Solihull Partnership
To receive a verbal update from the Solihull Partnership and the Head of Regeneration and Housing.
Decision:
Resolved
(1) That Councillor Barry Richards represent the Budget Planning Committee on the Solihull Partnership Steering Group.
(2) That the Solihull Partnership Steering Group report to the Budget Planning Committee after each meeting of the Group and remain on the Work Plan until all issues are resolved.
Minutes:
The Commercial Director gave a verbal update on the progress of the Solihull Partnership.
Due to the problems experienced with the Solihull Partnership the Commercial Director had commissioned a report by Virus Consult to understand what had gone wrong and what could be done to rectify the problems going forward.
The Director of Virtus Consult gave a presentation to the Committee on his findings. Thirty one of the thirty five projects given to the Solihull Partnership, which were due to be completed by June 2016, were still outstanding. There appeared to be a lack of governance, leadership and ownership of projects with insufficient workforce and no contract in place to motivate completion.
The Head of Housing and Regeneration explained that the immediate aim was to get back on track with the Solihull Partnership and it was envisaged that 30% of the programme would be completed by March 2017.
The Committee expressed disapproval at the Solihull Partnership’s lack of progress and their prioritisation of other projects over those which have been agreed upon with Cherwell District Council and raised concerns over delivery of projects going forward.
As the Committee would not meet again until 27 January 2017, Members requested that an update be circulated via email before the next meeting. The Committee also requested that an account be kept of the costs.
In response to Members’ comments, the Commercial Director explained that a Steering Group would be set up and would meet fortnightly to monitor the Solihull Partnership’s progress. A progress report would be emailed to all members of the Budget Planning Committee The Committee requested that a member of the Budget Planning Committee join the Steering Group and it was agreed that Councillor Barry Richards should attend the Steering Group and feed back to the Committee.