The Cabinet meeting went into exempt session to discuss the exempt appendices.

Councillor Arnold introduced the report and stated that the Freeport was a great opportunity for Thurrock. It is forecast to deliver 21,000 + jobs, £4.6bn of public and private investment and to support regeneration and levelling up activity in line with Freeport policy objectives using retained business rates over the next 25 years. Thurrock has a number of functions in relation to the Freeport as the accountable body and the report describes the responsibilities of the accountable body. Councillor Arnold highlighted recommendation 1.5 refers to the establishing a Thames Freeport Sub-Committee. Councillor Arnold confirmed that recommendation 1.4 has been amended from the report to include the ‘Cabinet Member for Transformational Change, Communications and Governance’ and a hard copy of the amended recommendation has been provided to members and officers at the Cabinet Meeting.

RESOLVED:

Cabinet is asked to:

1.1      Approve the proposed arrangements of the Council to oversee the delivery of Thames Freeport

1.2      Note the resource implications associated with delivery of Thames Freeport; £1m DHLUC capacity funding, £2.257m retained business rates and £25m Seed Capital funding

1.3      Note the progress made to merge the Thames Freeport Final Business Case and Addendum (previous approved by Cabinet) into a single document, a consolidated Thames Freeport Business Case for submission to Government to prepare the Memorandum of Understanding between Government and Thames Freeport Partners.

1.4      Delegate authority to the Chief Financial Officer (Section 151 Officer) in agreement with Commissioners and in consultation with the interim Director of Law and Governance (Monitoring Officer) the Chief Executive, the Cabinet Member for Transformational Change, Communications and Governance and the Leader to:
 

(i)       finalise the consolidated Thames Freeport Business case;

(ii)      sign the finalised consolidated Thames Freeport Business Case on behalf of the Council;

(iii)     submit the consolidated Thames Freeport Business Case to Government on behalf of the Council.   

1.5      Approve the establishment of the Thames Freeport Committee as a Cabinet subcommittee, as set out in paragraph 3.7 .

1.6      Note the progress made in developing Business Cases for Thames Freeport Seed Capital Projects and that a further report will be brought  back to Cabinet in relation to Thames Freeport Seed Capital Projects.

1.7      Note that legally binding agreements will need to be established between the Council, Thames Freeport Governing Body, Thames Freeport Operating Company and recipients of grant funding. These agreements are to support the Council to effectively discharge its obligations as the Accountable Body and Billing Authority, and also to effectively manage and monitor how money is spent in relation to Thames Freeport Projects and the operation of Thames Freeport. These issues will be brought back to Cabinet in a further report. 

Reason for the decision: as outlined in the report

This decision is subject to Call-in