Agenda item

Purpose: To review progress in implementing the Council’s Economic Development Strategy

The Commission considered a report (Agenda Item 8) concerning the Operational Review of the Economic Development Strategy .

Katharine Makant (Economy Manager) introduced the report. Key points from the presentation were as follows:

·         The review was based on the refreshed version of the Strategy, which was approved in June 2021, in response to Covid related challenges.

·         The Economic Development Team had administered significant amounts of grant funding.

·         The team had set up the Business West Berkshire website, which was the first of a number of initiatives designed to encourage business investment in West Berkshire as part of an Investment Strategy.

·         The Newbury Town Centre Vision and Master Plan had been progressed and a scheme was being developed for Newbury Wharf.

·         A lot of work had been done to support employment, working in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions through Kickstart, and with the Skills and Enterprise Partnership to sponsor a STEM Zone in their careers fair.

·         The team was looking to work more closely with rural businesses and was planning a conference in November.

·         Relationships had been built both within the Council and with external partners such as the Chambers of Commerce to engage with local businesses.

Members noted that the Business West Berkshire website did not include links with LinkedIn or the main West Berkshire Council website. Officers undertook to review this.

Action: Katharine Makant to look at how the website could be better linked to LinkedIn and the Council’s website.

It was noted that footfall in Hungerford had remained fairly static, but had fallen significantly in Newbury and Thatcham. Members questioned whether expenditure had been effective in supporting the High Streets. It was noted that a new provider of footfall information had been commissioned, which utilised mobile phone signal data. Discussions were being held with the provider, since officers were surprised by the data and the figures did not match those from the Newbury BID. Also, Newbury Town Centre had been highlighted as one of the top performing town centres towards the end of last year. Members felt that figures should not be published until they could be confirmed, since they appeared to show that revenue spend had been ineffective. Officers explained that funding had come from the Welcome Back Fund from Central Government and schemes had been put forward by Newbury Bid and Thatcham Town Council. Also, projects were directly funded that had been put forward by Hungerford Town Council. Members pointed out that this was still taxpayers money. Members also noted that car park revenues were still down, which suggested that there were fewer visitors to the town centres.

Members asked if they could attend the Rural Business Forum. It was confirmed that Members would be invited once the date had been agreed.

Members queried how the affordable housing completion figure could be negative. It was suggested that the this may be as a result of the Council getting rid of some of its own rented accommodation.

Action: Katharine Makant to query the affordable housing completions figure with Planning.

It was highlighted that OSMC had previously requested a key performance indicator for the Council to visit the senior management of the top-10 employers at least once a year, but this did not appear in the report. Members stressed the importance of retaining existing businesses as well as attracting new ones. Officers provided reassurance that they were engaging with these businesses on a number of levels from chief executive downwards. These included AWE and Vodafone, and a number of supermarkets.

Action: Katharine Makant to investigate the KPI for engagement with the top 10 employers in the district.

Councillor Ross Mackinnon was invited to comment as Portfolio Holder for Finance and Economic Development. He reiterated that Members would be welcome at the Rural Business Conference.