Minutes:
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The Chair commented that the Member Briefings had been useful to bring Councillors up to the same level of understanding.
The Chair explained that the purpose of the Member Briefings was to enable the MMPB to determine their forward work programme over the coming months and identify out of those briefings the ones which the Board felt were most pressing and more of “deep dive” into the projects.
Councillor Moriarty made a comment regarding briefings. He stated that they were briefings and questions were not allowed they would be taken a later date there is a clear distinction between briefings and scrutiny. In response, the Chair advised that this was the forum to have a detailed question and answer session.
The Chair asked if Councillors had had the chance to look at the list of projects. The Assistant Director, Property and Projects advised that the list of projects previous presented at the MMPB on 3 December 2021 was also attached to the recent Cabinet report.
The Assistant Director, Property and Projects informed those present that the Member Briefings had been opened up to all Councillors and had been well attended and had worked well in bringing Members up to date with the projects. Questions were asked and answered which were placed in the chat function. The briefings would help to formulate the work programme of the MMPB going forward. It was noted that there was a list of 11 projects and the next stage would be for the MMPB to prioritise the order of projects to be presented to each meeting. The Assistant Director, Property and projects explained that the relevant project officer would attend the meeting and give a presentation, Members would then have the opportunity to ask questions, and if were commercially sensitive, they could be answered in exempt session.
The Chair referred to page 9 of the minutes of 3 December regarding the frequency of MMPB meetings and it had been determined meetings would be held on a two monthly basis and MMPB would prioritise the list of projects and identify order of specific projects to be considered at each meeting to determine its future work programme. The project officer would attend and give a detailed presentation.
The Chair referred to the list of projects previously presented and invited the MMPB to look at the list over the coming week and email to himself/support and the projects would be placed on the agenda in the appropriate sequence.
Councillor Blunt highlighted the importance of stating the reasons as to why the MMPB should look at a specific project and explained it was necessary for the officers to have time to prepare for that discussion.
Councillor Moriarty commented about the order of projects to be considered and allowing timing for scrutiny/decision required and a guidance on timing would be appreciated. In response, the Chair explained that it would be useful for a timeline of major decisions points to be circulated to the MMPB.
Under Standing Order 34, Councillor de Whalley commented that there would be urgent matters that would need to be looked at. Councillor de Whalley expressed concern with regard to the timeline for the Towns Fund Bids and added that there was a lot of detail still missing and whether two monthly meetings would be enough to keep up with the pace of the Towns Fund work. In response, Councillor Blunt that this issue had been discussed at a recent Towns Fund Board and explained that as things were moving at a pace it was important to keep Councillors involved in the process and added that he would liaise with the Chair of the Regeneration and Development Panel to see if a standing item on the Towns Fund update could be given at each meeting. In conclusion, Councillor Blunt explained that not all projects were Borough Council ones and suggested that a standing item on the Towns Fund be placed on future agendas of the MMPB.
The Chair added that it would be useful to have the Towns Fund Update as a standing item on future agendas of the MMPB.
The Assistant Director, Property and Projects reminded Members that the MMPB was a sub-committee of Cabinet and was therefore not a decision making or scrutiny body and the role of the Board was to monitoring projects to be delivered.
RESOLVED: 1) MMPB to forward comments over the coming week on the order of projects were to be presented at each meeting.
2) Officers to circulate a timeline of major decisions points to the MMPB.
3) Towns Fund Update to be placed as a standing item on future agendas of the MMPB.