Agenda item

Report of the Director of Built Environment

Further to Minute No. 39 of the meeting held on 18 August 2011, the Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Built Environment which provided an update on the Council’s role in the Merseyside Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) major project which had been awarded funding by the Department for Transport.

RESOLVED:            That

(1)       the elements of the Merseyside LSTF major project to be delivered in Sefton, be noted;

(2)       it be noted that Merseytravel is the lead accountable body for the Merseyside LSTF major project;

(3)       the Strategic Director - Place be authorised to enter into a formal agreement with Merseytravel for the funding, delivery and monitoring of the project;

(4)       the Council be recommended to approve the inclusion of £646,000 in the Capital Programme to be phased as indicated in paragraph 2.5 of the report;

(5)       the Council be recommended to approve the inclusion of £300,000 grant funding from Sustrans in the Capital Programme towards the delivery of the Hightown to Formby Coastal Path Improvements;

(6)            subject to the Council approving the recommendations in resolutions (4) and (5) above, officers be authorised to commence the commitment of the funds; and

(7)       it be noted that this proposal is a Key Decision but had not been included in the Council’s Forward Plan of Key Decisions.  (Consequently, the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regeneration and Environmental Services) Services had been consulted under Rule 15 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules of the Constitution, about the decision being made by Cabinet as a matter of urgency, on the basis that it was impracticable to defer the decision until the commencement of the next Forward Plan, because of the need to secure an amendment to the Capital Programme in sufficient time to deliver the elements required in 2012/13.  The Department for Transport announcement of the overall allocation for the Merseyside major project was only made on 27 June 2012 and subsequently confirmed in a letter to Merseytravel dated 4 July 2012.  However, this did not indicate which elements of the overall major project would be funded and confirmation of the level of funding for Sefton’s elements of the project was only received from Merseytravel in a letter dated 19 July 2012.  The project requires an amendment to the Capital Programme to include the grant allocation of £166,000 capital resources for 2012/13.  The allocation for 2012/13 must be spent in 2012/13 and cannot be carried forward.  Approval to amend the Capital Programme is therefore required at Cabinet on 16 August and Council on 6 September 2012.  If the decision was deferred until the next Forward Plan, the amendment to the Capital Programme would not be made until Council on 22 November 2012.  This delay would make it impossible to achieve the required spend of the 2012/13 allocation.  The recent nature of the announcement and funding details meant that it was not included on the Forward Plan and the timing of future Cabinet and Council meetings means that it cannot be deferred to the next Forward Plan.)