Issue - meetings

Following the all-member presentation on 29 November 2016.

The Economic Development Manager presented the draft economic development strategy to the group and summarised the five priority areas for the Economic Strategy and the key economic challenges facing the District. The five priority areas were:

1.    Inward investment

2.    Enterprise

3.    Skills and employment

4.    Infrastructure – to address the barriers to economic growth

5.    Promoting the district offer.

Those priorities would address the three challenges facing the district that had been identified in 2015.

1.    Business Rates Performance

2.    Loss of Business Rates

3.    Employment Land

The Economic Development Strategy was on the Forward Plan for approval by Cabinet on 12 January 2017. The strategy would link with the development plan and provide the strategic direction for action plans.

At the invitation of the Chairman of the group, Members discussed:

·         The need to protect the desirability of commercial property through appropriate rent setting

·         How the success of the strategy would be measured

·         What the cost of the delivery of the strategy would be

·         That regional and national lobbying was needed to address infrastructure challenges

Officers responded that:

·         Action plans would identify success measures

·         Individual business cases on bespoke projects would include costings

·         That the council was represented on regional lobbying bodies such as the Gatwick diamond

The group supported the draft strategy for agreement by Cabinet.

Forward Plan item scheduled for Cabinet on 24 November 2016.

The Economic Development Manager presented the draft Economic Development Strategy report to Members.

It was reported that the replacement Economic Development Strategy had been created with the economic performance of Horsham for the past few years in mind. Since the adoption of the Horsham District Local Plan (HDLP), the Economic Development team had the offer of strategic sites and positive planning policies to encourage economic growth. The team felt that they could now move forward with a proactive new economic strategy, spanning the next 10 years, to support local business whilst attracting new investments.

The Economic Development Manager took Members through the key objectives for the new strategy that were based on five priorities for the strategy:

1.    Inward Investment

2.    Enterprise

3.    Skills and Employment

4.    Infrastructure

5.    Promoting the District Offer

Members were then shown a detailed action plan, created in conjunction with HDC’s partners and stakeholders, to deliver economic growth and help realise the overall vision.

Members then discussed the proposed strategy with Officers with the overall view that the proposed strategy would be good for Horsham.

The Economic Development Manager, Clare Mangan will present to the Group

The Chairman welcomed the Economic Development Manager and the Director of Planning, Economic Development and Property to the group.

Officers explained that whilst the council had an Economic Strategy for 2013-2023, it now required replacement with a new Economic Development Strategy to provide structure and focus to the work of the Economic Development Team. The group was being asked its view at the earliest stage of policy development.

The Economic Development Manager presented to the group a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis. That analysis led to five emerging priorities:

1.    Enterprise – support our local businesses to become more productive and resilient to support long –term economic growth

2.    Inward Investment

3.    Promoting the District Offer

4.    Skills and Employment

5.    Infrastructure – to address the barriers to economic growth.

Members were asked for their view on the five emerging priorities. Members views included:

a)    Whether the emerging priorities linked with West Sussex County Council priorities;

b)    The ‘strategic fit’ of future proposals for Gatwick airport;

c)    The importance of the national planning framework;

d)    Cross cutting links between economic development and other services within the council;

e)    The existing industrial or commercial sites which may no-longer be an attractive offer to modern businesses;

f)     The potential impact of and on farming sites in the rural parts of the district;

Officers and the Cabinet Member explained in turn that:

a)    There was a county wide economic development strategy that had informed the preparations of the five emerging priorities for HDC;

b)    That an action plan would be forthcoming to turn the strategic priorities into actions;

c)    The Cabinet Member was in dialogue with the Member of Parliament for Horsham about strategic economic matters;

d)    That two planning officers were designated as Business Link officers;

e)    That the council’s property portfolio was under constant review; and that

f)     Planning officers had been encouraged to visit working farms and that Members should note that Neighbourhood Planning was increasing in its importance

The Economic Development Manager returned to the presentation to explain that Business Rates retention was a key opportunity for the council to explore. The Government proposal that local authorities may retain 100% of new business rates by 2020 required the council to have the vision to promote strategic sites / identify new employment sites, to provide proactive support for existing businesses and to prepare for potential growth in business rates. Officers explained that new business rates should be seen as a revenue stream and that forecasts were that the reduction in government grant could be offset by the revenue gain in business rates. Other local authorities were expected to be competitive in attracting new businesses to their areas and HDC required a strategic approach, particularly with regard to North Horsham. Members noted that the council could not offer ‘tax breaks’ to new businesses but that advice and assistance on external funding streams would assist new businesses to choose the Horsham District as their preferred location.

The Economic Development Manager  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4