Minutes of the Greater
Peterborough Economic Development Group
Councillor Holdich Peterborough City Council
Councillor Thorpe Peterborough City Council
Richard Dade Property
Peter Smith APV Baker
Roger Tallowin O & H Hampton Ltd
Karen Bartlett East of England Development Agency
Will Spinner PCC - Economic & Community Regeneration
Richard Hall Axiom Housing Association
Mike Holland Smye Holland Associates
Richard Astle Interim GPP Director
David Nicholls Business Link for Cambridgeshire
Phil Sheppard UK Ceed
Bill Agnew GPIA
Mike Carter Fenland District Council
Mark Oakley Fenland District Council
Di Atkinson Fenland District Council
Ed Zerafa PCC - Economic & Community Regeneration
Neil Darwin PCC - Economic & Community Regeneration
Liz
Wade PCC
- Economic & Community Regeneration
Anne Hughes PCC - (Chief Executives Department
1. Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received from Nick Plumb, Carolyn Hume, Sue Churchill and John Neeve.
2. Minutes
We accepted as a correct record the minutes of our meeting held on 4 March 2004 as a correct record.
3. Matters Arising
The GPP Forum had been held on the 11 April and had been a success. The Economic Development workshop was the best attended and there were lots of people representing different activity, the notes from the flipcharts would be studied in the department and reported on at a later date.
4. Workshop
Allan Arnott advised we would discuss within the workshop the role of the Economic Development Group on securing growth for Peterborough and ensuring these fit into the Community Strategy priorities.
Things to be considered
i) Look at the picture from the Fenland view and the links with Peterborough;
ii) Need to appoint deputy chairs at meetings;
iii) Need a permanent chair;
iv) Group branding;
v) Need to bear in mind EEDA and maximise as much as possible.
5.
Governance Issues
Scope of Group
The group should be split between the Strategic side and the Operational side. The money offered by EEDA, a small group should be formed to bring forward on a monthly basis the projects to be considered. Karen Bartlett was doing an exercise on this at the moment to see which way would go forward but it was felt that the open ended negotiated process would be looked at with a view to moving towards this. The sub-group would keep an eye on this and bring it back to the Partnership. It was felt by all that the schemes would have to be closely monitored. The Economic Development Strategy would have to include Health and interaction with other partnerships were well recognised and we needed to take forward the strategy.
Private Sector Engagement
We need to have 50% representation from the private sector on the group to prove we are private sector driven and we also have to have adequate representation from Fenland. Should any sub-groups be formed additional people should be able to be co-opted on if they have a particular interest in the items being discussed.
Chair/Deputy Chair
We were advised that Roger Tallowin represented us on the GPP Board and perhaps a representative from housing should also be on as we needed to replace Jean Lowe.
WE AGREED that the Chair and Deputy Chair should be from Peterborough/Fenland and be representing the private sector. We should have bi-annual elections for these positions and a list would be sent to all members of the group to vote for their nominations and advise Neil, the first Chair should be from Peterborough.
Di Atkinson was the Partnership Manager from Fenland and there was a clear strategy for partnerships and a lot of networks already existed. Councillor Melton and Brian Partridge would be representing Fenland on the group and their ideas would be fed into this group.
Group Branding
Neil asked that the identity group of the group should be expanded as there was no need to use GPP letter heading. Two of the other partnerships had already produced their own identity.
A discussion on what should be included in the branding of the group ensued and IT WAS AGREED to report back to the next meeting on what would be acceptable. Diane Atkinson, Mike Carter, Richard Astle, Allan Arnott and Neil Darwin would prepare this report.
Vision
Was the vision right, did it include sufficient elements to be attracting? The Housing Strategy was going to Full Council tomorrow and included enhancing the quality of life. Karen Bartlett and others did not think the vision was dynamic enough, nothing in it to indicate it was specifically related to Peterborough. Fenland felt there should be emphasis on urban inter-play in the economy, having become part of Peterborough plan this should be more specific to Fenland.
Key Goals for Economic Development Strategy
· Growing the population, the economic and community capacity/potential of the Peterborough sub-region;
· Increasing the economic prosperity of the people of Peterborough through Business Development and Growth;
· Building thriving and cohesive new communities and regenerating existing ones (e.g housing improvements);
· Making and marketing Peterborough as an attractive place to live, work and study.
In achieving these goals "Economic Development" will have a major positive impact on Health, Safety and Skills.
Examples of 2010 Targets
Current/most recent data available for the below are used as a baseline:
· Local average gross weekly wage to a level 10% above the national average gross weekly wage (secondary);
· Total number of jobs by 13% (to 104,000);
· Jobs density to 1.0;
· Net annual business formations per 10,000 resident adults by 100%;
· % of economically inactive working age adults who want a job by 50%;
· ILO unemployment rate by 50%;
· Long-term (12 months) unemployment rate by 75%;
· Number of dwellings by 12% - split into private and public housing;
· Number of decent home standards by 100%;
· Population by 12%;
· Work space growth;
· Diversity;
· Business survival rates (after 5 years).
Anecdotal measures and health checks would have to be carried out on the above targets. Consideration would have to be given to the Fenland targets as these may not be the same as Peterborough.
Karen Bartlett said that whatever indicators the group have they need to have had some impact on achieving these and it could be seen as a good way of bringing more members into the group. We needed to have hard indisputable facts of what has been achieved. We asked Officers to include the current trend on some comparables for our next meeting.
6. Any other Business
Single Regeneration Budget
Neil advised that the Investment in Communities Programme had £80,000 left and this now had to be signed off. We asked Officers to present a report to us on the Investment in Communities Programme.
7. Date of Next Meeting
24 May at 4.30pm in the Town Hall.
The meeting having commenced at 4.30pm concluded at 6.35pm.