Minutes from the First Meeting of the AVA Board

Aylesbury Vale Local Delivery Vehicle

Delivery 2031

The First Meeting of the AVA Board
Friday 5 November 2004

Minutes

Present:-

Cllr Mike Appleyard, Karen Boddy, Cllr John Cartwright, Cllr Marion Clayton, Tony Edwards, Dr Jane O’Grady, Greg Lomax, Sir Nigel Mobbs, Cllr Carole Paternoster, Cllr Rodney Royston, Cllr Alan Sherwell, Dennis Hone

Also in attendance: -

Tracey Aldworth, AVDC, John Byrne, AVDC, Richard Carr, AVDC, Liz Clowe, AVDC, Huw Jones, BCC, Teresa Lane, AVDC Julian Lomas, GOSE, Steve Orchard, BCC, Marcus Rogers, BCC.

Apologies:-

Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, Sunil Chavda, Cllr Avril Davies, Paul Hudson.

1. Welcome and Introductions

Richard Carr welcomed members to the first meeting of the Board since the formation of Aylesbury Delivery 2031 as a Company Limited by Guarantee and introduced Greg Lomax as the recently appointed Managing Director.

2. Declarations of interests

There were no declarations of interest made in respect of the meeting.

3. Electing the Chairman and Vice Chairman of Delivery 2031

As Delivery 2031 was now constituted as a Company Limited By Guarantee, the positions of Chairman and Vice-Chairman need to be formally confirmed at the first meeting of the Board.

It was RESOLVED:-

That Sir Nigel Mobbs be duly elected as Chairman and Councillor John Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Board until October 2007.
That the role and function of the Chairman as set out in the agenda papers, be noted.

4. Minutes from previous shadow board meetings

The Board were asked to formally approve all the actions contained in the minutes of the Shadow Board meetings, and in particular the actions associated with the appointment of the Managing Director.

It was RESOLVED:-

That the decisions and actions taken by the Shadow Board as outlined in the appendices to the report be endorsed and, in particular the appointment of Greg Lomax as Managing Director be confirmed.

5. Brief update on LDV related matters

It was confirmed that the LDV was formally established as a Company Limited by Guarantee on 27 October 2004, with Pat Ward as the Company Secretary. Progress was continuing to be made with other matters related to the full operation of the Company.

It was RESOLVED: -

That the Managing Director be authorised, in consultation with the Chairman, to finalise operational issues such as office accommodation and staffing, in line with the LDV business plan.
That any action required prior to the arrival of the Managing Director is delegated to the Local Authority Chief Executives, in consultation with the Managing Director and the Chairman.

6. Government’s response to the Milton Keynes South Midlands panel’s report on the sub-regional strategy

The Board considered the report outlining the latest position with the Government’s response to the MKSM Panel’s report. It was noted that in addition to setting targets for housing growth, targets were also proposed for job growth and the Board were particularly concerned about the ratio of jobs and homes, issues relating to the proposals for infrastructure investment including in waste water. A draft response taking into account the issues raised by the Board would be prepared and circulated in advance of the next meeting.

It was RESOLVED: -

That the latest position with the Government’s response to the Panel’s report on the MKSM Sub Regional Strategy be noted.
That the Board’s initial comments be reflected in the draft response from the LDV to the Government’s proposals, to be considered in detail on 14th December 2004.

7. Transport presentation and update on the Local Transport Plan

Marcus Rogers of Bucks CC gave a presentation on the Local Transport Plan and copies of the presentation were circulated at the meeting. The next Local Transport Plan covering the period 2006-2011 was being prepared currently and a number of symposiums are being held across the County to discuss the key issues. The Aylesbury event had been held on 1 November. There would be formal public consultation on the LTP in the Spring of 2005, with the final submission to Government by July 2005.

The key priorities relating to Aylesbury included:

Aylesbury public transport hub
Primary Public Transport Corridors
A4146 Stoke Hammond bypass
A418 route improvements
Southern distributor road for Aylesbury
East-West rail project

A number of comments were made during the discussion that followed including:

The need for a southern distributor road is not yet confirmed as the growth locations for the next phase of development have not yet been finalised;
Developing the road links as well as the rail links was vital;
Further guidance on the Community Infrastructure Fund (ODPM funding) is due shortly for the period 2006/7 onwards and it would be helpful to have some schemes and proposals worked up for this type of funding.

It is RESOLVED:-

That the latest position on transportation issues and the development of the Local Transport Plan be noted and that further progress be reported to the LDV at appropriate times in the future.

8. Update on the development of a marketing and branding strategy for the Vale.

Teresa Lane gave a further update on the marketing and branding strategy for the Vale and an outline of the various elements of the proposed programme – in particular the business and place marketing messages and associated activities. It was emphasised that this programme would need to e kept under regular review to ensure opportunities were seized as they became apparent and that all partners would need to play an active role in helping to deliver the programme. During the ensuring discussion a number of points were made including:

The voluntary and community sector could play an active role in the promotional campaigns;
That the initiatives pursued needed to be selected carefully – these should be assessed by the impact that they were likely to have, particularly in relation to the budget that was available
Timelines were developed to reflect the opportunities that existed to secure maximum impact and relevance from the marketing – we needed to have a product to market

A further update on the position with the logo design would be reported to the next meeting of the Board.

It was RESOLVED: -

That the business and place marketing messages be noted
That the possible budgetary requirements be noted.

9. Economic Development Action Plan for Aylesbury Vale.

Following the report to the last meeting on the Economic Development Strategy, an ED action plan was considered by the Board. This was considered to be a good basis to work from and would need to be one of the areas of focus for the Managing Director. A number of the actions needed to be assigned to partners, such as Government and BCC for the skills area. Board members were encouraged to feed any further comments on the action plan directly to AVDC.

It was then RESOLVED: -

That the action plan be noted

10. Milton Keynes South Midlands Structures and report back from the Inter-Regional Board and the Growth Implementation Group

The Board considered the report which outlined further background information about the work and structures of the Milton Keynes and South Midlands sub region. Huw Jones gave some feedback from the Growth Implementation Group and the Inter- Regional Board held recently. There were two main issues discussed of particular relevance to the Aylesbury Vale growth area – the proposals relating to the mechanisms for capturing land values for strategic infrastructure and the water treatment issue.

During the discussion it was suggested that it would be helpful if a further report could be presented to a future meeting analysing the implications of these proposals. It was also suggested that it would be helpful if John Walker was invited to attend a future meeting to explain in more detail how the land capture might operate in the Aylesbury Vale context.

With regards to the water treatment issue, it was agreed that it was imperative that funding for necessary feasibility work was found quickly as this infrastructure was crucial to future growth in Aylesbury being possible. It was agreed that it would be useful to raise this issue with Lord Rooker and to look for opportunities to bid for funds to facilitate the early completion of this work.

It was RESOLVED: -

That the contents of the report be noted

That a further report on the potential implications of the paper considered at the Rooker Board on capturing land values be submitted to a future meeting.

That a bid relating to the water treatment feasibility study be pursued on behalf of the LDV

11. Report from Vision 2031 meeting

The Board received a brief report on the Vision 2031 meeting which had been attended by over 60 people. Due to the frequency of the meetings, it would be important to ensure that the information flow between meetings was enhanced.

It was RESOLVED: -

That the contents of this report be noted

Confidential Item - Minute not for general publication

13. Draft Strategic Delivery & Business Plan

12. Any other business

It was suggested that Greg Lomax should be the LDV’s representative and attend the “Delivering the Sustainable Communities Summit” in Manchester on 31 January to 1 February 2005.

The next meeting on 14 December would commence at 10.00 starting with a coach tour of some of the key sites in Aylesbury.

The meeting concluded at 4.30 pm.