Agenda item

Dan Norris will talk about his role followed by a question and answer session.

30 minutes

Dan Norris, West of England Metro Mayor, attended the meeting to talk about his role and to answer questions from Parishes.  He talked about the following issues:

·  The West of England region will benefit from strategic working.  Over the last four years the region has not been granted any funding over and above the Government’s original intentions.  The Mayor wants to increase funding for the area by working strategically across the region.

·  The Government wants ideas which are bigger than the sum of their parts.  Councils in the past have demonstrated a culture of “divvying up” funding between their respective areas.  However, if the combined authority works effectively across the whole area, as other regions have done, more funding could become available.

·  The Mayor is hoping to meet with the Prime Minister soon to discuss strategic working.  He does not consider his role to be party political and feels that most people would agree what a good public transport system or good training looks like.

·  He wants to allocate funding to the best bids that come forward, irrespective of where they are in the region.  These ideas should benefit the region as a whole.

·  This region can do as well as other parts of the country by working hard for this in a strategic way.

Question and Answer Session

Dan Norris then responded to questions as follows:

·  Villages and hamlets need more support and just over half a billion pounds has been secured for a public transport system.  The big emphasis will be on buses.  The funding comes with conditions which largely focuses on urban links.  He acknowledged that public transport is important in rural areas too.  He would always focus on ensuring that the service is excellent, but funding restrictions may only result in “good enough”, which may be better than the services we have now.  We will need transport hubs to improve connectivity.  Transport officers across the different council areas need to work closely together.  The Bristol to Bath link is important but not the only priority.  Help from the local areas will be important to ensure that the system works for all.

·  The Mayor has visited Cleveland Bridge to see the closure.  A strong case has been made regarding the problems caused by heavy goods vehicles crossing the bridge.  There is some tension with Wiltshire regarding this issue and it would also have a knock-on effect across the whole South West area.  It is important to work together to solve this problem.

·  There is very little actual “affordable” housing in the area.  It is difficult to heat and run a house and good insulation is crucial as bills are continuing to rise.  Future needs must be anticipated, and the green belt must be considered.  It is important to consider what is truly green belt.  It is also vital to build more homes, including council houses.  Young people no longer have enough money to buy their own homes, and this is a problem.

·  The Mayor is very supportive towards work being done to protect women and girls.  Having worked in child protection he understands this issue and the need for women and girls to be able to protect themselves.  It is a much wider problem than we read in the headlines and the way women are treated is poor and this must be addressed.  Until there is true equality then it will be difficult to fully deal with this problem.

·  The Mayor does not have the power to mediate with regards to the proposed development of 250 houses put forward by Mendip Council.  This does have a large impact on areas on the border such as Westfield Parish.  It highlights the need for more strategic thinking.

·  The Mayor agreed to look at the study undertaken by the Valley Parishes Alliance regarding the M4 to south coast arterial route.

·  It is important to target resources to provide residential accommodation and empty retail spaces could be part of this.  The pace of change has altered because of the pandemic and it will be important to analyse the data regarding new ways of working and shopping etc.  The changing pattern of retail can be put to positive use.

·  The impact of the Clean Air Zone was discussed, and the Mayor noted the need for more strategic cross-party working to deal with this type of issue which affects a wide area.  Cllr Sarah Warren pointed out that the Government required B&NES to bring in a Clean Air Zone and that 95% of vehicles are currently compliant with more being encouraged and assisted via grants to upgrade their vehicles.  It was noted that there is also an increasing number of vans and HGVs on the road due to more online shopping.

The Chair thanked Dan Norris for attending the meeting.