Transcript

(audience chattering) (audience chattering)

• Okay, good morning, everyone. We are live. I'll just get going, meeting with the webcast announcement. Please don't forget to meet with the films, the live and subsequent broadcasts, the appearance of the center of the site. The joint event is the Data Controller, under the General Data Collection and Information Collection of 2018. The meeting will be asked to fulfill a public task application to enable members of the public to observe the democratic process. Data collected during this webcast will be retained in accordance with the city council's published policy, including an alternative to, for the purpose of keeping historical reference and making the records available near the city council's internet site. Any information presented by individuals to the joint committee at the meeting, in addition to forming parts of the webcast, must be held in a historical record. Philosophy help will be used by the joint committee in connection with the developing matter and until that matter is decided or not available at all, including any other potential appeals or other connected processes. Clear after that, information will be held as part of the development of the records in accordance with the guidelines of the public. Just to remind everyone that we've got many table mics today, so anything to say, shoot and maybe we can talk to five more people in the middle of the room. And also just to remind everyone that we're in the pre-election period and so bear that in mind for which we are at today's meeting. I will now hand over to Professor Martin, so to get an introduction.
• Thank you very much, I'll stand up so people can hear me. So, yeah, so welcome to the Edinburgh Futures Institute. So I hope you enjoyed the tour. I'll talk all day about the building, but I'll keep you fairly short. You'll know that this was the former Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, so built in the late 19th century as the hospital for the city and the region. Built on the Florence Nightingale principle because it was before antibiotics, so all the wards are widely separated to minimise cross-infection. And all the wards have ventilation shafts, the idea being that Edinburgh's a windy city, so the wind will create a suction across the top of the roof and it'll suck up all the hot infected air and deposit it on the ground, but not deposit it on the ward next door because it's a big gap. So the whole thing was built around cross-infection. And what we like to say at the University of Edinburgh is that we're now using the building to promote cross-infection, but we're using it to promote cross-infection rather than microbiological cross-infection. So we've turned it into a multidisciplinary teaching and research institute. It doesn't belong to any particular part of the university, it belongs to the whole university, so all the disciplines are represented in here. It's an enormous building. That's big enough to actually hold 6,000 people at four capacity. And you'll, I hope, have seen the way it's been sensitively restored. So it was funded substantially by capital from the city deal, although the University of Edinburgh has put a lot of capital in as well. And we've had a couple of donations to help support the costs. You will have seen the donor awards as you came in. And the hospital originally was funded by sort of crowdfunding. So there were donations from everybody ranging from the Queen, who at the time of course was Victoria, and the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Surgeons, and a whole load of private individuals, some nobility and some ordinary citizens of the region. So those boards are a very nice historical record of the way they're built in the region and funded. Over the doorway, there's a Latin inscription that says pate omnibus, that means open to all. And it was true when it was a hospital, and we want it to be true, but it's the end of the future as well. So it's open to the public. There's a cafe and restaurant down at that end. All of the wards and all of the other spaces have all been turned into teaching spaces. So you'll already see some students around the place. We've already got the first students studying here that graduated this summer. So they've been actually studied in the building when it was only half open. It's been fully open for about two weeks. So you're amongst the first visitors. And I'll stop there, but if anyone's got any questions about it, I'm very happy to answer them. I met the architect the other night, and I said to him, where does this building feature in your career? And he said, I'm about to retire. And I said, I think it's just about, I can't imagine anything much better than that. So hopefully we've restored a heritage building for the city. And half the city was either born here or had its appendix out here, although some believe it was earlier. So there's a sort of an instant sort of civic connection in the place. And you'll know that the University of Edinburgh is the oldest truly civic university in the English speaking world. The five universities that are older than us, Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrew's, Glasgow and Aberdeen, were all founded by the church, whereas this university was founded by the south and by the town. And so we are the oldest truly civic university, and this building is a sort of manifestation of our civic identity, which I think will be here for centuries to come as the sort of shop window of the University of Edinburgh to the region, but also to the wider world. I'll stop there. Thank you very much for coming, and welcome, everybody.
• Thank you very much, Peter. Can I say, this is West London Council. We have a convenorship for the next year, and it is my intention, and I'm sure you all agree, it's so much better to meet in person and see real people's engaging screens. So we'll have a different venue and talk to them when we meet. I think we really appreciated the tour of this iconic building. Absolutely fantastic. I was saying to one or two colleagues 33 years ago I was here, and they managed to save my life. I haven't been pulverized in a car accident, but there's a lot of buzz about this place, and it's a fantastic facility, and I think the money which has been put in by the City City Deal has been well worth it. We welcome Neil McLean, who's the chief executive officer of Social Enterprise Academy and the Vice-Chair of Regional Enterprise Council, and he replaces James Wood, and who therefore also replaces James in the Joint Committee in the third sector. This is the last meeting that Andrew Kerr, the chief executive of the City of Edinburgh Council, will attend. I would like to acknowledge this will be Andrew's last meeting, and I would invite Ms. Cammie Hay around. Would you like to say something about your chief executive, Cammie? Yes, thank you, Chair. I mean, we did have our little soiree in the chambers last night where Andrew was in Vancouver. His 40-plus year service still going, not always in Edinburgh. Of course, Andrew's been in the U.S. last night for about nine years, and we were remembering some of the key issues that Andrew came in. When he came to Joplin, things like pandemics and deaths of royalty may happen in life, but in Andrew's first five years, I think, or five years at that time, he dealt with a pandemic. He dealt with the death of the mouse, and the coronation, and COVID, and everything else that went with that. So it's been a challenging time for Andrew's time in Edinburgh. Andrew's last night, to our gathered audience, also played a key civic role in the city as well, making sure that the city had the civic representation from the chief officer of the capital city. So Andrew's moved us in a great place. Edinburgh, as Andrew said last night, had a budget last year with no cuts to service, which is unheard of from the time of our meeting council. And again, Andrew, he has some other main traits, and of course, 'cause he likes a bunch of western music, that's something. Not on Taylor Swift's type, I'm sure. I don't know. But that's interesting, cheering after the city, and I hope the city of Egin, Andrew's done a lot of work with the National Organization of Solace and other national bodies, and played a key role in challenging government about issues, particularly about health and social care, and what quite resolved that across the region yet. So I think from me, and I hope from the city of Egin, part of this is a huge thank you to Andrew for his service to build them across the country, but also right here in Egin. -Thank you very much, Karen, and I'm sure we all wish the retiring chief of state the very best in retirement. Can I say a look at your face? Somehow you've got that elixir of eternal youth. Can I say a big thank you for his services to the city deal. [ Applause ] -That's fine. So we all wish you a long and healthy retirement. -Thank you, Jim. -I move on to the business, to you, Jamie. -Thanks, Chair. Item 1 on the agenda is Audrey of Business. There are no notices of motion, and the order of business is uncirculated. Item 2 is Declaration of Interest. Finish declaring financial or non-financial interest if you have the items of business in consideration. Are there any interest in it, Greg? If not, thank you. Item 3 is the minute of the previous meeting, 1st of March, 2024. That's the minute for approval in the beginning. Seriously, agreed. Yeah. Thank you. Section 4 on the agenda is forward planning. Item 4.1 is the Joint Committee Work Program. This is the report by Karen Ward, chief officer and member of the City of Egin and the city of Egin deal. I'll give it to you, and then I'll introduce the report. -Thanks, Jamie. The work program is, I hope, self-explanatory. Here at Prickly Cool, there's a pretty heavy agenda for both of those. Maybe just focus on the next meeting. At that, with our program for consideration, the proposed changes could face two of the borders of innovation part, and that sort of relates to a change in the proportionate split between traditional office accommodation and high-end industrial units, and that's sort of based on changes in market conditions post-COVID. And so we're liaising with government regarding the sort of consequential impact on the gross value-added benefits-to-cost ratio, et cetera. The original business case worked very highly in terms of benefits-to-cost, and so we should be fine there. But hopefully, that can be progressed here, the change-of-control process, and that will be brought forward at the next meeting. You'll also see that there are two internal audit reports scheduled for the next meeting. And one is on the focus of our next internal audit, which is committee agreed related to sort of cost inflation. In liaising with the internal audit team, what I should advise is that this audit will now be a sort of a workshop-based advisory review rather than a full audit, and that's on the basis of... ...inflation that they can then audit. So what they will do is that they will work with us and sort of consider a review of the risks associated with cost inflation and scrutiny of the project, the business cases, and how inflation is provided for within those, and that will help us sort of develop a range of meditations, clarity in roles and responsibilities who should do what, you know, if such situations sort of emerge. So that's that. First up here, an advisory audit, and in line with our grand model, we're required to do a full audit every two years. The other internal audit will be our internal audit work plan, so we will program to do another full audit next year, but that will be determined by thoughts within the plan. So what we'll also have is, as usual, is our sixth annual report will come forward, and I think these are getting increasingly better. There's more to report on, and as you've seen in the recent ones, we've had sort of case study videos. Again, we'll be doing more of that, and there will be a lot more benefits information that we can include in the annual report this year, and that will go inside one of the other items you've got in the next subcommittee, based on benefits realisation of six monthly articles. So that's the main thing. So that housing thing, you'll get the annual housing program updated, and together with the strategic science investment program that we've got, so that's going to be quite cool.
• Okay, thank you very much. Are there any questions from members? Thank you.
• Thank you for the report. Obviously, you're talking about Laura's innovation part coming with phase two, and just going back to something we've highlighted previously around, actually demonstrating what the second day of work has done in regions. If you were to ask anybody who provided phase one, they wouldn't know. That's a problem, even though there is a phase one. I'm just wondering where we are with either sign language or promotion, but actually, this is all one big piece of a jigsaw, rather than it's just a building, or it's just landed there, and people ask the questions, What's in that building? What isn't in that building? So I think maybe there's still some work to be done on it, essentially, and promote itself on what the group work is doing in regions.
• Yeah, I think that's a very clear comment based on what you're talking about. I was down presented to the Scotland Regional Economic Partnership along with the Borderlands Guild as well, and, you know, of course, I shared counsel with Doug Frieson in Galloway as well. And I think it was, you know, one of those sort of questions. You probably came over from Doug Frieson in Galloway in relation to the Borderlands deal as to who do we know, what benefits are coming. So, actually, I was in contact with South Scotland Regional Economic Partnership yesterday, and I've sort of fed some of the ways in which the deal is being done across the Irish programme. With DEI, there was the specific report that was done on this type of opportunities that exist for collaboration there, and we've offered to go back as well to present to the South Scotland Regional Economic Partnership so that it's clear, and that we are associated with that. But I think the point in terms of signing through buildings as well, this was brought to you by, you know, just doing this region deal as well.
• Any other questions? Any comments? Doesn't seem to be, so do we agree to go to the findings of the report? Thank you very much. Section 5 is that just for consideration. Item 5.1 is the CCB and DEI on the progress reports. And I've been at all game once just now.
• Thanks, thanks, Gerry. Before I get on to the sort of the deal specific things, I just want to identify myself with your remarks, competing around with Councillor Hayes in respect of Andrew Ker's retirement. You know, Andrew sort of came to City of Edinburgh in 2015 on the map, having sort of delivered the cornwall and the aisles of silly growth deals. So he's been a sort of a founding parent of City Region deals. Of course, when he took up his role as chief executive of the City of Edinburgh Council, I was working in the chief executive's office, although not for very much longer thereafter. So that was maybe the... Never let me say that he's not a sound judgement. You know, as you know, Andrew's a sort of a big presence in all senses. And a year or so later, he wandered up to my new desk and he loomed large and he told me that someone was required to head up the Edinburgh, South East Scotland City Region deal. And I might not be the quickest on the uptick, but even I was able to join the dots quite quickly that the six group four chief executive, who was looking down at me, wasn't telling me this to chew the fat. In sort of a marvellous and brand new style, he was making me an offer that I couldn't refuse and, you know, lo and behold, here I am. You know, and I'll leave it to the committee and partners as to whether that's another exercise of his good judgement or whether it's not. But, you know, from that part, Andrew, I'm, you know, really grateful for the opportunity, thoroughly enjoying it, but not only thanking for the opportunity, but for the priority and the significance that you've given to the deal and the wider regional collaboration and sort of helping to move that trust partnership working, which I think is evident here today. So, again, you know, personally, I'd like to wish you a long and happy retirement as well. And turning to sort of specific deal matters, and since committee last week, we haven't closed off the last financial year, so 2023/24. And I'm pleased to say that we drew down 100% of our capital funding, so another 33.7 billion pounds. And on the revenue side, we drew down over 98% of the revenue allocation, 4.3 million. So, overall, less than six years into the 50-year deal, we've drawn down over 73% of the funding, the government funding that's channelled through us as the accountable body. And I think that's sort of quite a phenomenal achievement that we're nearly six years in, we are still operating at the original financial profile. And a lot of folk deserve credit for that, you know, not least our double sit-for-award-winning attempt at another tire, which you actually referred to that in relation to Lisa there. But I think Lisa's also point to, you know, the work that finance and project needs have done in supporting that, and being in this facility, work management, Andy McKenzie of the University of Edinburgh has been incredibly helpful in that regard. And, of course, the reward for that success is to get to do it all over again. So, our grant for 24, 25 is 37.9 million of capital and 3.9 million of revenue. So, to that end, we've received a grant off of letters from governments finalising back-to-back agreements with the partners in relation to the individual projects and programmes as well. I did touch and comment on the work programme that will be a fuller update on benefits realisation. And just as a wee appetiser for that, it's probably worth highlighting that the IRIS programme, the award-winning IRIS programme, I don't know if I'm trying to say that as well, just that we can't see the award figure here. The IRIS programme is now exceeding all of its targets as well, so that is great. Other things that have sort of taken place as a committee last May, Councillor Hampshire, you participated in the groundbreaking ceremony to model the construction of the End of Innovation Hub alongside the Scottish Government and the UK Government Minister there. And as committee knows, the End of Innovation Hub is a joint venture between East Lothian Council and Queen Margaret University, and those within those respective institutions deserve a great deal of credit as well. I'd definitely like to single out Catherine Molloy as the new Scotland Mayor, but I'd also like to recognise Douglas Prout, who's been integral to getting things to that stage as well. This is an important project today, and that project will be fantastic and will help to accommodate business growth and to help increase the available high-end jobs that are there. Also involved in ministerial participation, we had the Bus Driver Recruitment Campaign launch, which has been progressed within the IRIS programme, particularly the integrated employer engagement in the workforce mobility strands, so that launch event took place below the buses training centre, but those follow-up events have taken place or scheduled in each of the public and local authority areas. Committee did ask, in the last meeting, for us to move on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council, East, West, Midlothian and Pint Councils to register this appointment, how we had failed individually and collectively in relation to around three of the levelling up funding. So we did do that, and we took the opportunity to remind that this city region must be properly supported to play the fullest part in the national well being. We did receive a response from Jacob Young, who was the Minister for Levelling Up, which did acknowledge our disappointment and suggest a desire to move forward to working with us to deliver on our levelling up ambitions. Towards that end, we have been actively contributing to the local economic growth review that the Scotland office has been taking forward, and that's designed to importify their hand at the treasury negotiations, spend and review discussions post-election, and that links to our regional prosperity framework, which is set to item later on in the agenda. As you know, we did have a roundtable session arranged with the Scottish Affairs Committee. We wanted to have that in plumbering by the end of the Scottish City Region in growth deals, but with Parliament having been to hold, that committee has to dissolve so that that session can take place. Again, as instructed by the committee, there is a green line committee, and we did write to the cabinet sector to put transport in relation to both the bus partnership fund and share it all. We've received replies which have been shared and circulated with both of those items that we'll cover later on in the agenda as well. I think first we're sitting here, and it's a problem of highlighting as well the annual data-driven innovation program, annual confidence, which takes place in the 20th century of September. This year, the theme is going to be data deepfates and democracy when the elections happen, and on both sides of the North, I think it's of particular relevance, looking forward to those sessions. And I'd almost like to end on a high note, so I'd like to draw attention to the Data Education in Schools project, which screwed top prizes as Education Initiative of the Year at the 2024 British Data Awards. And that's a key strand of the deal's inclusive growth ambitions. And through that project, over 40,000 participants have benefited, and that ranges from school-aged children to adult returners to the workforce who are learning how to code. So that's a great achievement. The team boosted data literacy in over 850 schools. And I have to say that those have got a success for the last year as well, really also in the awards. With that, I'll answer some of the highlights that aren't covered in the agenda today, but happy to take questions on that. Thank you very much, Andy, very comprehensive. Do you have any questions? Yes, thanks. It's not so much a question, it's more a comment, Andy. I mean, you've just gone through very light touch on some of the achievements that this situation deal has had, and I still don't think, no matter what we try, we seem to be getting that over to the general public. I don't know if we've got much for you guys to take back. I do think we're going to have to continue to do that because, you know, the amount of money and investment that's going in, the amount of success stories that we have right throughout our region is underplayed by, I think, the general public. We all get excited about it, but it doesn't seem to gel further down. So let me go on to take away more than one other general discussion today. Yeah, I'll be happy to do that and reflect on it, as well as I say at the end of the forum, we'll begin to develop that, that will come to the next joint committee meeting, and then we will think about, sort of, in a way, social media more and more as well. Thanks for that, Shane. Peter? Thank you, sir. I completely agree, Russell. I mean, I've never missed any opportunity to boast about it, and there are two items of information. One is, I had a visit last week from the information commissioner, who is a UK government position, and he had a tour of some of the facilities, and I then met with him at lunchtime, and when I came in, I gave him all this feel about how successful it's been. He said, I'm glad you've been so outspoken, he said, because most of your colleagues I met this morning were much more modest. So, you know, there's an example of me sort of sharing the rooftop. And the other thing is that the group that I chair, the principles of the higher education and further education institutions throughout the region, are in the process of, when we finish this week, actually, the process of writing an article sort of off-air, which we're going to submit to some of the local newspapers to see if we can actually talk about the educational achievement of the deal. So there are efforts going on, but in general, I agree we should all actually be armed with these facts, and he's been reflecting that we should all be checking better.
• Thank you very much. Anyone else?
• No, I'd like to just come back and just talk about that data and the skills. We had an Inspire Learning Festival during the week, Wednesday and Thursday, and it's all private sector peoples and then all secondary peoples. And actually, the work that you just described, we're actually delivering a session on data. And I don't mean to bring in basic data, but basic programming, but then how do you do that? So every young people in the board is sort of an iPad, but then how do we cover it? And I thought it was really interesting. It was a really good conversation. Then I lost what Harry walked last week, and then the same thing was to be mentioned quite a few times, some of the projects there, the area, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I think it is there, the conversation, but if you don't turn the corner and look for it, you can't find it. And I think that's maybe the problem we need to start sharing from the root purpose. This is what we are doing, and I think it's getting that out of the picture. So I think it gives us a really good way to correct the one he's saying.
• I think you're right. Sometimes you need to see it, to touch it, to heal it. I think, you know, as well, you were at the robotarium in the Bay Centre as well recently.
• Yeah. We were four girls from St. Kittigan's Academy, a very working class background. And they were the Scottish champions for a sort of project, including various other things, run by CG HQ. So this is MI6, actually, we're looking for prospects for the future. But these children were blown away. And it's nice to say to children, how would you like to study here? And you know, you can work here, and you get financial support, and these children were very, very much touched on. One comment always, you know, the achievements have been fantastic. It's getting out, not just the academic papers, et cetera, but it's sort of the general comment that we are aware of. And sometimes, when I look at a company, they'll say, Oh, my God, you know, my generation can send emails, texts, et cetera. What do we know about it? And it would be useful, perhaps, if members would agree, as leaders, you know, just to get a simple guide properly to what it's about. Because it's like you get into a car, you just don't drive it. You've got to understand, you've got to give them your tyre pressures, check them every month, check the oil, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And it's just about having that decent knowledge so that we're sitting here, you know, not just chairing meetings and participating, but abroad, let's say, as to what it's all about, and the rapidity of movement and dispute both here and internationally in the I'm just going to make a point that when I talk about it, the thing that people understand best, whether it's the public, whether it's politicians, whether it's media, is actually the skills. They're more interested in the skills than they are in the buildings or the roundabouts. It's actually the skills. And actually, the skills funding is a small part of the deal, and it has an eight-year timescale rather than the full timescale of the deal. So we're getting close to that eight-year, so we need to be thinking about how to continue the skills activity. But the things like 40,000 citizens of the region, irrespective of what age they are, having data skills, people already understand that. People know that they're not experts in data, and they know that they can benefit from the expertise. So I don't think it's the skills agenda that I should be emphasizing.
• Thank you. Anyone else? Councillor Ross.
• Thanks, Chair. I'm hoping you can hear me because the microphone is a wee bit dodgy here. But no, I'm just reflecting on this. We had our cabinet committee yesterday and considered and signed up to an approach on collaborative procurement on EV charging. And I made the point, and I think it is relevant, it's not the city-region deal is not just about the project. It's about the relationships and the framework that's been built up. And I think that kind of regional collaboration on other things is made much easier and facilitated and may not have happened in the way unless we had built these relationships through the city-region deal. So I think that's a point that shouldn't be lost as well.
• Thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else? Any comments?
• Sorry, I was just trying to track your time.
• Oh, sorry.
• Despite the modern building, we don't have any electricity in the tables, but it's coming.
• All right. OK, I'll just hold that for a minute. That was a little distracting.
• Yeah, sorry.
• We don't know about that time. Am I cooking by gas that way?
• I think so, yeah.
• Yeah, OK. Are there any other comments? There doesn't seem to be, so we agree to the findings of the report. We then move on to item 5.2, Sherriff Hall Roundabout, 6.1 for the update. Stephen Garrett? Sorry. It's Gavin Dyant, is it? Sorry. Gary?
• Good morning, everyone. Hopefully you can hear me as well. We've provided a written update on the Sherriff Hall Roundabout project. In essence, there's no change since the last period. The reporter's report was issued to the government on the 10th of October last year, and that's still under active consideration. I know it said it was a letter sent to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, and that was responded to by the Cabinet Secretary on the 10th of April, and hopefully that gives City Region Deal partners some reassurance that the report's under active consideration. Happy to take any questions.
• OK, then. Questions from members?
• Sorry, can I? I mean, well, apologies because my laptop is fired up, so not going to be for the report. But do we have updated costs for the likelihood of this, and is there an honest discussion of whether it's actually going to even happen?
• In terms of the cost, the costs are the £116 million at 2018 prices, excluding VAT, and that will be updated following completion of the statute process, as you would normally do to complete the business case before going to procurement. And apologies, I missed the second part of your question.
• The second part is a little discussion of whether it's actually ever going to happen because I understand the cost rule from 2018 being considerable more, and I presume Transport Scotland are going to be on the move for paying anything in excess of that cost without the act of it.
• Yes, I think that's previously been reported to the board, so yeah, I would agree. And yes, all I can say is that the Scottish Government have committed to the great separation of the Sheriff's Hall roundabout project. We've kind of mentioned that on several occasions, and that can be a reconfirm that commitment.
• I suppose you're saying, so is there a blank check for Sheriff's Hall roundabout from Transport Scotland?
• That's something I can't answer. It's obviously subject to annual kind of budget scrutiny, just like other projects. And that's just across, not just Transport Scotland, that's across the whole Scottish Government.
• Thank you. Okay, anyone else? Any comments? Questions? Question, please.
• There's this huge public frustration about the delay in this project coming on. We've been promising people this project is going to happen at least two years ago, and the public frustration is growing. The fact that we don't have any idea of the timeframe for the final decision to get the go ahead, this project is going to be at least two years away from when two years of this go ahead. That's getting the instructions started and getting the big bill. So we see what happened just recently when we had that flood on the bypass. The whole road is way out by itself by date. It really needs to be approved, and the Sheriff Hall won't be a major improvement to it. There's a lot more needs to be done, but this needs to be done first. That's all.
• Thank you very much for your feedback there. I can reconfirm. Transport Scotland would like to see the project progress as soon as possible, but I'm sure you can appreciate that there was over 2,700 objections to the project, and these are under active consideration, and they need the scrutiny that they deserve. Everyone's got their right, their statutory right to their objections to be heard to the proposals, and I'm sure the members would agree with me that these need to be scrutinized properly. Otherwise, potentially there could be a legal challenge which could set the project back several years. So I think I would agree. We'd like to see the project progress as soon as possible, but we need to follow due process.
• Thank you very much, Tom.
• Thank you. We've just talked about all the positives about the set deal, and it strikes me that this is the opportunity to derail all the positives for this one big negative story, and I just wonder where we are in terms of being in the front, getting out to the public where we are sitting, because members of the Joint Committee are asking questions that we should be knowing, or in terms of where we're going, et cetera. So it's the general public, and as you know, the rumor mill starts and things happen. I just fear it is going to derail all the good work that the set deal is doing, so I just wonder what the mitigation is more than where we are.
• Okay. Do you wish to comment on that at all? Any other comments? It doesn't seem to be. Do you agree to the findings of the report?
• I think this would be good to know if we have a cons plan in place for this, because I think that it's important.
• Who's in charge of cons?
• Well, Transport Scotland are managing and delivering sharing calls, so if you've got Gavin to hit rise, all right, cons plan.
• Okay, Gavin.
• Apologies, I was kind of breaking up on my end, but I think I got the gist of your comments, but as you know, the PLI report of report is under active consideration, so we won't be able to comment at this point, at this kind of stage, in terms of the reports provided to ministers.
• Yeah, yeah, but we'll just cut a hole basically. We won't be able to come up with that decision. Am I correct in thinking there's no actual time on it?
• No, no, yes. It's with a part of the Scottish Government. Unfortunately, there's an information barrier. I'm part of the project team. They're working on the review of that, and they will provide advice to ministers before a decision is made to complete the statutory process.
• Okay, Russell.
• Could I maybe ask a question here? The report is actually sitting on the Cap 6 desk as we speak. This was part of a City of Kingston Deal project, which one of the projects was signed off right at the very beginning of the City of Kingston Deal. Now, for the life of me, I can't quite understand, but you might be able to answer me this, Gavin. Has this caught up in the capital project freeze within Scottish Government? Or is it sitting out with that?
• Well, just to answer your kind of first comment, the report isn't actually sitting with the Cabinet Secretary. It's with a team who review the report. Then they will provide advice to the Scottish ministers, i.e. the Cabinet Secretary. And no, as far as I'm aware, it's not caught up in anything to do with that. It's following due process. It's under active consideration.
• I apologise for that.
• No, it's okay. I just wanted to clarify that.
• Yeah, there's a heavy burden with every leader, and certain projects are very impressive in terms of the electorate, in terms of jobs, investment, et cetera. And you just need absolute clarity. And I realise, you know, once you get to inquiry and findings, et cetera, it can take a long, long time. Anyone else? No. Okay, do we agree to the findings of the report? On to item 5.3, which is West Edinburgh Transport Insurance Programme, Henry Roberts, please.
• Thanks, Camino. Hopefully – sorry, hopefully you can all hear me. It goes without saying that I'm really pleased to bring this report here today. It represents a huge amount of work reaching this milestone. And it's a big step forward in getting these measures and these much needed bus priority measures in on the ground. And, Camino, if it's okay, I've got a few slides to introduce the report, and I'll just share my screen now.
• Thank you.
• So, yeah, this is the West Edinburgh Transport Improvements Programme, and we've just concluded the outline business case. And this first slide kind of sets the scene a little. And as one of the main corridors within the city, we all know how important the A8 is, and that's represented by the red line on the diagram there that you should all be able to see. This slide shows all the major locations for development along the A8. And in the table there, you'll see the number of housing units that are listed. So the numbers are quite frightening. It's over 20,000 new homes, which is greater than a town the size of Falkirk. And we also, along the A8, have the UK's fastest growing international airport. We have a Royal Highland showground, and there's many events throughout the year at that showground. But the A8 is also a key corridor for Murrayfield, so match days, and don't mention Taylor Swift, but many concerts throughout the year are held at Murrayfield, and that's important because our park and ride site that's also along the A8, which employs an important function on a day-to-day basis, does operate special services during March days and during concerts as well. So the A8 is hugely important for us. And in the future, you know, with all the development earmarked for this corridor, with the growth at the airport, increasing events, it's going to be even further pressured. So it's extremely critical for the region that, you know, we do something and we act quite quickly on this, and it just validates a mandate for WETA. Just to draw you quickly to the red box at the bottom of this slide, we of course already have tram running along the A8 corridor, which is a great starting point. But when you forecast in and do the modeling of all the growth that is earmarked for around this area, tram is only expected to cater for about 25% of all the public transport movements. So it's bus that will do pretty much all the heavy lifting. We forecast that when the full build-out does happen, the airport growth materializes, we're looking at an additional 7,800 public transport trips per hour during the morning peaks. And that will require around 55 buses an hour. So hence why, you know, it's really important that if we want to grow sustainable, if we want to facilitate sustainable growth, we really need to invest in our active travel and our public transport network along the A8 corridor. This next slide is just highlighting, you know, how the proposals have performed against what is a STAG compliant and UK Treasury five case model Green Book process. So against all the five cases, so the strategic case, the social economic case, the commercial case, the financial case and finally the management case, the OBC has confirmed a really strong case for the proposed public transport measures along the corridor across all those five cases. The OBC report itself is really robust and it's thorough. It is over 300 pages long, so just to give you a bit of a snapshot, the OBC has confirmed a strong case for investment and the proposals that have been evaluated have performed really well and they strongly support our key policies, particularly our housing targets, our economic goals, but they also importantly have the potential to significantly help towards taking action against the climate emergency. When we've examined the economic aspects of the outlying business case, we have estimated an overall benefit cost ratio of 1.23, which for public transport and active travel schemes is really positive. And just to finish up on this slide, at the table in the bottom right hand corner, you'll see it's an extract from the OBC and it highlights that when the proposals that we've looked at have been assessed against the project objectives and the project objectives focused here are to make bus journey time shorter, more reliable, and particularly there's an additional third transport objective here that's around making bus services more reliable during events because we know this corridor has many events on it. All the measures are performed really strongly when appraised against the transport planning objectives and that's the standard STAG criteria. So they've either scored top, which is the three crosses, or second top, which is the two crosses in that box there. So overall, what we've examined has performed really well in the outlying business case. This next slide is just a bit of a recap of the journey so far in terms of our funding. So back in 2016, we published the wetter refresh report and that had identified around £150 million worth of measures. But in 2018, when we signed the City Region deal, we received £36 million to deliver the public transport elements of wetter. Now obviously, we were never going to deliver all the £150 million worth of measures identified and that wouldn't be appropriate. So for example, some of those measures include new roads within key development sites and some of those measures should be paid through section 75 etc. So in 2019, we performed an initial shift sift of measures and that formed the basis of the strategic business case which was produced and then we've moved into this outlying business case now. The outlying business case has identified £72 million worth of credible active travel and public transport interventions but given we only have £36 million, we have recently undertaken a prioritisation exercise based on the criteria shown on the right-hand side here and once we've evaluated it against things like a strong case for cross-boundary travel, how the measures perform against the transport planning objectives, plus within the wider context of the business case appraisal and what is needed now and what perhaps is needed in 10 years time once the full development comes out. So that immediacy of need has played a real strong factor in this. The outcomes of all that has resulted in a core package of £33 million being recommended that we take through to the next stage of the project. So hopefully if the proposal is approved today, we'll take forward the £33 million core package to the next stage and that largely includes all the key measures that we identified through the OBC with the exception of the Gogar Maybury extra lane and the reason for that, why that's not carried through, is that it's only required once significant development occurs so it isn't needed as an early intervention and because this measure is linked very closely to actually development happening, a contribution for this scheme will be sought through section 75 and through the planning process and it will be delivered as a later tranche in due course. Another scheme that didn't make the core package was an active travel scheme from Newbridge to Queensferry but the City of Edinburgh Council and West Lothian are preparing a joint bid to transport Scotland's active travel infrastructure fund in an attempt to secure delivery for that scheme. So that's why that one's being disaggregated from the core package. The final slide now, so the green arrow at the top of the flow diagram shows where we are in the delivery cycle. We have made good progress, we are building up momentum. The delivery of this OBC has required multidisciplinary and specialist support. We're going to need that support carried through to the final business case stage so if this report is approved today we'll reappoint the consultants that worked on the outline business case and carry that knowledge and expertise over into the final business case and we'll commence work on the detailed designs and we'll start the process to promote the required statutory consents and we'll produce a final business case. And of course we'll bring that final business case and regular updates to the Transport Appraisal Board, to the joint committee and all the relevant local authority committees in due course. So to finish up Convenar, the OBC has confirmed a really strong case for investment, the project has lots of momentum behind it, we have robust and effective governances in place, we have the resources to deliver the next stage and hit the ground running immediately and it's a huge step forward to getting these much needed bus measures on the ground. Before I finish up here now Convenar, I just wanted to place on record that the efforts of the project team in getting to this milestone today, it's been a lot of work and I'm pleased to see it come forward, but also with the project team I wanted to just quickly mention that this has been a truly collaborative project and I need to mention the continued support from key stakeholders such as the airport, the bus operators in particular and key developers who have all provided input and have helped to inform the outputs of the OBC and will continue to do so through the development of the FBC. And this project has proved that the city region deal has been a great vehicle in developing cross authority transport projects and the governance structure is working very, very well. So with that Convenar, I'll pause and happily take questions. Thank you, thank you very much Jamie. We're now open for questions. Russell? Yes, Jamie you mentioned a number of times during your presentation about Section 75 contributions and now that NPF4 has kicked in and we talk in terms, we try to talk in terms of infrastructure about how many years it's actually reached at this moment in time, I don't know, but given that there's 20,000 houses to be developed and they don't all come overnight, I know it takes, you know, it'll be a 20, maybe even 25 year program, but are we in, sorry, it's the city of Edinburgh I suppose it is, in discussion with those various players about actually putting that infrastructure first in, because clearly the 33 Monghan Park, which is part of the city region deal park, that's ours, that's our ownership, but the other part is actually under Section 75, so it's just out of interest, I just wanted to know Jamie, how you're getting on here, or you might not be able to reply at this moment in time, I understand that, it's just that we need to see how much we can eke out of the development world in terms of getting that stuff up front, so that when houses do get built, people do have buses, and I think that's terribly important, instead of the bus comes after the houses are there, I think it's very important that the bus comes in advance of the houses being there, so it's just a question and a comment I suppose all in one. Thanks Councillor Emory, no really good question, and I'll try and keep the answer short, but the answer is, which I'm not terribly good at, but the answer is yes, so what we're doing on We-tip is there is only really one road, the A89, and that's the spine road, and we're delivering in these much needed measures as an early intervention, but the development is going to have to bring a lot to the table as well, so what we're doing is one piece of the jigsaw, but there is a much bigger picture, now we've coordinated what we're doing through our city plan and through West Lowlands LDP as well, and we've also got a master plan for that whole area, specifically because it is a major development site, and there is a lot of infrastructure that the developers will need to deliver as part of that, but it is all coordinated, it is all complementary to what we're doing, so as the development takes place, there is a number of measures that will be sought through the planning process to ensure that they are delivered as an early intervention, but they can build on what we're delivering as We-tip as that core spine road if you like, and that goes beyond just transport, you know, we have obviously the high schools, the brown schools, the healthcare centres are also going to be contributions within that whole area, so we're doing our part, but the developers certainly have to play their part in it as well, and that's all enshrined in the planning process, but it's all being coordinated through our city plan, through West Lowlands LDP, but also through some of the master planning of the major site out there. Thanks very much. Thank you for bringing in our officer Craig McCorsley just to add some extra information. Yeah, thank you, convener, and just to add to what Jamie said in response to the Councillor's question, I had a discussion with Jamie just earlier this week to make sure that the approach in Edinburgh is being aligned with the approach in West Lothian, because the project actually opens up some development sites in West Lothian as well as Edinburgh as well, so I think it's vitally important that we've got that joined up approach across the Pacific region to do a partnership. And convener, I would add one other thing just for members' awareness, which is that just earlier this week the Scottish Government launched a consultation on an infrastructure planning, and that, as I understand it, was set alongside the Section 75 process, so I think it's again vitally important as a city region, that we engage with that consultation in that process to make sure that as far as possible what comes out of that consultation will give us the opportunity to secure the funding for regionally significant projects such as this. Thanks, convener. Thank you. Any further questions? Thank you, Gary. Thanks very much, convener, and thank you, Jamie, for another comprehensive report, and congratulations on reaching this vital milestone along the way. I just wanted to ask a quick question. You mentioned the resilience regarding events. Does that take account of the proposal for a new 8,000-capacity arena at Edinburgh Park as well, recognising that that's also served by real? Yeah, we're aware of that. Thanks for the question. Yeah, we're aware of that. It is emerging, so we'll wait and see what comes through that, but yeah, no, we are aware of it. What we're doing here is to build that resilience and to be really clear in terms of the transport hierarchy as well, that if we are the levels that we're talking about here in terms of growth, a town the size of Wildcat, the fastest recovering international airport in the UK, and a corridor that has got a lot of traffic for events, including this new emerging venue as well, we have to be really clear that we've got a great public transport system already out there, through the rail network, through the tram network, but it's buses as well that are going to be doing the heavy lift, and now we've seen on other corridors the success of bus and investing in bus priority, and what now translates to patronage enables you to cater for growth, and we're looking to replicate on that corridor, so really interesting to see that events venue coming forward, and as and when the further details of that emerge, we can coordinate it, but again, we've got a spine road. Other things can happen around it and take advantage of the benefits it is that we're bringing along that spine road. Thank you. Any further questions? OK, Jamie, can I ask, you'll be aware of calls to transfer funding from the West Edinburgh Transport Improvement Programme, to which rail station project? You said that would be appropriate? Thanks Kavina, quite a short question, but as usual with me, not the shortest answer, but I am aware of it, and rail stations are really important, you know, and I was lead officer for the City of Edinburgh Council for two years on the borders railway, so probably understand the value better than most, and I welcome the recent openings of Leavenmouth, Reston and East Wynton, but I want to make it absolutely clear that, you know, Whee Tip and Winchborough rail stations tackle different problems, and as such, both projects are independent of each other, and they stand on their own merits, and they shouldn't be pitched in competition with each other, and the works, what we're doing around the AA, you know, do target that town the size of Algirk, we have a lot of major events along that corridor, we have a major parking ride site, the UK's fastest growing airport, Winchborough doesn't have any of these challenges, but we do, and we're forced to address and respond to those, but what we're doing on the AA and the 89 corridor doesn't belittle their campaign for a rail station, because as I've said, you know, Whee Tip and Winchborough are both separate, they both stand on their own merits, and in fact, they complement each other, and what we're doing on the AA and the 89 will have benefits for Winchborough too, so just to finish up, you know, we are the fastest growing region in Scotland, and one of the fastest in the UK and Europe, and what we're doing in Whee Tip is extremely important, but it's only one piece of the jigsaw, and you know, we need the other pieces of the jigsaw too, and much, much more than that, if we are going to grow out West Edinburgh in this sustainable way, so you know, we'll focus on what we're doing on Whee Tip, because it's much needed, and the case for that is unquestionable, but yeah, if there's any support that we can offer to help, you know, Winchborough Limited and their partners, and the delivery of their rail station, my door is always open, and I'll gladly support them. Can we make it clear, Council's already decided that funding should not be found from the West Edinburgh Transport Improvement Program, because the investment of all the E8, thinking maybe E8, at Roxbury is absolutely essential, and will serve a different, a complementary purpose, but we have a meeting arranged with the Minister very shortly, and if things are moving rapidly, it could have been improved, of course, so just to update members. Yeah, thank you, convener, and you know, if I can maybe just start by just supporting everything which Julie had said, I mean, certainly from a West Lobean Council perspective, we see the projects as being complementary, but different, they serve two different purposes, two different markets, the E8, E89 project will be very important in terms of getting people from the eastern part of West Lobean, the Bronx, Malaria, into major employment sites, such as Ligere Fort, and such as the Newbridge area as well, those are major employment sites for residents of West Lobean. Winchborough railway station will be very good to get people into Falkirk, get people into the centre of Edinburgh, getting people into the centre of Glasgow, but it won't do anything for that local transportation solution in terms of getting people to the airport, et cetera, et cetera, so we see them as being very complementary projects, and certainly not in competition with one another, so we certainly support the West Edinburgh transport improvement project, but we are very keen to find a solution to funding Winchborough railway station. We have had ministerial meetings recently, there's another one of those coming up, and that again is focused on finding a solution to the funding gap. It's not the full funding for the station, the developer has identified it, they will make a contribution to that, until we find out the full cost of the station, we don't know what the funding gap is having in regard to that developer contribution there, but what would remind our members and committee is that following that ministerial discussion, a partnership discussion, the issue of potential funding through the centre region deal was raised, and the council's chief executive has written to the project management office in that regard, simply indicating that the possibility of funding was raised and starting to explore how that might be taken forward. So hopefully that's helpful update for members in terms of where we are with delivering Winchborough railway station, I think those follow-up discussions that we had and I'm happy to bring that back to committee at the appropriate time, thank you. Thank you, all I would add is I look forward to members understanding, because we're trying to find a solution to a much needed problem, because there is a high level of commuting from Winchborough into Edinburgh for various purposes, work, theatre, entertainment, etc, and that will solution take a lot of pressure off that corridor which we're having to invest a lot of money in, so thank you very much. Are there any other questions for you, Councillor? Of course you can. Thank you, just on the back of that, just to say that we are drafting a response to the lecture received in the West Lothian's chief executive, what we are doing within that is reinforcing the collective ambition of all parties to deliver in full upon the 7 strategic sides of Winchborough, so as you know we're developing a strategic side investment prospectus to that end, and what we look to do is to, and I believe you know it's already included in the draft strategic sides investment plan that we've got there, and it's very important that we deliver in full, because that's what the deal targets, you know in terms of 41,000 new homes, 7,800 of the jobs that we're on the hook for, and we're on the hook for delivering, are contingent upon the 7 sides being delivered in full. What I should say is that Andrew, the retiring, the shy and retiring Andrew Kerr as chair of the regional housing board, has written to the Scottish Government housing minister, and a response has been received now from the minister, and within that that's giving his personal assurance of his interest in the strategic sides investment prospectus, and looking forward to discussing the prospectus with us and to engaging with his ministerial colleagues, because it will lead that sort of collective approach within government as well, so yeah, just in our slightly. What I can share with you, and you know it's not floating trumpets etcetera, Winchborough's been the most successful of the 7 strategic sides in the city of Regent Hill, 1,000 houses built, sorry 2,400 have been partly complete, 3 new schools, a new school agreed, a new portable housing, a new motorway junction, and in particular a major land reclamation. So we have people from all over Britain visiting these 3 new schools, they are state of the art, and if any member wishes to come and visit, you'll be more than welcome, we can arrange that. So thank you for all that clarity, and I think that helps us in our progress. Any other sort of same comments? Okay, do we agree to approve the search recommendations? Thank you very much. I have a member stressing me, I have a short minute, I have a couple of members stressing me, I have to get away a bit early, because I have other meetings to chair. So can we move on to City of Regent and the transport theme item update, and Jimmy Robinson please. Thanks again Kavina, it's me again unfortunately for everybody, but if you can bear with me I'll try and skim through this one. First of all, I'm glad on this one though, I'm not on mode, I'm joined by some of the project leads that will be able to answer questions on specific projects at the end of my short presentation. So I'll share my screen and I'll quickly take us through the annual update. Hopefully you can see that now. Thanks to all the project leads for input into this year's annual transport update. It's a really positive picture again this year, and I'll just run through some of the highlights over the last calendar year. This first slide is just a recap of the core projects and the other transport work streams that TAB has successfully managed over the last year. Regarding our two level one core projects, Sheriff Hall and the West Edinburgh Transport Improvements project, I probably won't go into too much detail on this occasion, given that we've just had two separate updates on them also on our agenda. So moving on to the level two, the three enable our projects in the City Region Deal. We have the new A1 junction at Queen Margaret University, we have the A701 relief road, A702 spur road and the Workforce Mobility I-RES project. And then finally, our level three projects who have successfully used City Region Deal governance to progress the regional EV charging infrastructure, the Bus Partnership Fund and the Regional Transport Strategy delivery plan this year. So that's our three tiers of projects in the transport portfolio. And this next slide is just some of our in-year highlights. And you can see it's a long list, which I think represents another good year of progress. And I'll not go through all these individually mindful of time, but just a couple of key ones to highlight. So the new A1 junction serving QMU opened in June 2023. And there was a concordat sign between the City Region Deal and Cestran in August 23. And this is really positive and supports partnership working and coordination of plans and work streams. And we'll come on to that later on. In March 2024, we delivered an outline or three outline business cases and a feasibility study for the Bus Partnership Fund. And these are all now complete and they have been submitted to Transport Scotland for review. So another busy year, a long list of milestones and achievements achieved. These next few slides are just a series of slides and it's a snapshot of each of the individual projects. So first up is the A701 relief road and spur road. And if members can recall at February's committee, there was a project update. And that project update, it was confirmed that there was an interim specimen design on the A701 relief road. And that's now complete. There has been some reworking of that alignment to address some engineering issues and also to avoid bisecting an existing landfill site. And there has been some further transport modeling work, which was requested by Transport Scotland, particularly at the straight injunction. That is now complete and it is pending Transport Scotland's comment. And Midlodian Council have also approved bringing forward the Bushlow injunction and the Sustainable Transport Corridor as an initial phase. And this will help mitigate the overall programme slippers and it will deliver the Bushlow injunction within the 2026 timescale. And with other phases and other sections of the road being brought forward as and when the funding becomes available. And moving on to the Workforce Mobility Project. So just to highlight again that this is a revenue project within the Integrated Regional Employability and Skills Programme. And its key aim is to reduce transport related barriers and employment training and education right across the region. And it really links employability issues into the transport decision making progress. And just to quickly touch on a couple of key highlights within this programme within the last year. So the project management, procurement and delivery of the Scottish Borders demand responsive transport pilot known as PINGO. PINGO was delivered and there was also the journey hub strategy for East Lothian Council. And the recent bus driver recruitment event was launched with the Minister in March. And where the work particularly on this space of driver recruitment has been recognised as best practice. And this is probably our shortest update today, but it's also our biggest success from last year. And the delivery of the new A1 junction at the Queen Margaret University opened in June 2023. And that now helps unlock the potential of that campus and enables the 40 million investment in the Innovation Hub. So a short update, but probably our biggest infrastructure success. And coming on to the last two slides now. So at February's committee, we reported an update to members on the bus partnership fund and members noted, you know, that it will be paused for this financial year. And when February's committee convene, you wrote to the cabinet secretary for transport to seek further clarification and assurances over the future of the BPF. And Andy touched on that earlier in his update. A response has been received acknowledging your letter. However, there was no confirmation of the BPF's return as it will be considered as part of the future annual budget setting processes within Scottish Government. But despite the pause, we have within the bus partnership fund programme continued to make good progress. And we've delivered some key work streams including, as I mentioned at the top of the presentation, those feasibility studies, the outline business cases. And we have a new queue management system coming live this year on A90, which will be a huge benefit. And we're going to continue investigating and doing a live trial of bus priority selected traffic signal sites across the region. And on to the final slide of our level three project. So we have successfully utilised the city region deal governance to progress the EV regional charging strategy. And the city region deal directors agreed to include Falkirk and Coak Manishar and Dumfries and Galway as part of the project. And reports are now being prepared and considered by the nine relevant committees, local committees and with all the partner authorities. And there'll be some next steps identified as part of that process. And then finally, the second level three project was the sign in relay of the Cestrans Concordat, which has allowed our city region deal regional transport master plan now to be delivered in partnership with Cestran and under the renamed branding of the regional transport strategy delivery plan. And the first meeting of this new group to help deliver that project was held last month and it was really constructive and positive. And that group works to develop a series of priority projects over the next few months with a review of reporting those outcomes of those workstreams to committee in November 2024. So all in all convene a really busy year, a lot of progress being made. It's really nice to see some infrastructure on the ground. So the A1 junction coming to fruition and delivering benefits. And you'll get a flavour that, you know, in the pipeline of projects, projects are now getting to the stage where they're maturing into their final desired stages. And so we should see a pipeline of transport schemes being implemented on the ground over the next couple of years. I'll pause there and I'm more than happy to take questions. Thank you very much Jamie. Are there any questions? Russell? Yeah, thanks Peter. Jamie, just a little bit, pick up and link in to your West Edinburgh report. And it's about buses. Now I know we've had a reply from the Minister, which doesn't actually give a commitment to anything at this moment in time. So I wouldn't be surprised if it goes into a second year. But I really do think that in order to get West Edinburgh going, and I say this in all seriousness. We need to have money in there to develop bus routes. Now many, many years ago, probably before your time, so you won't recall it, but you might be just a junior in the transport department at the time. He's older than he looks. It must be the year, yeah. Anyway, we had what was called the Bus Route Development Grant. And that was actually by the Scottish Executive. It goes that far back. And we actually, all authorities within the region, benefited from that. It put money up front for the first four years, and then the bus company actually picked up on the fifth year. And hopefully by then, you've actually got a profitable route. And I just wonder if, I know we can't reinvent the wheel, but I just wonder if we worthwhile, you know, us keeping banging the door of the cab sec to actually get some money, even if it's from active travel. Because I'll put my cars on the table, I think active travel and buses are actually one and the same thing. And we should actually get out of the way and say, oh it's active travel, it's walking, it's cycling. I don't understand that. But if you get a path to a bus stop, for example, and there's no bus there, then it's money nowhere to spend. So I'm just trying to work out, is it possible to link that, these two, I suppose these two budget lines up, so we can actually get some movement on the bus side of things. Thanks for your question, Councillor Emory. Since the posing of the Bus Partnership Fund, you know, I'm a strong supporter of Continue to Wobbe because, you know, time moves on and things fade. And other things, other priorities come out, you know, we've got a general election coming up. So it's incredibly noisy at the moment and I'm quite passionate that we don't lose sight of the Bus Partnership Fund and the other stuff in the bus space alongside that because it's so incredibly important. You know, we've seen things, and if I can use the example of what we've done on the A90, so through infrastructure on the A90, we've managed to reduce bus journey times from Fife into Edinburgh by 8%. And at the same time, this has resulted in, you know, a 17% increase in patronage growth along that corridor. And it's a bit of a virtuous circle. The more commercial it gets, the bus operator stagecoaches has actually increased the frequency from 12 buses an hour up to 15 buses an hour. And we would love to replicate that, not just in West Edinburgh, but on all the main arterial routes right across the city and into the region. So that's a model that you can see that investment in bus priority infrastructure to allow the operators to, you know, fully run and reliable and attractive surfaces, surfaces in a commercial environment is really strong and really powerful. And so, yeah, we will continue to do at officer's level. And I think at the last joint committee in February, you know, one of the things that we were pushing for is that continued lobbying with ministers to make sure that we don't lose sight of that Bus Partnership Fund or another vehicle in which improvements in buses and infrastructure can be made. Thank you. Sorry, Norman. It's a question. Sorry, we finished on Bus Partnership Fund. It's not Bus Partnership Fund. Sorry, can I just say, I think the good points have been made here. Would members agree, having listened to what's been said and what's been advised by Jamie, that they'd be right to the transport minister, you know, asking for quality and operation of a very positive approach as regards to Bus Partnership Fund? Yes. Thank you. Agreed. Agreed. Sorry, Norman. Thank you. It does provide an opportunity to include bus routes. There's a bit of tension between Nukeley Hall and the Queen Mary University, underneath that A1 and Shearer Hall. It's got a short fare area, so we need to make sure we maximize the benefits of routes for buses around that side of England. The second point is charging points. Each authority is doing what they can to try and get as many charging points in to a level we can. But we are trying to get energy supplies to put these charging points in, and that's a massive problem for local authorities trying to get the companies to provide that energy supply. And I think we need to maybe try and do something as a regional body, trying to pressure these companies, these energy companies, because if we've got to deliver the number of charging points that require, we're going to have to have some different process, because we're never going to make the progress we need for the way that we're trying to get energy companies to provide us supply. And then there's the long term, and we're going to have all these chargers. So can we just individual local authorities look after the long term maintenance and management of these, or can we do something regional or even national to manage all these different chargers? So it's something for the board. I think we need to be looking at. Yeah. Okay. Anyone else? But I think we'll have that in a minute. Perhaps we can have a vote coming forward on that, Norman. Members agree? Any other questions? Any comments? Doesn't seem to be, can ask, we agreed to look at the recommendations. Amazing that point on the charging points, and we're ready to have it. We want the final item, which is the regional prosperity framework and the locking and delivery. Yeah, I think David. David Baxter? Yeah. David? Yeah, happy to say a few words. Can you talk up so we can hear you? Yeah, and happy to say a few words. Can we now? Okay. Yes, of course. And the report outlines key progress that's been made on the programming projects identified in the regional prosperity framework. That was approved just over a year ago by joint committee. The report also recognises that accommodating growth is becoming an increasing challenge in local authorities. In terms of providing capital revenue to support the growth and approaches set out there. It seeks to help ensure that that challenge is addressed. The report also highlights the key recommendations that were made by the Scottish government in terms of the regional economic policy review. Namely, place based funding settlements and regional housing hubs. We've got two areas that are very closely aligned to our regional prosperity framework. And we were hopeful that there would be an alignment and a commitment in the budgets this year, but that hasn't been the case. So that's something that we want to continue to make the case for. We also reaffirmed in the report that an engagement took place with the ministers last year in October time. And we've also been actively feeding into the Scotland office. Reviewing the local economic growth and the Scottish Public Affairs requirement to set a region deal. I suppose that's been making the case for a set region deal, but it's also making the case for the regional prosperity framework and future ambitions that we have in the region. The bulk of the report really focuses on the projects that we delivered over the last year. I think hopefully what comes across is when funding and resources are available, the local authorities have been very good at working together to utilise those fundings. So for example, with the UK sharing prosperity fund monies, the local authorities have collaborated to tackle a number of priority projects. That's included the climate risk and opportunity assessment. I think many of you may have heard from the charity Snipper who are leading on that work. If they like to remember what we said here a couple of weeks ago, so that project is progressing well. The other funds have been used to push forward a net zero-skills accelerator hub. I think there's Fender involved in that project too. There's another strand of investment in the economy, several projects within that are progressing too. There's a workshop with key stakeholders to try and push forward the regional energy master plan, which is another one of our key priorities in the framework. So that is a flavour of just one fund, which isn't particularly big, that can allocate each of the local authorities, but we've had the plan in place, but the priorities identified have been able to utilise that very quickly to make good progress. In terms of our existing resources, something that's been mentioned already, today there's the strategic side investment in respect to this. That work continues closely with the regional housing partners and the lead officers for the strategic side. There's been quite a lot of engagement with the member oversight committee and directors on that piece of work. That was the case just last night actually as well. So we're looking to have a draft, we've got a draft ready and we're looking to have a bit more knowledge to share with the civil servants over the next few weeks. I think hopefully that gives a wee bit of a flavour of the type of projects that have been delivered. Happy to comment on any of the projects that are there, but appreciate time. I'd just like to pick up on a point that was raised a couple of weeks ago by the elected member oversight committee that we need to ensure that we're capturing the benefits and outcomes from the Reconciliation Framework. And I think we do recognise the importance of that. A number of the projects are very early stage in terms of peace building study or a project in Ireland. And as the project progresses, we need to work closely with the benefits realisation process that we have in place for the deal. There's been a comment on this, it's a great process that we have there and work closely with the benefits realisation office that we've got in place to make sure we can do that and demonstrate on an annual basis. And the paper really ends with highlighting some of the challenges that are mentioned at the start in terms of growth in the rapidly growing population of the many parts of the region. And it's proposed that a short growth strategy is produced to really build on the regional framework and deliver the land, but helps I think in terms of hopefully with members of the chief executives in terms of engagement on the wayward app family as a region building on the work that they've been doing. So hopefully I can get some of the projects and events in and what we can do in that space and I'm very happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much David. Members of any questions? Members of any comments? Sorry, Euan? Yes, no, thank you. I'm just looking for cycling tourism is one of the main things. We've already got several Scotland cycle partnerships strategy we've got, we're also a UCI sector region area. I just wonder how much intellect you are going to be learning from the central Scotland region, I mean sometimes it feels when you're on a sector, you're sort of left out of some of the conversations. So the transport, the buses stop at the low way, the studying never goes into the order. So when you're talking region, I'm sure cyclists, maybe don't want to be cycling in the city of Edinburgh, but they may want us to go to the west low way and maybe the Scotland port or the sector. So when we're talking region, what are we learning by that and what license and what capability can we get up here already, halfway down the journey if not at the end of the journey in a lot of ways. I think in terms of that, specifically on the cycling side, I know the business economy strand has been led by Visit Scotland. There's a lot of engagement and workshops by them to identify those priorities, including cycling, recognizing the opportunity there was to do more on a regional basis. I'm pretty confident that the Scottish Port of Spencer will be very open to that, and I'm not very close to the detail, but I can remember in terms of the break-ins is the opportunity to, as you say in terms of the break-ins, is at the UCI, again in terms of that too. So I think that very much there's been a joint approach on that and I think that a lot of those priorities, cycling has very much been an opportunity to create that sort of an opportunity for us. Just to reinforce that, through Visit Scotland they are very plugged into that because they're plugged in and supporting what's happening in Scottish Port of Spencer. We also, the previous director, General of Economy, when we took her on a tour around all six of the Department authorities, it was to see that as well, you know, the new sort of sacred facility down there, you know, and really impressive, it was to sort of, yeah, it's fully in there, but just, you know, again, reinforcing what David's sort of saying, but fairly modest sums of money and, you know, and monies that haven't arrived in a neat format and concrete at the sort of sharing of cool resources, a real, you know, a huge amount of work has actually been achieved in that first year. As David says, a lot of bits of deparatory feasibility studies, but that hopefully enables us to hit the ground running, but we can, you know, out of the spending of human hallucinations or, you know, through the Scottish Government's regional economic policy review, if the aggregate police-based longer-term funding becomes available, you know, we're in a best position to avail ourselves of that and to deliver, you know, I think the credibility for the industry and delivery of our tools and hopefully it's all in a good place. Thank you. Thank you. Any further questions? Norman? Yeah, can I say I'm conscious even from our council of further rules and one can never be absolutely separate from the other. No, but I didn't say who was going to win it, I just said there'll be a new government. Yes, there will be. Yeah, of course. Yeah. All right. Thank you. And I think I have that in mind. Any other comments? No, it doesn't seem to be. So can I ask that we go to progress and approve the case approach going forward? Yes. And can I thank you all for your attendance. Those that wish to dash away, that is a launch provided to those who are staying. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. [BLANK_AUDIO]