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Please ask for: Antony Spouse Telephone: 01482 613712 Fax: 01482 614804 Email: [email protected] Text phone: 01482 300349 Date: Wednesday, 05 February 2020 Dear Councillor, Economy and Investment Overview and Scrutiny Commission The next meeting of the Economy and Investment Overview and Scrutiny Commission will be held at 09:30 on Thursday, 13 February 2020 in Room 77 . The Agenda for the meeting is attached and reports are enclosed where relevant. Please Note: It is likely that the public, (including the Press) will be excluded from the meeting during discussions of exempt items since they involve the possible disclosure of exempt information as describe in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. Yours faithfully, Scrutiny Officer for the Chief Executive Town Clerk Services, Hull City Council, The Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, Hull, HU1 2AA www.hullcc.gov.uk Tel: 01482 300300 Page 1 of 66 Economy and Investment OSC To: Membership: Councillors Abbott, Brabazon (DC), Burton, Chaytor, Drake-Davis, Dunstan, Gardiner, Healand, Herrera-Richmond (C), Williams Portfolio Holders: Councillor Brady, Leader of the Council Councillor Craker, Portfolio Holder for Culture, Leisure and Tourism Councillor Hale, Portfolio Holder for Economic Investment, Regeneration and Planning, Land and Property Officers: Mark Jones, Director of Regeneration Alex Codd, Assistant Director Economic Development and Regeneration Malcolm Relph, City Economy Manager Antony Spouse, Scrutiny Officer (x5) Public Set: Reference Library Page 2 of 66 Economy and Investment Overview and Scrutiny Commission 09:30 on Thursday, 13 February 2020 Room 77 A G E N D A PROCEDURAL ITEMS 1 Apologies To receive apologies for those Members who are unable to attend the meeting. 2 Declarations of Interest To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any Personal and Discloseable Pecuniary interest in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct. (Members Code of Conduct - Part D1 of the Constitution) NON-EXEMPT ITEMS 3 Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday, 23 January, 2020 5 - 16 To approve the minutes as a true record. 4 Better Business for All (BBfA) Initiative 17 - 22 To provide the Commission with an update on the implementation of the Better Business for All Initiative over the course of the past 12 months. 5 GrowMySME Update 23 - 30 To update the Commission on the delivery of the three GrowMySME schemes funded through the European Regional Development Fund. 6 Director of Regeneration Presentation 31 - 38 To update the Commission on any strategy, performance or service delivery issues that fall within the remit of the Commission. Page 3 of 66 7 Enterprise Update 39 - 46 To provide more detail on business birth and deaths, including how Hull compares to other areas of the Country as well as providing information on activity and programmes supporting women into enterprise or engineering. 8 Albion Square Development – Project Delivery 47 - 66 To undertake pre-decision scrutiny. 9 Exclusion of the Press and Public To consider the exclusion of the press and public for the items listed as exempt. EXEMPT ITEMS 10 APPENDIX A - Albion Square Build Costs Analysis • Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information); 11 APPENDIX B - Albion Square Phase Block Plan • Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information); 12 APPENDIX C - Albion Square Concept design • Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information); Page 4 of 66 Economy and Investment Overview and Scrutiny Commission 9:30 a.m. Thursday, 23 January, 2020, Room 77, The Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, Hull, HU12AA Present: Councillors Abbott, Burton, Chaytor, Drake-Davis, Gardiner, Healand, Herrera-Richmond (Chair) and Nicola (substituting for Councillor Williams) In attendance: M. Jones, Director of Regeneration, Hull City Council A. Codd, Assistant Director, Economic Development and Regeneration, Hull City Council G. Taylor, Assistant Director, Major Projects and Infrastructure, Hull City Council P. Holloway, Arts and Culture Manager, Hull City Council A. Dix, Hull Truck Theatre Board Chair M. Babych, Artistic Director and Joint Chief Executive Officer, Hull Truck Theatre J. Mills-Ward, Executive Director and Joint Chief Executive Officer, Hull Truck Theatre A. Spouse, Scrutiny Officer, Committee and Scrutiny, Town Clerk’s Service, Hull City Council Apologies: Councillors Dunstan and Williams Page 5 of 66 Minute Number Action to be Taken by 29 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST (a) Scrutiny Officer - AS No declarations of interest were received in regard to the following agenda items. 30 MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON THURSDAY, 14 (a) Scrutiny Officer - AS NOVEMBER, 2019 The Scrutiny Officer submitted the minutes from the November meeting for consideration and approval. Recommendations: Reasons for Recommendations: Agreed: a) That the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday, 14 a) N/A November, 2019, are agreed, and having been printed and circulated be taken as read and correctly recorded. P a g e 2 Page 6 of 66 31 CITY CENTRE LOCAL PLAN AND UPDATE (a -c) M. Jones / A. Codd / G. Taylor / A. Yates M. Jones, Director of Regeneration, Hull City Council, A. Codd, Assistant Director, Economic Development and Regeneration, Hull City Council and G. Taylor, Assistant Director, Major Projects and Infrastructure, Hull City Council, attended for the item. The Commission discussed: i. The upcoming Planning Committee Workshop (scheduled for the 18 th of February), which would consider many of the issues covered in the paper, and which all Members were welcome to attend. ii. How the climate emergency declaration and drive to become a carbon neutral city fitted with current planning policy, and the focus on zoning. The Director of Regeneration acknowledged the comments and informed the Commission that a Local Plan refresh was about to get underway, and would cover issues such as the move to a low carbon economy; the Environment Bill, bio diversity and water management. Radical change would be required if we were to respond to the challenges posed by climate change. iii. The difficulties associated with improving biodiversity in the City and the observation that Queens Gardens was the only major green space in the city centre. The Director of Regeneration acknowledged the comments and suggested that biodiversity needed to become central to the Organisation’s thinking. There was an opportunity to bring a number of different strands together. The Assistant Director, Economic Development and Regeneration highlighted the recent competition to identify a new housing scheme for the Wellington Street and Ice Arena area which was focused on flood resilience. The Assistant Director, Major Projects and Infrastructure explained how the Council was in contact with the Wildlife Trust in order to seek advice in regard to the Queens Gardens development. iv. The potential value in introducing a circular bus service to the city centre and whether it was a practical option. The Director of Regeneration believed a city centre service would be of benefit but we also needed to change behaviour so people chose public transport over private transport and for that to happen, the transport infrastructure needed to be improved and modernised. He was confident that new bus services would emerge in the future. v. The raised flowerbeds that used to be prominent in the city centre and whether there would be opportunities to improve biodiversity as part of the Albion Square development. P a g e 3 Page 7 of 66 vi. The need for cities to modernise and develop efficient public transport networks in order to encourage people to leave their cars at home. The Director for Regeneration outlined how the current roadworks were adding to traffic congestion and impacting on air quality in the City. More effort needed to be put into encouraging a behavioural shift, rather than trying to enforce one. The Council had invested in the Smart City platform and that would present new opportunities. Work was taking place to create an intelligence led database which would enable businesses and other partners to respond to fluctuating demand. The City currently operated on a hub and spoke system, which meant there were opportunities to improve connectivity between the east and west of the City. vii. The amount of space given over to motor vehicles in the city centre and whether there were opportunities to make design changes to the road network with a view to making the city centre more pedestrian and cycle friendly. The possibility of introducing a new cycle hire scheme to support any changes to the wider infrastructure. viii. Positive news in regard to the regeneration of Whitefriargate and options moving forward; the fact that the Infrastructure and Energy Overview and Scrutiny Commission was due to focus on transport strategy at its February meeting; the benefits associated with Passenger Transport Executives. ix. How footfall in the city centre had fallen slightly, but was holding up well against the national data, despite the closure of the Mark and Spencer’s and House of Fraser stores. The hope that the Albion Square Development and the new ice arena would help to increase footfall in the city centre. The Director of Regeneration explained how the Council had always envisaged a major scheme for the Albion Square site. Whitefriargate no longer met the needs of major retailers which was borne out by Marks and Spencer’s departure. Marks and Spencer had withdrew its interest in the Albion Square development but it did not mean they would not return to the city centre in future. Recent capital investment meant more people were choosing to live in the city centre, including residents with a high skills set. Those residents tended to be employed by large corporates and only stayed for a couple of years before moving on to further their careers.