Report of the Leader of the Council attached.

This report provides an overview of work undertaken and progress towards the delivery of the Council’s priorities as set out in the Our Manchester strategy for those areas within the portfolio of the Leader of the Council.

The Committee considered the report of the Leader of the Council, which provided an overview of work undertaken and progress towards the delivery of the Council’s priorities, as set out in the Our Manchester strategy, for those areas within his portfolio.

The Chair invited Dr Marc Hudson from Climate Emergency Manchester to speak.  He welcomed that the Council had declared a climate emergency and outlined the role of his organisation, highlighting that they set up a petition to establish a seventh scrutiny committee to specifically look at addressing climate change and a call for the Council to examine other sources of funding, including the use of strategic reserves.  He commented that having submitted a Freedom of Information request, it had been highlighted that there had been limited speeches on climate change to Manchester residents from the Leader, Executive Member for Environment, Planning and Transport or the Chie Executive since the Council had passed the Climate Emergency motion in July 2019, and urged that more attention was given to this by local politicians and senior council officials.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees discussions within the Leaders report were:-

·                Was there any further anticipated funding from government to mitigate the impact of Brexit in Manchester;

·                Was there any serious prospect of an alternative construction for HS2 to accelerate the construction between Birmingham and Manchester;

·                Was there any update on the future of Trans Pennine Express rail service;

·                Was there any update on the alternative proposals for Piccadilly train station, given that neither of the two current options were future proof;

·                Connected to the above, was there any further update on the future of, Platforms 15 and 16 at Piccadilly Station

·                Further information was requested on the multi-agency approach to improving the work and life prospects of the 25% of 50 – 67 year olds in receipt of out-of-work benefits;

·                Was there any indication of what the Shared Prosperity Fund would look like and where possible shortfalls in funding might be with lack of access to European funding streams; and

·                Was there any update on the approval of the Greater Manchester Industrial Strategy by the newly formed Government.

The Leader advised that at the present moment, it was not expected that government would provide any further funding to Manchester to mitigate the impact of Brexit.  In terms of the construction of HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester, GM was proposing an alternative timetable, adding that Government had already indicated that they wanted to accelerate the timetable of the construction of Northern Powerhouse Rail by 2035.  In relation to Trans Pennine Express (TPE) rail service, they were the 5^th worst performing rail franchise in the country and the likelihood in the short term was that they would likely need to reduce the number of services operating due to the failure to undertake work at Manchester Oxford Road and Piccadilly Station.  TPE attended and were held to account at the GM Mayors Transport Board which met quarterly and the work to improve the performance of TPE was considered at each meeting.

The Committee was advised that in relation to HS2 and the future of Piccadilly station, work had been commissioned to look at the exiting proposals for the station which had resulted in an alternative option being put forward to deliver a solution that would suitable accommodate both HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) – a single station, consisting of six platform pointing towards Leeds as opposed Stockport.  This alternative had attracted government’s interest and a peer review was currently being undertaken.  This in turn meant that should the new proposal be successful, all existing HS2 and NPR plans that had been considered though Scrutiny and the Executive would need to be remodelled.  In terms of platforms 15 and 16, The Combined Authority was preparing a GM Infrastructure Plan which would cover a wide remit and encompass a review of the Castlefield corridor as well as the future of platforms 15 and 16 at Piccadilly station.

The work with over 50’s was effectively taking the working well approach and increasing the number of people put through this approach and although the ambition was to get as many people of working age into work, it was also about improving peoples quality of life.

It was anticipated that announcement around the Shared Prosperity Fund would be made around the time of the budget, bearing mind European Regional Development Funding was still being applied for.  Clearly what Manchester was asking for was that the quantum should be equivalent to what was previously received through European funding plus match funding and continued to be devolved.

Furthermore, in relation to the GM Industrial Strategy, the Leader reported that it was anticipated that the newly formed Government would continue to support the GM Industrial Strategy.

Decision

The Committee notes the report.