UU Magee Taskforce - meeting minutes 9 October 2024

Taskforce members in attendance

Name	Role
Stephen Kelly (Chair) (SK)	CEO, Manufacturing NI
Nicola Skelly (Vice-Chair) (NS)	Executive Director, Washington Ireland Programme
Prof. Paul Bartholomew (PB)	Vice-Chancellor, Ulster University
Prof. Paul Seawright OBE (PS)	Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Ulster University
Linda McGuinness (LMG)	Director, Magee Expansion Division, Department for the Economy (DfE) (deputising for Moira Doherty)
John Kelpie (JK)	Chief Executive, Derry City and Strabane District Council
Leo Murphy (LM)	Principal and Chief Executive, North West Regional College
Paul Hannigan (PH)	Head of College, Atlantic Technological University Donegal
Steven Lindsay (SL)	Deputy Vice President, Londonderry Chamber of Commerce
Alison Wallace (AW)	Strategy Manager, Waterside Neighbourhood Partnership
Ethan Davies (ED)	President, Ulster University Students Union
Gavin Killeen MBE (GK)	Managing Director, Nuprint Technologies Limited
Philip Rodgers (PR)	Director of Workforce Policy, Department of Health
Ian McKenna (IK)	Principal Officer, Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Dawn McLaughlin (DM)	Non-Executive Director, Invest NI
Mary MacIntyre OBE (MM)	Chartered town planner

Apologies

Name	Role/organisation
Paddy Mackel (PM)	University and College Union
Moira Doherty (MD)	Deputy Secretary, Skills and Education Group, DfE

Welcome

SK welcomed attendees to the meeting and introduced Linda McGuinness as the new director of DfE's Magee Expansion Division.

Presentation: Department for Infrastructure

SK welcomed Department for Infrastructure (DfI) representatives Colin Woods (Deputy Secretary, Transport and Road Asset Management), Daniel Healy (Divisional Roads Manager, Western Division) and James Redmond (Head of Transport Planning and Modelling) to the meeting and stressed that the expansion would be heavily reliant on DfI participation.

In opening, DfI accepted this, but noted that the current financial environment is extremely challenging, and that major projects such as the expansion of Magee often take many years to bring to fruition.

DfI provided a transport centric presentation which covered numerous local and regional transport plans that are either in progress or will commence in the near future.

The three “asks” that were put to DfI in the interim report were discussed:

• Ask 2 - DfI Roads will work with UU and other stakeholders to establish a programme of engagement with local residents and community groups. The representation can be escalated if there are more strategic issues to be discussed.
• Ask 22 - DfI Roads Network Development Manager will chair a group to develop effective traffic management proposals. Future proposals will reflect the university’s Transport Assessment and any wider Transport Masterplan.
• Ask 25 - DfI will respond to planning applications as quickly as resources allow. The speed of a response will often depend on the quality of the consultation documents, and DfI will work with the university to ensure they contain sufficient information to allow a rapid response.

The DfI representatives advised that the North West Transport Plan 2035 (NWTP) will cover local transport issues (active travel, public transport, the local road network and parking etc) and will set the framework for transport policy and investment decisions for Derry City and Strabane District Council up until 2035. The transport plan is in stage 1 - evidence gathering and understanding local people’s views. An initial engagement exercise on stage 1 is now open and will run to 5 November 2024.

There was a general discussion around the NI Executive paper sent from Minister Murphy regarding asks of other departments. DfI will respond by 18 October. SK noted that the response language should be action-focused.

SK also noted that there was no discussion regarding NI Water and the issues currently affecting planning in the area.

The taskforce and DfI representatives discussed transport concerns such as the A5, A6 and A2 Buncrana Road upgrades.

JK commended DfI for their collaboration with the council. He encouraged DfI to take a wider view across the city and advised that as the North West includes Donegal, a transport plan needs to be considered on a cross-border basis.

LM felt that consideration should be given to the fact that hybrid working has become the norm, and this will have an impact on the type of city transport plan that is needed.

MM noted that the university is located within a conservation area and parking is at capacity, and asked how Translink is involved in the transport plan. The DfI representatives responded that all modes of transport will be included, and that modal shift could be the answer.

AW was keen to impress that local resident voices need to be heard at an early stage of the process.

Action Point 1: DfE to forward Stage 1 Engagement survey to local community groups for feedback on transport challenges in and around the university campus.

Conflicts of interest

No further conflicts of interest noted.

Minutes from last meeting/update on action points

The secretariat provided an update on DfE-owned action points.

GK stated that the minutes of the previous meeting noted an economic analysis should be commissioned and advised that it should instead say an economic impact analysis. This change was agreed, and minutes are to be amended and reissued.

Action point 2: DfE to amend previous meeting minutes and reissue.

Summary of previous meeting

SK provided a summary presentation of the previous meeting. He advised that Ruari Lavery (Strategic Investment Board) would be transferring to work on another project and thanked him for his contribution made during his time. A replacement is being sought.

Future work plan and engagement

SK stated that his session with the Economy Committee after the publishing of the interim report was well received.

He advised that he has been invited to present to a special meeting of council on 22 October and all taskforce members have had an invite extended to them.

SK noted that a Ministerial paper on the asks has been shared with NI Executive ministers for feedback and commitment to advance the actions outlined.

ED advised that Ulster University Students Union will reissue the student survey for discussion at a future meeting.

Topics for the next two taskforce meetings were confirmed:

• November – Cross border collaboration and destination campus
• December –Sign-off on the action plan.

SK advised that the Minister has confirmed that the expansion would be included in Investment Strategy Northern Ireland (ISNI).

There was a general discussion around the economic impact analysis for inclusion in the strategic outline case (SOC). It was agreed that it is important to consider the economic impact of the expansion of the university but almost more importantly the adverse impact of doing nothing. The department assured the taskforce that this piece of work was not to undo previous work regarding the drive toward expansion but would instead underpin the business need for all future projects.

Information requirements for the final action plan

SK advised that he met with LMG and the report writer to discuss the format of the action plan. These discussions have suggested a document with six chapters:

1. Update on the asks
2. Economic impact
3. Gantt chart
4. Narrative on chapter 3
5. Proposals for monitoring delivery
6. Concluding remarks

LMG suggested some of the themes in the action plan need further consideration, including governance, cross border collaboration and spatial plan. She noted that the public sector has been leading the way so far, but the business sector will need to be encouraged to get on board.

PS advised that the university will bring forward a detailed academic plan for the campus in time for the publication of the action plan.

Correspondence

SK noted that correspondence has been received from Gregory Campbell MP, Colum Eastwood MP and Padraig Delargy MLA. Gregory Campbell has been responded to and Colum Eastwood has been invited to attend a future taskforce meeting.

Update on the asks

SK noted that an update on the progress of the asks has been shared with taskforce members but there is still much more to do in a short space of time. He also reminded the group that the 25 questions presented to Minister Murphy still need to be answered formally.

IK referenced Asks 26 and 27 of the report, which ask the Irish government to consider additional funding for Magee. He advised that expectations must be managed as from an RoI perspective there has already been heavy investment in Magee, and Shared Island fund has been exhausted. The taskforce agreed. IK also noted that a review of UK medical qualifications may mean that UK and RoI qualifications may not align in future, which would affect RoI students studying in NI.

Action point 3: DfE to follow up on questions presented to Minister Murphy.

Any other business

PS updated the taskforce on estimated student numbers at Magee this year, however, noted that they could not confirm until the first week of December.

The taskforce discussed the subject areas that could be expanded at Magee. PR discussed the expected demand for allied health professions (AHP) and nurses, noting that this detail will be in the DoH response to the NI Executive paper. However, whilst it was generally agreed that increasing AHP places would be particularly valuable, PB noted that Department of Health funding for these students has not been increased in recent years and so they are not economically viable for the university.

The taskforce discussed UU’s School Engagement Team’s recent findings.

Date of next meeting

The date of the next meeting was confirmed for 5 November 2024.

Action points

Action points from this meeting:

Number	Action point	Owner	Status
1	DfE to forward Stage 1 Engagement survey to local community groups for feedback on transport challenges in and around the university campus.	DfE
2	DfE to amend previous meeting minutes and reissue.	DfE
3	DfE to follow up on questions presented to Minister Murphy.	DfE

Action points brought forward from previous meetings:

Number	Action point	Owner	Status
1	Taskforce to consider a meeting with University of Limerick in the coming months.	Taskforce	Ongoing