Economic Growth Advisors Programme

Wealden District Council

Inward Investment - Attracting large scale employers into the locality

Key themes covered by the case study  Business Engagement and Retention  Inward Investment

Summary

Inward Investment - Attracting large scale employers into the locality

Wealden District Council (WDC) appointed a Local Government Association (LGA) Economic Growth Adviser to support the council’s Community & Regeneration team in the promotion and delivery of economic growth in the local area. Key to a strong and thriving local economy which contributes to the prosperity of the wider East Sussex and South East economy is the attraction of large scale employers (employing more than 11 people) into Wealden.

The council aims to attract jobs and employment opportunities to the District and enhance opportunities for hi-tech businesses. It looks to achieve these ambitions via its continued support to Locate East Sussex (LES) which was established with support from all East Sussex based local authorities (including WDC) to help businesses seek to launch or expand their current base or relocate to or within the county and providing impartial advice on issues including business location, available sources of funding and how best to access a trained and skilled work force.

The non-profit Let’s Do Business Group Ltd currently holds the contract for the LES operation to attract inward investment into the county. It is funded by East Sussex County Council (ESCC), WDC and the four other Districts and Boroughs within the county.

The council specifically works with LES to:

• promote LES and grant funding opportunities to Wealden businesses; • attract and achieve further inward investment into Wealden, in particular - manufacturing and engineering.

The team was looking for expertise that would provide guidance and recommendations with the aim of understanding how to attract large scale employers. Specific advice and support from the LGA Economic Growth Adviser was sought to assess and review the impact of the current LES service on Wealden district and how our locality could do better as an area to influence this further in the future considering:

• what markets to consider; • the potential to form clusters; • how to promote the area – need for a district focussed marketing campaign(s) and any branding in addition to the LES brand; • understanding the key messages that businesses respond to; • how Wealden, along with LES, can sell itself more to appeal to large scale employers.

The LGA Economic Growth Adviser prepared an assessment that addressed these issues and provided a structured approach to attract and support business investment in the local area. The assessment also provided an expert analysis of the LES service and the potential for

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Page 2 of 8 operational improvements. The LES contract, which is monitored by the partnership of East Sussex based local authorities, has recently been extended until May 2017 and the findings and recommendations from the report have been used to help guide and inform funding bids to extend the service from May 2017 onwards.

Rationale for project

Inward Investment - Attracting large scale employers into the locality

Two project aims were identified. Firstly to ascetain the impact that LES is making on inward investment attraction to the district and secondly, the other factors and related issues that govern Wealden’s ability to attract more large-scale employers into the area.

Wealden is the largest of five districts in East Sussex with an area of 323 square miles. It has boundaries with six local authorities: Mid-Sussex and Lewes to the east, Rother to the west; and stretching 30 miles north to south from Tunbridge Wells in Kent to the edge of Eastbourne Borough. Wealden District is classified as one of the most rural in England with two-thirds of the area covered by the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the South Downs National Park.

Wealden currently has a very low level of inward investment from outside the county, which is seen to be primarily as a result of poor regional awareness of it as a business location; inadequate local and intra-South East transport connectivity; a lack of a range of modern employment space; and workforce availability.

With the recent extension given to the LES contract, WDC wanted to ensure that the LES service is working effectively to promote our ‘District of Opportunity’ and that moving forward, Wealden can be equipped with a range of realistic recommendations as to how best position itself as an attractive area for businesses to locate to within East Sussex and the wider South East.

WDC has been responding actively to the need to expand employment space. This is against the background of its drive to secure strong future growth for the local economy and provide employment for those moving into the significant amount of new housing stock coming on stream across district. Again, WDC, in partnership, is aware of and progressing initiatives to tackle broadband and mobile telephony connectivity issues , and workforce availability.

WDC is committed to sustainable economic growth and with the LES contract up for renewal in May 2017, Wealden and wider East Sussex is at a critical point. With an improved and expanded LES service along with a more effective marketing strategy the district could secure the larger scale investments required to promote growth and a prosperous local economy. Without it, there is a risk of slow growth; a decrease in the number of new larger scale employers relocating to Wealden; a decrease in scale of existing businesses with the possibility

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Page 3 of 8 of existing companies relocating elsewhere as other UK / Global ‘Locate’ agencies compete for their business investment.

Key Actions/ How your project was delivered

Inward Investment - Attracting large scale employers into the locality

The approach taken by our LGA Economic Growth Adviser to deliver the project was divided into four stages:

 Desk research - contextual analysis of internal and publicly available operational reports and documents; relevant economic and inward investment data; and marketing communications material;  Consultative interviews - programme of 28 interviews and discussions with key personnel in Wealden and across East Sussex responsible for policy and operational delivery; public and private sector stakeholders; existing or potential delivery partners; regional and national agencies; company relocation intermediaries; and sector specialists;  Analysis - of the current inward investor attraction environment in the area, and the strategic and operational approach in place to deliver the primary objective of winning, growing and retaining large-scale employers. This includes facilitation support by WDC and ESCC, and the operations of LES to attract more large-scale employers into the area; and  Assessment & Recommendations - drawing together all the data inputs and applied analysis to identify the actions necessary to further develop the positive elements that exist that can accelerate inward investment, and a set of practical, cost-effective solutions that can mitigate the negative factors that discourage it. The aim to present a realistic, deliverable and sustainable set of actions to improve Wealden’s inward investment competitiveness.

The project ran smoothly and was completed within the allocated time. Regular progress reports were provided over the phone and by email throughout the timetable of the project. In addition, the Consultant attended a one day tour of key Wealden businesses organised by LES which was attended by the Leader of WDC, the Member Portfolio Holder for Economic Development and the Community & Regeneration Officer responsible for economic development. This proved to be an informative opportunity enabling the Consultant to gain clearer insight into the area; to meet businesses individually and enjoy an open dialogue between LES, WDC and the business community.

A final report presentation date was organised and attended by invited WDC, ESCC and LES personnel including the WDC Member Portfoio Holder for Economic Development. This enabled face to face discussion and feedback to/ from the Consultant enabling the final report to be amended and signed off. Copies of the final report were made available to WDC. The

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Page 4 of 8 format of the report including a Wealden strategy to attract large scale employers and a suggested range of intiatives to be adopted as far as possible by WDC to deliver in partnership with LES via a carefully managed incremental performance improvement plan to attract and retain businesses in the local area.

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Page 5 of 8 Key Findings and Outputs

Inward Investment - Attracting large scale employers into the locality

Our LGA Economic Growth Adviser provided an informative assessment on the impact that LES is making on inward investment attraction to the district; and other factors and related issues that govern Wealden’s ability to attract more large-scale employers into the area.

The assessment provided a detailed ‘situation analysis’ which considered a geographic and economic overview of Wealden; awareness and perceptions of Wealden; and Wealden’s inward investment competitiveness in terms of labour availability, skills and cost, connectivity, employment space, local business support, incentives, plus quality of life. In addition, the assessment critically reviewed the current LES contract – it’s inward investment role and delivery objectives. A Wealden strategy to attract larger employers was written by the adviser and suggested the following actions:

 Action 1: Wealden influence on the impact of LES activity – at the contract management stage; performance monitoring of the LES contract, and enhancing impact during the delivery of the LES contract;  Action 2: WDC priority markets – considering geographical markets and sectors;  Action 3: The potential to form clusters  Action 4: Separate Wealden promotion including the introduction of a pilot investor development (aftercare) programme  Action 5: Key Messaging and Selling to Large-Scale Employers

Summary of Key Findings from the Project:

 Wealden currently has a very low level of inward investment from outside the county, which is seen to be primarily as a result of poor regional awareness of it as a business location; inadequate local and intra-South East transport connectivity; a lack of a range of modern employment space; and workforce availability;  The current LES contract is funded by a partnersjip of local authorities;  Current LES performance reporting considered not fit for purpose;  Best practice and impactful LES ‘supply side’ activites acknowledged including local business engagement and growth support, stakeholder and delivery partner networking, commercial space brokerage, and digital, video and print marketing;  Improvements to the balance between ‘supply side’and ‘demand side’ inward investment activities required;  Level of impact of the current LES activities related to promoting and winning investment from outside East Sussex and the immediate vicinity varied significantly, and was low overall, but this is considered against the current low base of awareness of Wealden and East Sussex, and the limited LES resources available for this work;  In view of place marketing the absence of an available inward investment acquisition

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Page 6 of 8 strategy guiding the work of LES, or a marketing plan driving its implementation was noted; other weaker areas of activity also noted including the absence of best practice value propositions (including one tailored for the vacuum technology sector); a systematic programme of high-potential investor targeting; and effective investor pipeline management;  Need for a LES investor aftercare programme;  For WDC to continue its close liason with LES and market itself under the LES umbrella;  Priority markets for expansions and relocations for Wealden within a 30-mile radius; Limited opportunity in sector focussed promotion by WDC. The exception was to focus on the East Sussex mini-cluster of vacuum technology, photonics and optics companies, along with firms in the ultra-precision instrument field for scientific, technological and medical applications. No realistic possibility of Wealden achieving this. Instead the District could credibly associate itself with the series of mini-clusters that exist in nearby Greater Brighton, as well as the Hastings/St.Leonard’s hi-tech vacuum grouping;  For Wealden to develop differentiated, value-focused messaging in contrast to the still widely used and generally ineffectual feature-led approach, focussing on fast, trouble- free set-up, rapid growth opportunity, good return on investment and the mitigation of risk with the aim of attracting investor’s attention and keeping the district top-of-mind.  To narrow the needless gap between the current inward investment performance of Wealden – and the whole of East Sussex – and the potential it could achieve with a more effective marketing strategy and operational delivery by implementing the changes along the lines recommended in the report provided by the LGA Economic Growth Adviser. The outputs of this project as presented in the final report have been shared with ESCC, as the contract lead organisation, to support an ERDF funding bid to for the provision of an enhanced and more adequately resourced LES service from May 2017 onwards. Moving forward from that point, the report recommendations will be embraced within the new tendering process.

Since the report has been finalised, ESCC along with the District and Borough local authority partners (including WDC) continue to monitor the LES extended contract via the bi-monthly Economic Development Officers meetings. LES has already adopted a number of the perfomance reporting suggestions as highlighted by the LGA Growth Adviser hence demonstrating that this project journey has benefitted not just WDC but the wider LES related partnership with shared learning and knowledge gained which could be usefully transferred to other local authorities.

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Page 7 of 8 Economic Benefits

Inward Investment - Attracting large scale employers into the locality

The Development LGA Growth Adviser report is already making an impact contributing to:

 Improved LES performance reporting;  Supporting the ERDF bid submission co-ordinated by ESCC;  Reviewing how Wealden should be promoting itself as a business location via the LES brand; and  Planning and delivery of some Wealden specific initiatives.

LES regularly provides updates to the partnership of local authorities in terms of business relocations, expansions and number of jobs created, etc. Also, vice versa, WDC keeps LES informed of business related enquiries received directly in view of any inward investment benefits.

The local authority partnership in place to fund the LES service has provided savings across the board and further savings plus an enhanced LES service is coveted via the awaited outcome of the ERDF bid.

It is acknowledged that the inward investment and the attraction of larger scale employers to Wealden District will in turn generate new jobs and will have a multiplier effect in the local economy that will increase the area’s GVA by increased spending, increased demand on current services and supply chain links that will also increase the activity of local businesses, generating more new jobs and constant economic growth.

WDC, in partnership with LES and local commercial developers and agents are looking forward to welcoming this Summer (2016) : John Lewis (distribution hub) to the Ashdown Business Park (http://www.ashdownbusinesspark.com/) creating around 60 jobs; Veritek, an award- winning company which has grown to become one of the world’s leading independent exponents of customer orientated, high quality engineering service provision is moving from Eastbourne Borough to Wealden District to new purpose-built premises on the Chaucer Business Park in Polegate. It employs 220 people. (http://www.chaucerbusinesspark.co.uk/); VACGEN Ltd, a long established company and leaders in UHV technology, will be relocating to Wealden District from Hastings Borough siting itself at the new Swallow Business Park (http://www.swallowbusinesspark.com/).

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