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:
- Accepted receipt of
Investment Zone funding, following approval in September for
Northern Gateway to be part of Greater Manchester’s
Investment Zone.
- 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
- 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.
- Endorsed the
Strategic Outline Business Case for Atom Valley MDZ.
- 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