Agenda item

The Committee received a report giving an update on progress with implementing the Council’s Economic Development Strategy along with information on the current performance of the Strategic Plan’s priority objective of delivering a Vibrant and Prosperous Economy.

It was reported that to deliver the strategy, activities could not be delivered by just the Council and so collaborative working with partners were being undertaken and the Committee discussed each of these partnership arrangements and activities separately. 

The Tamworth and Lichfield shared business support service was confirmed to be still working well with daily communications between the sites and shared event hosting.

Local Business Groups was then discussed and it was noted that Officers gave support to both the Lichfield BID and Burntwood Business Community.  It was asked if there were too many business groups in the area including the Chamber of Commerce and Federation of Businesses.  It was reported that the groups focused on different areas including small business or manufacturing and it was the Officer’s role to help bring them together.  It was requested if more collaborative working across these bodies could be encouraged.

It was reported that there were two European Funded Programmes and when asked, it was noted that they were due to end in March 2019 but an extension could be applied for.

The next section was Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and Growth Hubs and it was noted that the Council was a member of both the GBSLEP and SSLEP who offered different support.  It was asked if there could be more signposting for businesses to know what each LEP could offer and it was reported that when referrals were received, both Growth Hubs were recommended.  The Leader of the Council confirmed that the identity of the LEP’s were an issue especially outside of the large cities and the GBSLEP had made a commitment to ensure this changed.  There was concern that the level of investment in neighbouring authorities could have a knock on effect for the district however the Officers felt it was a positive effect.

Place was discussed and Members were pleased to note that the Olaf Johnson site in Burntwood had moved forward and felt residents would be happy to see progress.  There was some concern that the number of affordable housing was small with 137 over five years.  The level of premises within the district receiving Broadband was considered at length and Members felt the 5% still not able to access it was high and in turn having an impact on especially rural business opportunities materialising.  It was reported that work was underway on alternative methods including community fibre partnerships to tackle this.

Under the section of Business, Members were pleased to note that there would be another survey undertaken and it was requested that details on focus, objectives and methodology be shared with the Committee when appropriate. Members were also pleased that a CRM system had been developed to capture information.

Regarding KPIs, it was requested whether information on lost and displaced jobs could also be recorded along with jobs created along with apprenticeships. 

RESOLVED: That the current work being undertaken to deliver the priorities within the Economic Development Strategy for Lichfield District, performance having regard to the Council’s priority objective of a Vibrant and Prosperous Economy, KPI’s and economic development activities helping to deliver these KPI’s be noted.