Board meeting
Friday 23rd November, 3.00pm
Humber Bridge Board Offices
Attendance
Board members
Private sector
Lord Haskins of Skidby (Chair)
David Ross (Vice Chair)
Malcolm Joslin, BP
Howard O’Neill, Chamber of Commerce
John Clugston, Clugston Group
Matt Jukes, ABP
Alan Platt, John Good Shipping
Observers
Marcus Walker, North Lincolnshire Council
Alan Menzies, East Riding of Yorkshire
Council
Mark Jones, Hull City Council
Marc Cole, North East Lincolnshire Council
Peter Campey, BIS
Secretariat
Richard Kendall, LEP Manager
East Caroline Sansam (minutes)
Local authorities
Councillor Peter Wheatley, North
Lincolnshire Council
Councillor Liz Redfern, North Lincolnshire
Council
Councillor Parnaby OBE, East Riding of
Yorkshire Council
Councillor Steven Bayes, Hull City Council
University of Hull
Professor Calie Pistorius
Minutes
At the start of the meeting Lord Haskins confirmed that the LEP
Board was meeting in shadow and Mark Jones was the sole
director of Humber LEP Ltd.
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Actions
Apologies
David Kilburn, MKM Building Supplies
Peter M Stephenson, Able UK
Pauline Davis, Interim LEP Director
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Declarations of interest
None
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The Board received presentations from Ian Mills on ‘Export
Support’ and Professor Andy Gouldson on the 'The Economics
of Low Carbon Cities'.
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Minutes of the meeting on 26th October and matters arising
The minutes were agreed.
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Chairman’s Business
Lord Haskins wanted to discuss three issues further to those outlined
in his report. Firstly, he was pleased that the Government had
restated its position with regards to the Energy Bill. He hoped that the
commitment shown by the Government would be sufficient to keep
things on course, particularly for the renewables sector in the Humber.
Secondly, he outlined some of the work that had taken place with
regards to the Humber marketing proposition and he confirmed that
he hoped to develop this further in 2013. Lastly, he said that the City
Deal Expression of Interest would need to be signed off by the Board
at its meeting in December and he stressed the importance that all
Board members attended this meeting where possible. He confirmed
that a draft document would be circulated to the Board shortly.
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LEP
Secretariat
South Bank Sub-Board Rail Freight Review
Marcus Walker updated the Board on rail freight priorities; he said that
this work had been subsumed by the Able Marine Energy Park
examination. Some very useful information had emerged and a
number of recommendations would now be taken to Network Rail for
consideration. The Board noted the progress to date.
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Growing Places - Due Diligence and Interest Rates
(i)
Progress with applications - verbal report
Richard Kendall updated the Board on round 2 of the £7million
Business Loan Fund. He said that over 40 applications had been
received to date. He was confident that many of the applications
would be of a high standard.
(ii)
Interest rates - report from the Investment Board
Richard Kendall briefed the Board on the report from the Investment
Board. The Investment Board’s view was that 0 % interest rates were
not worth pursuing and they recommended that the proposal was not
worked up further. Councillor Redfern enquired why the Investment
Board had taken this decision. Richard Kendall said any changes to
interest rates at this stage would not be applicable round 2
applications, given that the deadline was that day, so they would not
affect the number of applications. He confirmed that applicants would
receive an indicative interest rate at the short-listing stage. Mark
Jones noted that this was set up as an Investment Fund so a rate of
return was expected. The Board agreed 0% interest rates were not
worth pursuing at this time.
(iii)
Due diligence - report from the accountable body
Mark Jones briefed the Board on report from the Accountable Body.
The report proposed that the LEP would pay due diligence fees for
shortlisted applicants up to a ceiling of £7,000. This decision would be
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applied retrospectively to Round 1 applicants. He explained that a
lighter due diligence was being developed for smaller loans. He
confirmed that a new process was in place, which included local
authorities, and the LEP’s newly appointed Investment Manager, and
this would act as part of the appraisal process along with a credit
check. He hoped that this would reduce the requirement from due
diligence going forward. He confirmed that companies that chose not
to proceed after due diligence had been completed would be required
to pay the fees back.
The Board agreed:
 The recommendation of the Accountable Body to pay
100% of the costs of due diligence up to a ceiling of £7k
(Option 5.1) for Round Two and Round One applications
and that the process is reviewed for any future rounds
based on the experience of both early rounds.
 To reconsider the role and contribution of the Growing
Places Fund in the light of the development of a Humber
Investment Fund as part of the Hull & Humber City Deal.
 To revisit the issue of due diligence, the sustainability of
the fund and the required level of revenue support
funding before any subsequent rounds of the Growing
Places Fund.
 Gap & Grant funding applications are appraised as
outlined in paragraph 4.8 with public sector applicants
being responsible for funding their own due diligence
costs.
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RGF update
Richard Kendall updated the Board on progress to date. He confirmed
that there was three months to agree the terms and conditions
contained within the conditional grant offer letter and a further three
months to carry out due diligence on the Accountable Body (North
East Lincolnshire Council). He and the Accountable Board had met
with case officers recently and the expectation was that this work
would be completed early in January with a view to launching
applications around the end of January; this would be ahead of
schedule. He confirmed that the funding would need to be spent in
two years.
The Board discussed the membership of the Investment Board and
Councillor Wheatley noted that the report suggested that the
membership may need to be reviewed in the near future. He
suggested that this was included as a recommendation going forward.
Richard Kendall said another option had emerged, that individual
sector specific panels could advise and appraise the Investment
Board. He suggested this was discussed further in the report on
governance and management at the next meeting. Alan Platt enquired
about the Investment Board membership. Lord Haskins suggested
LEP
that membership of the Investment Board was circulated to Board
Secretariat
members.
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The Board agreed:



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That the LEP Secretariat and North East Lincolnshire
Council submit a proposal on the governance
management of the programme at the next Board meeting.
That the Investment Board are consulted on the
applicable parts of the proposal, with the intention that
they make relevant decisions in a similar way to the
Business Loan Fund.
That it wishes to retain oversight of the programme and
receive regular progress reports.
Humber Marketing Proposition - report enclosed
Lord Haskins briefed the Board on the work being undertaken to
create the Humber marketing proposition. The proposition was looking
at marketing the Humber in a broader sense and looking at it as a
port, for inward and outward trade, as a place to manufacture goods
and at its competitiveness. He confirmed that further information
would be put before the Board at the next meeting. Alan Platt asked
about membership of the private sector committee, Lord Haskins said
this was an informal group at present but he suggested that it might
need to be formalised as part of the City Deal process. Lord Haskins
confirmed that this work would be funded by the private sector. The
Board noted progress to date.
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Any other business
None.
Date and time of next meeting - Friday 21st December at 3.00pm
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