Agenda item
To receive and consider a report from the Portfolio Holder for Economic Development and the Town Centre
Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item; no longer than 10 minutes for presentation of the report and then up to 3 minutes for each question to be put and answered.
Minutes:
Councillor K May, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Economic Development and the Town Centre presented her annual report and highlighted that Economic Development was a key priority for the Council. There were 17,500 businesses in North Worcestershire accounting for 52.5% of the County’s business.
In terms of North Worcestershire; Bromsgrove consistently outperformed Redditch and Wyre Forest across multiple indexes such as the Vibrant Economy Index and Corporate Index. This was also the case in respect of key statistics, such as business, survival, unemployment, income, GVA and levels of qualification. The Council worked with public and private sector partners through the Bromsgrove Economic Partnership Group to address the challenges and opportunities for delivering local Economic Growth. The Leader reminded Members of the Peter Brett Associates (PBA) report commissioned by North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration (NWEDR) that confirmed that whilst the District had a good track record in supporting start-up enterprise; more effort was needed to help businesses to grown and remain in the District and access was needed for a developing skills base. The PBA report had identified the review of the Bromsgrove District Plan as an opportunity to consider future employment land provision. The supply of Employment Land was a major constraint for Business Growth in the District. In the District Council Plan adopted in January 2017, 28 hectares of land was designated as employment land; and currently, approximately 5 hectares remained to be built out.
It was noted that the Redditch Eastern Gateway site was a 30 hectare site; with 20 hectares within Stratford Upon-Avon District Council and 10 hectares within Bromsgrove District. It was further noted that the project was progressing well and confirmation as to the Developers taking the 10 hectares within the District Boundary was awaited.
Many Property Consultancies reported that companies were constantly looking for commercial opportunities within the Bromsgrove district; some wanted to start a business, some were looking for office space and some just wanted to grow and stay in the District realising what great connectivity was offered with the motorway network and four trains an hour from Birmingham to Bromsgrove. The Managing Director of GJS Dillon had highlighted to her that there was only around 2 and a half months supply of office space available in the District and he had a list of around 40 businesses wanting to get into or expand in the area. It was anticipated that the Birmingham Congestion Charge/Vehicle Ban would only focus more attention on the District and the potential it offered.
The Leader went on to explain that the North Worcestershire Economic Strategy covered a five year period 2019-2024 and set out some of the key economic indicators across North Worcestershire as well as the attributes that made the area attractive to businesses and visitors. North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration provided Business Support for both start-up and established businesses in line with the Economic Growth Strategy.
It was noted that the High Street faced many challenges in 2020 and she hoped that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would look to introduce further Business Rates relief for High Streets in his March Budget; so that entrepreneurs would come forward and help to stimulate the retail environment.
The Leader advised that the Council was currently reviewing its investment strategy to give it greater flexibility moving forwards with potential purchases. The reasoning behind this change was that the Council may wish to acquire assets where there was no material financial gain, or potentially even a loss, as the benefits to the wider area were deemed to be worth the reduced financial returns. Measures were being developed to ensure that these wider benefits were captured as part of the business case to ensure it was understood at the point of purchase the reasoning behind the purchase if not predominantly for financial gain.
Officers had also been tasked with commissioning work for the future of Bromsgrove Town Centre. This work would inform the Local Plan Review and incorporate a car parking strategy. The Local Centres Strategy and action plan comes to an end in 2020 and officers had been tasked with preparing a new strategy and action plan which would include Aston Fields.
The Leader went on to highlight the work of the Local Strategic Partnership for the District, under the chairmanship of Inspector David King. The vision for the Partnership was to ‘Make Bromsgrove District the place to live, do business and to visit’. This Board brought a large number of partners around the table to discuss the issues that impact on residents and collectively looked at how they could be addressed.
The Leader also took the opportunity to personally pass on her sincere thanks to the following, who had supported her work within her Portfolio; Kevin Dicks, Sue Hanley, Ostap Paparega and his team, Cheryl Welsh, Robert Spittle, Della McCarthy, Inspector David King, Reverend Paul Lewis, Jonathan Smith, Julie Heyes, Amanda Scarce and Joanne Gresham. That was not an exhaustive list; and she thanked everyone who had supported her.
In concluding her presentation, the Leader advised that Bromsgrove faced challenges, but it also offered a wealth of opportunities; the Meanwhile Space, the £50million investment going into the A38 and the FTTP Broadband. Bromsgrove had also been chosen as one of 36 Towns and Cities by OpenReach to roll out FTTP (Fibre to the Premises); the newest, fastest and most reliable ‘future proof’ fibre broadband is being implemented and was 13 miles from Birmingham and 16 miles from Worcester and was a great place to live, work and play.
Following presentation of her report, Members raised a number of questions and made a number of observations, to which the Leader responded when appropriate, including:
· Whether the LSP minutes could be made available to all Councillors and what monies, if any, the Council contributed to its work. Councillor May confirmed that the Council had contributed £22k in respect of staffing for the Sunrise Project.
· Whether any discussions had taken place in respect of this Council being a member of two LEPs and whether a decision had been made in respect of which one the Council would go with, should it only be able to be a member of one. Councillor May confirmed that should a decision in respect of this need to be made; it would be one which was brought back to full Council.
· Electric charging points and the need for these to be available for card payments.
· The NWEDR growth statistics, which had been discussed in detail at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting, as there had been confusion over the number of jobs predicated. Councillor May reiterated that the figure was based on the available land and that there were far more houses being built in the other areas hence the employment figure was matched to the housing growth.
Councillor Hughes made reference to the planned investment in car parks and asked about time frames and assurances that all car parks would also include electric charging points. She also suggested that Pay on Foot was the preferred option for many people and encouraged them to stay in the town centre for longer, without having to worry about parking restrictions. There was also a need for the machines to take other forms of payment, not just cash. She also asked for consideration to be given to free parking for blue badge holders. The Leader advised that she was happy to discuss the points raised under the Notice of Motion which Councillor Hughes had submitted, however Councillor Hughes advised that should the Leader chose to respond to these points now, she would be happy to withdraw her motion. The Leader therefore provided the following response:
The Council had spent over £30k on its Car Parks in this district in the last 12 months. Council were reminded that there had been a car parking review undertaken by 202 Consultancy which set out some clear recommendations. This work had been divided into two parts;
Part One - Ostap Paparega and his team at NWEDR were addressing the areas around the future needs of Car Parking for the District, including how many spaces would be required? Were they in the right place? Should there be a need to deck a car park? These points would be addressed in the Commissioned Work for the future of Bromsgrove Town Centre.
Part Two - was basically the in house infrastructure Improvement Plan. This was the lining, lighting, resurfacing, payment methods including replacement of the payment machines Introductions of Payment Apps and this was currently being addressed by the Head of Environmental Services and his team. A report was to be brought back to Cabinet before September of this year.
The Leader concluded that work was actively taking place around the Council’s car parks and had been for several months. The Council was and would always be ambitious for Bromsgrove.
On receipt of this response, Councillor Hughes confirmed that she was happy for her Notice of Motion to be withdrawn. The Leader thanked Councillor Hughes for her decision and further confirmed that she was keen for the Council to keep its car parking charges low.
Supporting documents:
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