Minutes of Worcestershire Lep Business Board Meeting
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
MINUTES OF WORCESTERSHIRE LEP BUSINESS BOARD MEETING Wednesday 2nd November 2011 at 5.30pm Wychavon District Council offices, Civic Centre, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Pershore, Worcestershire WR10 1PT
Present
Dean Attwell (DA) Juliet Betterton (JB) Ray Brookes (RB) David Greer (DG) Robbie Hazlehurst (RH) Matthew Horton (MH) Tony Hyde (TH) CHAIR Tony King (TK) Mark Martin (MM) Alan White (AW) Ken Wigfield (KW) Stephen Taylor (ST) Marcus Burton (MB)
In attendance – Simon Smith Malvern Hills District Council, Chris Brooks Wychavon District Council and Ann Bosner Worcester City Council. Susan Clear Clearview Planning.
1. Welcome and Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received from: Mike Ashton (MA) Jim Clark (JC) Paul Walker (PW) Peter Pawsey (PP)
2. Notes of the previous meeting on 28th September
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a true record with the addition from the PR sub- group related to increase activity of press releases and coverage.
3. Worcestershire Cricket Club Development – Stephen Taylor ST outlined the regeneration of the Worcester Cricket Club with a hotel development the devel- opment would create an extra 128 bedrooms and 35,000 per annum. Currently the total cost of the project is £8.5million and there is a funding gap of approximately of ½ million. This would regenerate the site and create a more viable business which is the Worcestershire Cricket Club.
Q What is the provision of the conference facility? A As part of the hotel development this would increase the capacity of conference facilities on match days, but more importantly provide a high quality conference venue on non match days in the city centre.
Q What about flooding? A The design of the hotel and new club facilities would insure these are proofed against the in evitable flood risk of being located by the river.
Q What are the other facilities, apart from the hotel? A The other facilities are commercial hospitality boxes, membership bar, new office and club shop.
Q The board expressed its disappointment at Premier Inn as being the hotel developers as there was a need for 4 to 5 star hotels in Worcestershire A Worcestershire Cricket Club have investigated the market significantly and in order to make this significant they needed to go with the national chain and their investment power
Action – The business board approved a letter of support. .
4. Review the Work to Date on the South Worcestershire Business Plan
TH – Outlined the positive sessions that are taking place with businesses and planners from Malvern Hills, Worcester City and Wychavon. A summary document had been produced which outlined the concerns of the business community related to the sites for development and the location and the numbered of houses that had been allocated in the plan compared to what was required. Particular concerns related to the document and the proposed government new plan- ning frame work meant the business community were questioning the ambition of the plan. The LEP is keen to get as much feed back as possible into the document from private business therefore is working with the Worcestershire development professionals group and other smal- ler developers. Members of the business board were concerned whether the document was a strategic view or a nimby view. Discussions had been very positive and particular around job creation and in- ward investment and general desire by the planners to consult with business. A questionnaire had been circulated regarding the planning experience and this had contributed to a report by the LEP on the matters of planning consent and the time it takes to get to a decision. This re- port would be distributed to the business board. Action – GW to re-circulate draft to members.
Q Does the LEP support Worcester Parkway and the expansion in rail infrastructure and its plan, Is it deliverable by 2016 possible? A The plan will not deliver this project without the support of private and public sector together, we are therefore encouraging open debate regarding the Parkway project and its significance to the Worcestershire economy.
5. Feedback from the LEP Board-Ed Webb
Outlined at the last board meeting that a good healthy discussion took place regarding the pro- gress of the LEP, its governance and its structures. A full and frank exchange took place re- garding the need to work together to make the LEP a success. Following the frank exchanges the public sector partners proposed an investment in executive team to be appointed to support the LEP. Also, a senior officer of the County Council would come to the board to act as an ob- server, the board meeting ended in a positive spirit with a defined way forward which would evolve over the coming weeks.
6. MOU Re: Inward Investment and UKTI
GW outlined the approach made by UKTI and the national offer regarding inward investment of UK First. This was a change in government policy from nine (9) regional development agencies promoting their area at international events. PA Consulting won the national tender to manage nationally all inward investments, they have offered a working relationship with the Worcester LEP. However before we sign this MOU with PA Consulting, Worcestershire, the LEP and part- ners need to define how we are going to handle all inward investment enquiries. The LEP subgroup will work up an inward investment strategy that will answer all the questions about how will we deliver international inward investment.
Action-This will be presented at a future meeting
It was noted-That Worcestershire ambassadors are developing a brochure that covers work, liv- ing and invest in the county.
7. Business Action Plan
Tourism and Leisure: A group within Destination Worcestershire of private and public sector people are meeting regularly. They are working together to improve the external communica- tion within the county and about to launch a new website where you can take bookings and starting to focus on the strategic priorities on improving the tourism infrastructure. Funding and Finance: Progress is being made to understand what funds are available Partic- ularly the County Council in part with the District Councils are moving forward in partnership with European funding bids with business start up and support with environmental efficiency.
Technology: Conversations are in progress regarding a defence and security hub at Malvern Hills Science Park. Also a cyber security lab was looking positive with a number of businesses who are specialist in this area.
Construction: Links have been made with Herefordshire and Worcestershire construction ex- cellence.
Food and Horticulture: This area would be looked to link the current area of work going on in Wychavon.
Action-PP to pull a group together.
Broadband-Worcestershire County Council was developing a action plan which would look to secure £20mil in investment into broadband infrastructure a further workshop is being organ- ised for November.
Automotive-We are currently working with West Midlands LEPs plus Liverpool regarding Jag- uar Land Rover and their need for the supply chain, more detailed work will follow.
Currently GW and Nick Scroggs from a Redditch based company are representing Worcester- shire LEP on this University of Warwick initiative.
Social Enterprise and the Third Sector-A piece of research work is being conducted into this sector and the support it requires. This will be completed by the end of the financial year 2012 and will report to the business board.
8. Presentations on Key Topics
-Economic Development Strategies in South Worcestershire
Outlined their activity what their teams do and their work to support their economy through busi- ness plans, youth unemployment support, business grants, town centre management, tourism and leisure, festivals and events. The officers were the link between District Council and the business community. A copy of the slides are enclosed.
Questions to the development officers were as follows:
Q Rural transport for young people to get to their place of work, these schemes have been with- drawn or reduced their funding how do they support their activity A Like all public sector organisations their resources were stretched. However possible they would look at supporting such schemes and going forward although no promises had been made.
Q Graduate retention. What are the District Council doing in retaining young skilled people
In the area.
A Although their were no specific schemes run by the district councils they had supported the university internship scheme and were heavily promoting apprenticeships through the national apprenticeship service.
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday February 15th 2012 5.30pm - 7.30pm location Malvern Hills Science Park.