Agenda and minutes

The Committee are asked to receive a presentation.

David Holmes (DH) from Havering College attended the meeting to advise on the College’s plans for a Rainham Campus.

The College currently provided construction training at the former Carpetright unit situated at Dover’s corner. The College’s long term intentions were to expand the facility to a full campus.

DH explained that the London Enterprise Panel had capital grant funding available of which £120m was available for Further Education and Higher Education (FE/HE) projects.

A prospectus had been issued in mid-August for an expression of interest by the end of September. There were 31 FE colleges in London eligible to apply together with registered private training providers.

The next step would be to develop more detailed proposals for submission in January, 2015. If successful the college would have a decision by April/May 2015 for a start in August/September, 2015.

The college hoped to expand their existing facilities by developing training in new housing construction techniques, e.g. modern methods of construction and construction of climate energy efficient homes. They would also develop some civil engineering courses, electrical engineering, plumbing etc, to enable those being trained to benefit from the opportunities in the construction industries.

To qualify for the funding the college would have to put in £2 for every pound of grant funding. Any bid would need the support of the Council, other colleges and business partners including local construction companies.

Officers advised that the Council were working to bring construction employers together as an employer group to advise the college as to training needs and were using Section 106 monies and procurement to facilitate employment opportunities for local employees.

The Committee was advised that the college was a member of CEME (Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence) and had helped fund the CEME building. The College would be looking for a prospective curriculum link with CEME and seeking their support for the bid.

The college was in a strong financial position and was already in talks with banks about raising their share of the costs of the project.

DH confirmed that 60/70% of the under 19 learners were local residents.

The Committee agreed with officers writing a letter of support for the proposal.

Report to follow. The Committee are also asked to receive a presentation.

The Highways Agency was set to undertake a major capacity enhancement scheme (the M25 junction 30/A13 Corridor Congestion Relieving Scheme (CCRS). The work was scheduled to commence Winter 2014/2015, and was intended to:

·         Improve journey time reliability;

·         Relieve congestion: and

·         Facilitate future land use changes in the Thurrock Thames Gateway and South Essex.

The scheme would increase the number of lanes on the A13 between J30 of the M25 and the A126 in Thurrock from 3 lanes to 4 lanes in both west and east bound directions. The works would also involve improvements to junction 30 of the M25 and the introduction of new segregated left turn lanes to and from the M25 at the junction.

The opportunity would be taken to overhaul the lighting columns, drainage systems and traffic signs. New signage and gantries would be installed along the A13, A202 and M25.

In addition to the above works the Highways Agency were intending to introduce a new permanent lower speed limit of 50mph on the A13 between its junctions with the A1306 New Road to the west of the M25 and the junction with the A1012 to the east of the M25.

Members noted that additional speed cameras would also be introduced.

The final element of the works would be a Permanent Traffic Regulation Order banning cyclists from the A13 between the Wennington Interchange and the A1012. In return they would look to install cycling facilities running parallel to the A13.

In response to the informal pre-consultations officers had advised the Highway Agency that:

·         They were generally supportive of the lower speed limit proposal,

·         They would like to see appropriate signage in place well in advance of the lower speed limit restriction area to warn drivers of the new speed limit; and

·         The Council would make them aware of any potential Havering schemes which would be implemented in close proximity to the Highway agencies proposals.

The Committee were concerned that drivers heading eastwards on the A13 would be faced with a plethora of speed restrictions on the road. Coming out of East London drivers would be restricted to 50mph, then be able to speed up to 70mph and then slow down again as they left the borough. Members questioned the need for a 50mph limit but were satisfied with the explanation from officers.

The Committee asked why the A1306 was restricted to 40mph when other side roads were unrestricted. Officers agreed to provide members with an explanation.

Officers conducted a presentation of outline proposals for a Housing Zone and then addressed questions. Officers advised that they had held meetings with the leads for Health and Education to develop plans to ensure adequate provision of health clinics and schools. The Committee was advised that the provision of health clinics was largely a private initiative in response to public health need. If a suitable site was identified the first step would be to talk to local GP’s to see if they were prepared to move into the new facility and discuss with commissioners. If not, it was believed that the commissioners could undertake a wider search for GPs.

Officers were also looking for a suitable site for a school and investigating ways of funding such a project.

In response to a question on employment officers advised that if successful in the bid a Local Plan would be developed for the area. The preliminary officer view was that that ‘dirty’ uses, such as car breakers, scrap yards, etc., should be located south of the rail line and that office based employment was still needed.

A key to triggering any new development was the creation of the new Beam Park Station. The business case was very convincing but the cost would be in the region of £18m. Some of the land required for the station was in GLA (Greater London Authority) control.

Officers explained that they were creating an overall Masterplan and vision statements for the Rainham and Beam Park Garden Suburb Housing Zone proposal. This would be submitted to Cabinet when finalised.

The first gateway bid was due by the end of September. Members understood that the GLA had earmarked £200m for the creation of 20 housing zones across London. Officers were of the opinion that the authority, if successful, should be able to attract funding of at least £10m.

Political pressure would be placed on the GLA to help secure funding.

The Committee noted the report.