Agenda and minutes

The Minutes of the meeting held on 20^th July 2006, having been printed and circulated, were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

The Board agreed that the meeting should stand adjourned until 1.00 pm to allow the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive to be in attendance.

MEETING ADJOURNED AT 12.05 PM

The Board considered a report of the Mersey Gateway Project Director outlining progress made in the delivery of Mersey Gateway since the last meeting of the Board in July 2006.

It was noted that substantive progress had been made in the following areas:

·               delivery resources and project structure; and

·               liaison with the Department for Transport (DfT).

The progress report that was to be submitted to the DfT was attached to the agenda for Members’ information.

The principle short-term deliverables were outlined for the Board’s consideration and it was advised that progress with each of these was currently to programme. However, contingency in the delivery plans for the traffic model had been eroded due to the delay in receiving data from third parties. Resources were therefore being adjusted to avoid any programme slippage.

The Board noted that the appointment of a Procurement Manager for this project was unlikely to be filled from internal resources due to the specialist nature of the post. However, there was an option for a secondment  to be secured from E.C. Harris and Halcrow if required.

RESOLVED: That the progress made be noted and the issues to be discussed with officials at the Department for Transport at the meeting arranged for 26^th October 2006.

The Board considered a report of the Mersey Gateway Project Director regarding the results emerging from the on-going market consultation on procurement options for Mersey Gateway.

It was noted that the investigation of procurement options was centred on whether an earlier procurement approach would be both beneficial and deliverable. Early procurement, by inviting tenders before the scheme was progressed through the planning process, could help the Council to manage delivery risk and also provide more scope for the private sector to add value in whole life cost terms. A market consultation had taken place and a representative of the project financial consultants KPMG attended the meeting to present the consultation results received to date.

The Board considered:

(1)            whether members of the press and public should be excluded from the meeting of the Board during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be considered, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972; and

(2)            whether the disclosure  of information was in the public interest, whether any relevant exemptions were applicable and whether, when applying the public interest test and exemptions, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed that in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED: That as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, members of the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 because it is likely that, in view of the nature of the business, exempt information will be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Mr. R. Threlfall of KPMG LLP attended the meeting to present the results to date in respect of early procurement market consultation. The presentation outlined the process undertaken, the consultees involved, a summary of responses, common messages, emerging thoughts on possible approach, issues to be addressed and the next steps.

The Board noted that the work carried out had determined that this was an option worth exploring further. A similar presentation was to be made to the Department for Transport the following week and comments arising from this would be reported back to the Board.

The Chairman thanked Mr. Threlfall for attending the meeting.

RESOLVED: That the preliminary results from the market consultation be noted, pending further reports to the Board that would enable a decision to be taken on the preferred procurement strategy for the project.

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director – Environment regarding the preferred Toll Plaza location for the Mersey Gateway, the consequential land use and other operational implications.

RESOLVED: That the preferred layout be included in the final reference design and this be the subject of extensive public consultation in 2007.

MINUTES ISSUED: 26^th October 2006

CALL IN: 2^nd November 2006

Any matter decided by the Mersey Gateway Executive Board may be called in no later than 2^nd November 2006