Economic Development and Regeneration Quarterly Performance Review Quarter 1 1st April 2011 – 30th June 2011 Scrutiny Version - 1 - Executive Summary Area Arts & Leisure Woodford Leisure Centre Come and try it Olympic Day Jonathon Edwards (former world triple jump champion) visited on 1 st June, 1pm – 3pm. A number of activities where taking place at the time of the visit and Mr Edwards participated in a number of them. Activities taking place included: St Paul’s Boxing club, school basketball tournament, archery, fencing, trampoline sessions, parent and child biathlon competition and a ladies only event (800 metre run and swim) plus much more. The event was a success and well attended by members of the public. The event also attracted a lot of positive media coverage for the centre. Albert Avenue Pools We are working in partnership with 9 local Primary Schools to provide children and their families the opportunity to incorporate a leisure activity, uniting the family in a safe, fun environment whilst striving to enhance the children’s education and wellbeing. Ennerdale Leisure Centre Monday 6 th June saw the start of a new session “Little Dippers” in the small pool for parents and children aged between 1 and 3. The sessions are organised by the Ennerdale Team and Sports Development. The average attendance has been 20 per session. Sport Development have organised transport for parents where appropriate. City Hall On the back of the successful professional boxing event which took place in Spring and the Indian Mela multi-cultural event which attracted over 2000 visitors, the promoter has now committed to securing three additional dates for the City Hall in 2012. June 2011 has seen a number of banqueted events taking place at City Hall including wedding receptions, Hymers School Ball and the Armed Forces Dinner/Dance which all proved to be successful. There has also been some additional diversification in the programme to include new events such as the Harlem Gospel Choir and Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. In preparation for the autumn 2011, Freedom Festival dates have been secured for a number of events taking place across three nights at City Hall in September. Additional to this, dates have been secured to be part of the Comedy Festival and Heritage Open Days. The autumn programme is currently being finalised ready to launch towards the end of July. Hull Arena The Kingston Junior Ice Hockey Clubs 5 th Annual Tournament took place at the Hull Arena on the 28 th & 29 th May, Teams from Solihull, Guildford, Whitley Bay, Bradford, Nottingham and Dundee took part. The Under 14 & Under 16 age groups attracted over 500 participants. - 2 - The Winmau World Darts Masters have secured dates at the Hull Arena for the first weekend of September (subject to final confirmation) – this means that Hull City Council will have secured this major event for two consecutive years. The Hull Arena hosted the Winmau 38 th World Masters Darts Championships 2011 on 1 st – 4th September with live televised coverage over several days through ESPN. Costello Stadium “Educ8” have confirmed a booking at Costello Stadium as from September 2011. The booking will see pupils, who cannot be taught in standard Education, attending the Stadium to attend their lessons under the guidance of staff from “Educ8”. Pupils attending will be referred from Hull Education. A maximum of 12 pupils will attend each day. The booking is initially for 4 days per week, 39 weeks per year. On behalf of the City Councils Sports Development team Costello Stadium hosted the first “Street Games” festival the City has held on Wednesday 17 th August 2011. Youths aged 8 to 19 from across the City were invited to the free event to take part in a range of activities which included – skateboarding, golf, athletics, table tennis, basketball, cricket, football and rugby league to name but a few. 300 youths from across the City attended the day. Costello Stadium has hosted its annual Summer Holiday Play Scheme. This year’s scheme which runs between 10am and 3pm daily (Monday to Friday) has been led by coaches First Step Sports Ltd. Children attending have ranged from 8 to 15 years old with a wide range of sports, dance and art/crafts activity sessions taking place. Children have also sampled Ice Skating at the Hull Arena. Springhead/Sutton Golf Courses Free 10 week junior golf lesson packages were offered at both Springhead Golf Course and Sutton Golf Course in August. Albert Avenue Pools The National Pool Lifeguard Qualification training course at Albert Avenue pools started in August, targeted at unemployed adults. The free course provides 30 hours of training and a leisure industry recognised qualification in life guarding which would be suitable for those looking to secure employment in the leisure industry. Free learn to swim lessons for adults at Albert Avenue, East Hull, Ennerdale and Woodford leisure centres from August. City Economy As the existing GROW Programme contracts (GROW-Local Work Guarantee, GROW-Redundancy Response, and GROW-Employment Sustainability) move into the last 6 months of delivery, the Economic Inclusion Team has been engaging with prime contractors with a view to securing employment related contacts to run beyond March 2012. The team has already secured a small DWP Mandatory Work Activity contract with BEST Ltd and is working with a range of prime contractors in relation to the DWP ESF Families with Multiple Problems provision. - 3 - City Planning The Core Strategy Publication version is due to be considered by Cabinet in June with consultation commencing in July 2011 for 6 weeks shortly afterwards. Planning Committee endorsed the consultation with some minor changes to the Core Strategy on the 21 st June 2011. City, Region & Humber Enterprise Zone European On 17 th August the Government announced that the Humber has been Economic awarded Enterprise Zone (EZ) status. The Humber EZ is the largest in Programmes England, totalling 375 hectares and includes development sites on both banks of the Humber. • Hull City Council area – Green Port Hull o 78 hectares - Alexandra Dock (Green Port Hull) o 49 hectares – Queen Elizabeth Dock o Total size of the ‘North Bank’ of the Humber Enterprise Zone is 127 hectares • North Lincolnshire Council area – Able Marine Engineering Park (AMEP): o 112 hectares – Able Humber Ports Ltd (AHPL) o 136 hectares – ownership not specified o Total size of ‘South Bank’ of the Humber Enterprise Zone is 248 hectares Enterprise Zone status allows renewable energy sector businesses locating in the area to benefit from a package of measures to make setting up business easier and will encourage inward investment and job creation. Enterprise Zones are to have the following freedoms and incentives: • Business Rates: 100 per cent business rate discount worth up to £257,000 over a five year period for businesses that move into an Enterprise Zone during the course of this Parliament (i.e. before April 2015); • all business rates growth within the zone for a period of at least 25 years will be retained and shared by the local authorities in the Local Economic Partnership area, to support LEP economic priorities and ensure that the returns from Enterprise Zones growth are reinvested locally; • Planning: government and local authority help to develop radically simplified planning approaches in the Enterprise Zone, for example using existing Local Development Order powers; • Broadband: government support to ensure that superfast broadband 1 is rolled out throughout the Enterprise Zone, achieved through 1 On 16 August 2011, Government announced the Humber would receive Broadband Delivery UK funding of £8,540,000 (subject to further due diligence as more data becomes available), in order to enable the delivery of super fast broadband to more homes and businesses. Ofcom defines ‘superfast broadband’ as broadband with speeds greater than 24 Mbps . http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/BDUK-Funding-Allocation-16-08-11.pdf - 4 - guaranteeing the most supportive regulatory environment and, if necessary, public funding. In addition, Government committed to working with local enterprise partnerships on additional options, to suit local circumstances, including consideration of: • Enhanced capital allowances for plant and machinery, in a limited number of cases and subject to State Aid, where there is a strong focus on manufacturing; these allowances will be subject to State Aid restrictions. • Tax Increment Finance to support the long-term viability of the area, this would enable borrowing against future increases in business rate receipts for the development of infrastructure (TIF process requires primary legislation). • UKTI support for inward investment or trade opportunities in the zone”. In order to benefit from the Government ’s Enterprise Zone initiative it is imperative that the Enterprise Zone sites are occupied by April 2015 It is anticipated that by April 2015 approximately 1,500 jobs will have been created at the EZ sites within Hull • Green Port Hull Site - 800 jobs • Hull Queen Elizabeth Dock Site - 398 jobs • Hull Queen Elizabeth Dock Site(a) - 267 jobs • Hull’s off-zone sites servicing parts of the supply chain are expected to produce 1,700 jobs. Green Port Hull – Supply Chain Group On 30 June, the Green Port Hull Supply Chain Group, which has been established by Hull City Council, with a variety of partners, launched a questionnaire designed to identify critical supply chain requirements and ensure that local businesses will have the opportunity to achieve maximum benefit from Green Port Hull and the renewable energy sector opportunities. Green Port Hull – Land and Property Group A Green Port Hull Land and Property group, led by Hull City Council has been formed to meet the land and property needs of the rapidly emerging renewable energy sector in Hull and the East Riding.