Daniel Ratcliffe and Sally Dahmke from Burnley College previewed the Town Board website and asked members for feedback.

Members considered the following:

·         FAQ’s might be helpful

·         Numbering the themes might infer priorities so it might be better to remove the numbering

·         Engagement was a huge challenge – LCC had just consulted on the devolution deal, and had had less than 2000 responses across the county – but this was a good response comparatively.  The Board really need to push engagement throughout all communities.

·         Will the site be available in other languages – via a QR code for example

·         How to drive traffic to the website, would it be helpful to pay for advertising?  It should be a collaboration between the Council and elected members, College,  organisations represented on the board and other partners.  Lots of comms would be shared via existing pages (Burnley.co.uk, burnley social etc), and would ask partners to do the same.

·         The use of QR codes on publicity materials will allow the sources of interactions to be identified, highlighting areas to focus on, and also areas where engagement has been successful.

·         The website as a tool for the next ten years, which would continue to evolve and develop.  In the initial stage the focus was about sharing information but this would evolve during the programme lifetime.

·         Who is ‘in charge of’ managing media and reputational management?  Does there need to be a strategy developed for the programme?  There might be a cost attached, but there is funding available. 

·         It was felt there would be a clear benefit of developing a digital  strategy quickly – around what types of social media to use and who/how they would be used to benefit the programme.

·         Who would be the ‘voice’ answering queries?  It was imperative that communication be two-way, rather than people feeling ignored.  How will we feedback, are we collecting email addresses?

The Board expressed their thanks to Sally & Daniel.

Meetings will be held on the following dates in the Boardroom at Burnley College from 10am - 12noon:

Friday 19th April (not 18^th)

Friday 17th May

Friday 14th June

Friday 19th July

Future meeting dates were noted.