Councillors will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 17 July 2024.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2024 were agreed as an accurate record.

To receive reports on business which in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

Councillor Ian Darcy joined the meeting during this item.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) introduced the item by showing a video and then highlighting:

a)    Plymouth had a lot to be proud of but wasn’t always supported, for example, by local media;

b)    PricewaterhouseCoopers Good Growth for Cities Index had named Plymouth as the UK’s best place to live and work for 2024;

                      i.        It assessed cities across 12 criteria including income, housing, health, skills and more;

                     ii.        Plymouth’s ranking was a recognition of its dedication to creating an environment where economic growth went hand in hand with balanced living;

                    iii.        Plymouth had seen marked improvements in areas such as job creation, income distribution and housing accessibility;

c)    The plan would ensure the benefits of growth were felt across all the cities communities; raising living standards, improving the quality of life and health;

d)    The UK’s first National Marine Park had been created in Plymouth and the city was home to one of the country’s most important cultural attractions: The Box;

e)    Proud of one of the best Economic Development Team’s in the country;

f)     Focus on high-value sectors such as defence, marine and manufacturing, whilst supporting new and emerging sectors such as floating offshore wind;

g)    The plan would ensure that the current and future workforce were equipped to benefit from new and higher paid jobs;

h)    The city centre and waterfront would continue to be improved;

i)      Challenges included:

                      i.        A tight labour market and increased demand for skilled workers;

                     ii.        Need to reimagine the city centre;

                    iii.        Climate emergency;

j)     70 year investment pipeline in the dockyard;

k)    The next stage in the economic strategy was to develop a 3 year delivery plan under four headings:

                      i.        Heart of the City;

                     ii.        Waterfront and Maritime;

                    iii.        Defence and Devonport;

                    iv.        North of the City.

Amanda Ratsey (Head of Economy and Investment) added:

l)     The Economic Strategy had been approved and data had been collected on all of the projects in development, speaking to a wide range of partners across the city;

m)  Four pillars of the economic strategy were:

                      i.        High value jobs;

                     ii.        Sustainable growth;

                    iii.        Civic pride and regeneration;

                    iv.        Inclusive growth;

n)    Housing target was likely going to be increased;

o)    £4.4 billion investment in the dockyard;

                      i.        The investment at the dockyard would drive growth for the city with Babcock needing 5,500 new jobs to sustain the workforce and another 2,000 construction workers in the next 10 years;

                     ii.        It had the potential to benefit the city, it’s travel to work area, local supply chain, local people and research and innovation;

p)    Existing projects needed to conclude, but a pipeline also needed to continue to be developed so this level of ambition could continue.

In response to questions, the following was discussed:

q)    Need to ensure that Plymouth residents would be able to access existing and future jobs from primary school, through to people getting jobs with career progression through the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) introduced the item and highlighted:

a)    Plymouth had four ports: Cattedown, Sutton Harbour, Millbay and Devonport;

b)    Plymouth employed more people in the maritime sector than any other local authority in the country, more than 20,000 people which made up 18% of the city’s workforce;

c)    Devonport Dockyard was the largest naval base in western Europe and was the largest land-user in the city, covering 650 hectares with 14 dry docks, 25 tidal births and four miles of docks;

d)    There were 1,400 gold anchor births and 12 cruise ships had visited Plymouth in the past year;

e)    The ports were at the forefront of maritime technology and innovation including research organisations and companies who were working on autonomous vessels and support to floating offshore wind;

f)     Plymouth Sound was part of the National Marine Park and was home to over 1,000 species over 6,000 hectares, as well as being an area of special scientific interest;

g)    Plymouth’s ports underpinned wider growth in the wider marine economy which had the potential to create an additional 2,600 jobs by 2030;

h)    Whilst the Council didn’t play a direct role in port operations, it had commissioned a study because it believed that the ports had an important role to play in supporting future development of the city, and the Council would create a positive policy environment.

Iain Mackelworth (Principal Surveyor) added:

i)     The Council secured Shared Prosperity funding to undertake the research into understanding Plymouth’s ports economic contribution to the city in detail and their potential to attract future investment, particularly in green jobs;

j)     Mott MacDonald had undertaken work elsewhere in the country on ports and were well positioned to give an insight in how Plymouth’s ports compared to others across the country;

k)    An extensive review had been carried out with Port Operators and a variety of stakeholders;

l)     The ports were thriving, and whilst Devonport received most of the recognition because of its scale of operations, there was so much more going on in Plymouth’s ports;

m)  The review had fed into the strategy which identified six areas of opportunities that aligned with the economic strategy;

n)    Ports were global operations and all had to continually invest to maintain a competitive advantage, especially with recent innovations in areas such as fuelling ships.

Ben Mason (Mott Macdonald) added:

o)    Aims of the study were to better understand the ecosystem of Plymouth’s Ports, to identify opportunities to maximise their economic contribution to Plymouth, to support their transition to Net Zero and support creation of green jobs, as well as understanding theirs strengths, weaknesses and how the ports interacted with each other;

p)    A strategic vision statement had been included alongside some opportunities and initiatives that could help achieve it;

q)    There had been considerable stakeholder engagement to gain understanding;

r)    Plymouth is unique in the breadth of things it does well across its ports and the diversity was notable in the research;

s)     The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

Councillor Coker (Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport) introduced the item and highlighted:

a)    The update followed the publication of the Council’s Bus Services Improvement Plan (BSIP) 3 in Summer 2024 and precedes the updates of the associated enhanced partnership plan;

b)    The plan was underpinned by nine passengers priorities, identified through engagement with current and non-bus users, and ranked in order of priority from the results of the 2023 passenger priority survey;

c)    It aligned with the ambitions of the national Bus Strategy to boost bus patronage;

d)    The BSIP set out what the Plymouth Enhanced Bus Partnership would deliver to make buses easier and more convenient to use;

e)    Responding to Department for Transport (DfT) guidelines issued in January 2024, the BSIP 3 needed to be a delivery plan, rather than a bidding document;

f)     Statistics showed an improvement in service from the BSIP work;

                      i.        Passenger satisfaction with bus journey times had increased by 7% compared to the same time in 2023 and was at 70%;

                     ii.        Bus mileage operated had increased;

                    iii.        Punctuality of buses had improved;

                    iv.        Some areas of bus services had returned to pre-COVID19 pandemic levels, though other areas were still struggling;

g)    Government had announced the day before the meeting that the £3 bus fare cap, which he welcomed because the previous Government had said the previous £2 bus fare cap would end on 31 December 2024;

h)    In comparison to competitors of a similar size, Plymouth was doing well in protecting networks;

i)     BSIP funding had been used to enhance some routes in the city and it was partially funding commercial routes to ensure they continued;

j)     £1.6 million pounds had been received in the previous 2 years following a nurtured relationship with the DfT bus team;

k)    Plymouth’s BSIP was going to be used by the DfT as a national exemplar for other authorities;

l)     The last 12 months proved that by working together with stakeholders, Government and the local public, a positive difference had been made to Plymouth’s bus network.

Rosemary Starr (Sustainable Transport Manager) added:

m)  The need for a BSIP and a formal partnership for delivery was driven by the 2021 National Bus Strategy;

n)    The plan covered a time period of 2020-2034 in order to align with the Plymouth Plan because the BSIP was a delivery plan of the Plymouth Plan;

o)    The DfT wanted the emphasis of BSIP 3 to be what would be delivered by the end of 2023/24, what was programmed for delivery by the end of the financial year 2024/25, as well as the ambitions for future delivery in 2025 and beyond;

p)    In the past 12 months the team had been able to deliver measures against all nine of the passenger priorities through partnership working with partners, specialists and delivery groups;

q)    There were three delivery groups each looking at different areas:

                      i.        Bus passenger chart and bus user group;

                     ii.        Passenger information and publicity;

                    iii.        Zero emission  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

Councillor Briars-Delve (Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change) introduced the item and highlighted:

a)    Most organisations produce heat as a bi-product of what they do, and in most cases it is either going into “thin air”, or in the case of South West Water, going into the sea;

b)    Heat Networks aimed to utilise waste heat from major source and redirect it through underground pipes in buildings;

c)    The technology had existed for decades, and there were small scale examples in Plymouth, but this was an opportunity to do something on a bigger scale;

d)    It was the first item on the new cross-party Sustainability Advisory Group so that different parties in Plymouth were aware of the scale of the opportunity, and were keen to bring the item for pre-decision scrutiny;

e)    In Plymouth, heating buildings accounted for around 28% of the city’s emissions, second only to transport, and therefore buildings were a key part to decarbonisation;

f)     The plans presented had the potential to decarbonise over 30,000 tons of emissions in Plymouth each year;

g)    Probability of over £400 million of green investment;

h)    It would kickstart Plymouth’s most significant opportunity to provide businesses and households with the lowest cost decarbonised heat available;

i)     400 direct green jobs would be created;

j)     Improvement to air quality;

k)    Improvement to the Plymouth’s energy security and climate resilience;

l)     Plymouth City Council had already introduced these methods within its own estate which not only contributed to decarbonisation, but also saved the Council over £500,000 a year through retrofitting;

m)  Social value.

Jonathan Selman (Net Zero Delivery Officer) added:

n)    Plymouth had been selected as one of 17 cities under the Advanced Zoning Programme (AZP) with significant funding provided by Government;

o)    Plymouth was now in the shortlisted 6 cities;

p)    Heat Networks had been proposed in every CEAP/NZAP (Climate Emergency Action Plan/Net Zero Action Plan) for the Council since 2019;

q)    It was included in the Joint Local Plan with many developments ‘connection ready’;

r)    The delivery approach did not require any Plymouth City Council capital funding;

s)     There was strong market interest and Plymouth was a frontrunner;

t)     Heat represented the biggest energy use in the UK accounting for 46% of all the energy used in the UK and around 30% of UK emissions; 90% of emissions from gas;

u)    Energy Act 2023 provided powers for government to implement heat network zoning in England;

v)    Heat Network Regulations were anticipated for 2025;

w)   Being part of the AZP meant Plymouth was in a favourable position to secure grant funding from the Government’s Green Heat Network Fund;

x)    There was potential for a scheme in Derriford;

y)    Cabinet had endorsed a Plymouth City Council (PCC) led procurement approach with limited risk  and significant scope for rewards;

z)    The executive decision to go to procurement was expected to be made in November 2024 leading to the final decision for implementation expected to be in 2026.

In response to questions, with support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

The Panel asked:

a)    If the actions from the Water Quality Select Committee could be chased again as many had passed their initial deadline.

The Panel agreed to note it’s tracking decisions document.

During a short discussion:

a)    Councillor McLay asked if Sustainable Transport could be considered to be scheduled for 2024/25;

b)    An additional meeting could be scheduled for April 2025 with a single item on South West Water’s future plans.

The Panel agreed to note the work programme.