Decision details

Councillor O’Brien, Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Growth presented the report which detailed an update on the status of Investment Zone funding and provided an update on the Atom Valley Mayoral Development Zone, namely the Atom Valley Strategic Case.

Decision:

Cabinet:

1. Accepted receipt of Investment Zone funding, following approval in September for Northern Gateway to be part of Greater Manchester’s Investment Zone.
2. Delegated authority to the Executive Director (Place - Business Growth and Infrastructure) in consultation with the Director of Law and Governance to finalise the terms of the Investment Zone funding
3. Delegated authority to the Monitoring Officer to execute any associated agreements including receipt of grant funding. d. Delegates authority to the Executive Director Place, Business Growth and Infrastructure in consultation with the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Portfolio Holder, to authorise outputs and end of stage approvals in relation to any Investment Zone funding.
4. Endorsed the Strategic Outline Business Case for Atom Valley MDZ.
5. Noted that a similar report will be presented to Rochdale Council’s Cabinet on 26 November 2024.

Reasons for recommendation(s)

• Significant progress is now being made to progress the delivery of the Northern Gateway, the largest development site in the Atom Valley MDZ. This includes the recent adoption of Places for Everyone (PfE) Joint Development Plan in March 2024 and the designation of Northern Gateway as part of the Greater Manchester IZ. The Atom Valley Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) sets out the Atom Valley vision and opportunity in the context of Greater Manchester and identifies the potential scale of public sector intervention required to support delivery; the associated socio-economic benefits this site will unlock; and supports delivery partners with positioning the opportunity with sub-regional and national funders and stakeholders.

• The IZ funding has been allocated from 1st April 2024, with a year-one spend deadline of 31st March 2025, along with other revenue funding, there is a need to move projects forward swiftly and flexibly to respond to these funding opportunities. As such, the report seeks delegations to the Executive Director (Place - Business Growth and Infrastructure), Leader of the Council and relevant Portfolio holder(s) to facilitate these processes and implement the respective Delivery and Procurement Strategies.

Alternative options considered and rejected:

• That the recommendations are not approved, and we do not utilise the funding, with this reallocated elsewhere in Greater Manchester. This presents a risk to delivery of the Places for Everyone joint development plan and specifically, the delivery of Northern Gateway.

• That the collaboration and delegations are not approved, and further reports are brought to Cabinet to authorise spending in relation to funding at a later date. This introduces risk that monies will not be deployed or spent on time both within this financial year 2024/25 and future years, with funding reallocated to other projects elsewhere in Greater Manchester