To agree the arrangements to establish a fully constituted Joint Committee (to be known as the Berkshire Prosperity Board) from May 2024 to deliver a Berkshire-wide vision for inclusive, green and sustainable economic prosperity.

Council considered the proposed arrangements to establish a fully constituted Joint Committee (to be known as the Berkshire Prosperity Board) from May 2024 to deliver a Berkshire-wide vision for inclusive, green and sustainable economic prosperity.

Councillor Werner explained that over the last few years the Council Leaders from the Berkshire councils had met regularly to look at how their collective power could be used to lobby central government. Previously the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) used central government money on schemes that had ‘dreamt up’ with the leadership of each Council. Some of those ideas were developed and implemented and he gave the example of the failure of the station for forecourt design as an example of how the LEP was wasting money. Central government have decided to end LEP funding from the end of March 2024 with those budgets being handed back to groups of local authorities. Working with the other Berkshire Leaders a board was established where we would focus on four different work streams: Net Zero, Health and Inequalities; Education and Skills; Affordable housing development and Strategic

Infrastructure. He explained that in the short term the Council would commission the LEP to do some of the work but with the local councils in charge. He was keen to see a pipeline of ideas being developed involving all RBWMs partners e.g. Maidenhead Town Partnership and Windsor Vision for when the money becomes available. He concluded that this could have amazing benefits with very little cost to us and it could give us big rewards.

Councillor Jones seconded the proposal.

Councillor Price commented that working collaboratively could bring benefits that working alone just could not. She reflected that the LEP had made some very strange decisions such as the Vicus Way car park and the Maidenhead station forecourt. She hoped that lessons head been learnt, this would not be repeated, and the new board would be more responsible with taxpayers’ money. She queried how residents would find out what was happening: would the results be reported to Cabinet or to Council, would the minutes be published on the website, would meetings be available to watch on YouTube and would the amount considered in Part Two be minimised. She continued to query who was this new body accountable to and how its success would be measured as the appendix refers to the accountable body, but it was not clear if this was a separate body. She concluded by suggesting that the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel might have a role to play in ensuring the new Boards’ efficiency, good use of monies and of officers’ time.

Councillor W Da Costa stated that he had dreams and visions for residents and businesses based on many conversations. He imagined a regional green public transport network enabling travellers to travel cheaply and conveniently to their destination and improve footfall, reduce carbon footprint and boost the local economy. He recognised that nature and ecosystems did not worry about council boundaries so suggested a regional biodiversity action plan to build up ecosystems holistically across the region or raising funds publicly and privately to build up green industries in the region. He asked what the Leader and the Chief Executive’s visions were for the Berkshire Prosperity Board to achieve for RBWM residents and how would they involve councillors, residents and businesses.

Councillor Hunt commented that the proposal was a good thing, agreed that there must be accountability by another body and supported the comments about transparency and that this could be considered by Overview and Scrutiny.

Councillor Jones commented that the Berkshire Prosperity Board had the potential to provide more flexibility and influence than a single Council would have on its own. It would enable authorities to speak collectively to government and other organisations to secure funding for key projects and would also provide a strengthened case to government and private investors for funding and greater investment for strategic projects across Berkshire. She stated that it could also position Berkshire for potential future devolution proposals to benefit from additional responsibilities and funding opportunities. She believed that meetings would be held in public. She stated that it was low cost and low risk and the benefit was that it could offer opportunity for greater funding and collaboration for strategic investment across Berkshire.

Councillor Werner agreed that it was absolutely imperative that the new Berkshire Prosperity Board was an open and transparent process. He reflected that the previous administration’s’ relationship with the LEP had left the area with ridiculous schemes that wasted money and harmed the well-being of residents. He stated that this would be avoided by making sure that the decisions were open and transparent so they could be debated and that it was not only about being collaborative between the councils in Berkshire but across this Council. The Berkshire Prosperity Board would be accountable to the Council, the meetings would be public meetings that could be attended or watched and he considered it vital that particular decisions were able to be called in to scrutiny. He reflected that Councillor W Da Costa’s ideas were the kind of ideas that were already part of the discussion and they would be pursuing all those kind of ideas and more. He concluded that they were not guaranteed the money to pay for all the ideas but by working as a Berkshire wide authority it would mean that they had the clout to hopefully be able to fund at least some of the schemes.

On the proposition of Councillor Werner, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Community Partnerships, Public Protection and Maidenhead and seconded by Councillor Jones it was

RESOLVED unanimously that:

i)               the report be noted;

ii)             the establishment of a fully constituted Joint Committee (to be known as the Berkshire Prosperity Board) be agreed from May 2024 to deliver a Berkshire-wide vision for inclusive, green and sustainable economic prosperity;

iii)            that the proposed constitution for the Joint Committee be agreed as set out in Appendix A - Functions and Procedure Rules for a Joint Committee, Appendix B - responsibilities of the accountable body and Appendix C - governance structure is approved, subject to the Monitoring Officer being authorised to make minor amendments to the Functions and Procedure Rules in conjunction with the participating authorities; and

iv)            that the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, be delegated to agree and enter into a legally binding agreement between the six member authorities setting out the supporting arrangements and responsibilities between the authorities - particularly that between the lead authority (known as the accountable body) - and the other member authorities and go through the relevant democratic process if required.