Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Andy Lock, Sarah Cartwright, Justin Homer & Gavin McMurty.

Clarification was sought regarding the proposed changes to the employment based project presented at the last meeting and the status of development proposed on site ES10.

·         It was confirmed that the council have approved the masterplan for site ES10. The land contained within ES10 is owned by a number of private owners. The purpose of the masterplan is to guide the development of the site to achieve its full potential, providing high quality employment, whilst responding positively to the surrounding environment by respecting the site and its surroundings, incorporating high quality green infrastructure and embracing low carbon energy opportunities.

·         The changes proposed for the Towns Fund Employment project is to consolidate project A, B and C into projects to aid viability and site constraint issues on the employment land site:

o  The first project will focus on delivering the highway infrastructure required to provide access into the ES10 site

o The second project will seek to develop a Towns Fund focused Property Investment Fund where funds would be available to address development viability gaps (primarily focusing on ES10, but could be extended to cover the widerTIP area) to facilitate creation of new or refurbished commercial floorspace

Following this clarification, the minutes were accepted as a true record.

The action from previous minutes for an update to be provided regarding monitoring and evaluation metrics this will be covered under agenda item 4

·         Councillor Wendy Cain – Embankment

·         Michael Bunting – Embankment

Highlight Reports – Rachael Allington

Risks/Financial Profile – Paul Clifford

Monitoring & Evaluation Metrics – Paul Clifford

Accelerated Project Update – Sophie Moore

• Highlight Reports: Rachael Allington presented the MHCLG Highlight reports template, providing a brief update on the business case development activity that has taken place since the last meeting, and highlighting any areas of concern. Overall business case development progressing well, these will be shared with the economic consultants. All business cases are on track for endorsement at Towns Board November/ December aiming for cabinet approval in February 2022. For the purposes of board endorsement, full project summaries will be presented for discussion, with board members being provided with the electronic links to the full business case documents and appendices.

Discussion took place regarding the level of involvement of landscape / architect design services across the Community and Cultural Hub and Heart of Goldthorpe project to ensure high quality of the end product.  Current design and costings are for the purpose of the business case approval, there will still be opportunities for community engagement and involvement to influence these areas.

Discussion took place regarding the former primary school site, and it was confirmed that the council are still expecting a revised planning application and notification of alternative developer in 2022.

Discussion took place regarding the housing regeneration and how private landlords (in particular absentee landlords) can be facilitated to ensure that landlords manage their properties appropriately.  The private sector landlord accreditation scheme is being redesigned to encourage open proactive dialogue with landlords and the council who will be proactively monitoring and managing the project.

• Risks /Financial Profile: The Highlight report presents the overall RAG rating for the projects is Amber, pending full business case and cabinet approval.

• Monitoring & Evaluation Metrics: Becca Gamble presented an overview of the Monitoring and Evaluation metric requirements. The presentation slides identifying the Town Deal 6 month and 12 month mandatory information, and additional MHCLG individual project indicators submitted as part of the TIP submission will be emailed to board members.   The indicators will be updated as part of individual business cases.

·         Accelerated Project Update: Sophie Moore confirmed that Demolition of the former Horse and Groom pub will begin on Monday 18^th October.The strip-out and demolition is expected to take up to six weeks.   Press releases have been circulated via social media, emails have been sent to all residents registered on the Towns Fund circulation list and letter drop to surrounding properties will be undertaken by the contractor

Discussion took place regarding the footpaths surrounding the demolition site. Sophie to seek feedback regarding the temporary closure of the paths whilst demolition is taking place.

Discussion took place regarding opportunity to use the fencing around the demolition site to promote towns fund activity and branding. As this is only temporary measure it will not be feasible, alternative ways of promoting activity i.e. large notice board to be investigated. Work in relation to towns fund branding is ongoing led my Mike Cotton.

Matthew Fox presented the deep dive on Project J, the Solar Farm, along with William Emtage (Energise Barnsley)

The overall concept of using towns fund and private investment via bond, to build and create a solar farm that sells the energy it generates, covers the costs of running the solar farm, provides a financial return to investors then reinvested any surplus profit into the community (currently estimated at £1m over the life of the project)

Discussion took place as to why the current model only proposes to sell the power to the Council (it was explained that the current financial model is based on having a long term secure purchaser). The question was raised whether this could be expanded to the private businesses in the area or inward investors? and could this benefit be linked to private businesses employing % of local people. Energise Barnsley agreed to discuss further with the project team.

The board informed Energise Barnsley that there are Barnsley based organisations in the Solar panel industry which may have a wider economic impact to the local area, that could be considered in the competitive assessment of any procurement exercise.

The board agreed that the full business case would seek endorsement of the principles of establishing the Community Owned Solar farm, but the detailed specifics would require a bespoke cabinet approval.

Rachael Allington provided feedback on the Towns Fund Development Board Support/Review Session held on 07/10/2021 which was led by Kate Willard on behalf of MHCLG.

This session focused on;

Operational Consideration;

•       Have we got the right skills and experience?

•       Keeping partners engaged

•       Is the board structure fit for purpose

•       Funding/Wider Growth strategy

Leadership;

•       How you can strive to deliver excellence

•       Dynamic external challenge

•       How can the board look at continuous improvement?

Overall feedback:

·         that the board is a highly functional and positive board and delivery structure.

·         We should seek to provide the board with a single page document which shows key milestones for the programme for the board to refer to at a glance.

·         Board members to act as community ambassadors and to be provided with project FAQ’s.

·         Opportunities to use Towns Fund activity i.e demolition of Horse & Groom to promote the Town Plan activity to be maximised

·         Move forward with the idea of having a Towns Fund presence in the community on a regular basis at the library.

Discussion took place regarding Community Engagement and the proposed drop-in information sessions to be held by the project team (on a rota basis) at Goldthorpe Library, and board members were asked to consider attending the sessions.  The single page plan detailing project information and key milestones will be developed to assist with the drop-in sessions.

Discussion took place regarding engagement with young people, and a motion was proposed seeking commitment to engage with the young people of the Dearne. It was agreed that a meeting would be held to discuss a co-ordinated approach to engage with the different groups.

Mike Cotton advised the meeting that the demolition of the Horse and Groom had been promoted on social media, the council’s website and emails have been sent to all the addresses on the Towns Fund contact list which is a register of all individuals and parties who have requested to be kept informed of Towns Fund developments. 

Mike Cotton will be assisting with the development of the single page information plan that will capture project information to assist with the drop-in sessions.

Mike Cotton advised that he is currently developing the brief for the Towns Fund branding competition and will be holding a further development session to discuss before this goes out for procurement.

No update provided

No update provided, Paul Clifford, to make contact with SYMCA requesting future board representation.

From November onwards will start to see the business cases being presented to board for endorsement. It is proposed that the Full Business Cases will be available to board members in advance of the meeting should they wish to view the full document, but that the board will receive presentation of the full project summary that is required to be submitted to MHCLG

The projects expected to be presented at November board are

·         Project H (Heart of Goldthorpe)

·         Projects F (Phoenix Park)

·         Project J (Solar PV Farm)

LIVE Project

Rachael Allington advised that University of Sheffield Students are now engaged on the LIVE projects, including the refurbishment of the playhouse, the orchard project and looking at the alleyways in the Pre 1919 housing strategy area.  They will be invited to attend a future meeting.

Rachael Allington advised that the Town Fund would have a presence at the Autumn Fayre, this is to be co-ordinated with Claire Dawson and Michael Bunting.

Alison Dalton provided an update on a number of housing projects

-           Unfortunately, due to a review of spending priorities the council have withdrawn the offer to purchase the development site to the rear of the ASDA site.

-           The planning application for the former Market Site will be submitted on Monday 18/10/2021, Sheffield City Region Brownfield feasibility funding monies has been increased to acknowledge the delivery of the Barnsley carbon standards on this site. The Market building will be demolished shortly, and it was suggested that the permanent hoarding could be used to promote the towns fund

-           Discussion took place regarding the yellow lines on Market Street near the post office, members asked whether these could be removed? This will be raised with colleagues in highways as part of the redevelopment of the area.

-           Discussion took place regarding Housing Strategy consultation for the pre 1919 housing area, and it was agreed that future consultation would present a couple of indicative options to consult and engage residents.

-           LIVE students are looking at options to treat the alleyways as part of their university project.

Discussion took place regarding a suggestion from the Towns Fund Board Development Session where it was suggested that the agenda should include a 10-minute review time for board members. It was agreed that this item should be included as the first agenda item for board meetings moving forward.