Agenda for Culture, Tourism & Enterprise Overview & Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, 2nd April, 2009, 4.00pm
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Agenda and minutes
PDF 198 KBVenue: Council Chamber, Hove Town Hall. View directions
Contact: Julia Riches, Scrutiny Support Officer
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Minutes: 57a Substitutes
57.1 Councillor Mo Marsh for Councillor Pat Hawkes and apologies from Councillor Craig Turton.
57b Declaration of Interests
57.2 Councillor Steve Harmer-Strange declared a non-prejudicial interest in Item 65 as he is on the steering group for Shoreham Harbour.
57c Exclusion of press and public
57.3 In accordance with section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, it was considered whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of any items contained in the agenda, having regard to the nature of the business to be transacted and the nature of the proceedings and the likelihood as to whether, if member of the press and public were present, there would be disclosure to them of confidential or exempt information as defined in section 1001 (1) of the said Act.
57.4 RESOLVED – that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the discussion of Item 72 under Category 3.
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING Minutes: 58.1 RESOLVED – that the minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2009 be approved and signed by the Chairman.
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CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS Minutes: 59.1 The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, in particular Simon Fanshawe from the Economic Partnership and the Cabinet Member for Culture, Recreation and Tourism. The Chairman informed the Committee that the first public meeting of the Scrutiny Panel on the environmental industries had been held on 31 March. This was a very interesting and informative session and an additional evidence session had been arranged for 10 June 2009. A scrutiny workshop had also been held on the draft Cultural Strategy which had been very successful.
59.2 The Chairman had also attended a staff meeting in the Culture and Enterprise Directorate and had explained the work of the scrutiny committee. He had also invited Councillor Melanie Davis to join the Chairman’s pre-meetings and she had attended the last pre-meeting on 16 March 2009.
59.3 The Chairman also informed the Committee that, as the Cabinet Member needed to leave the meeting early, Item number 66 on the Brighton Marathon would be taken before Item number 64.
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PUBLIC QUESTIONS No public questions have been received.
Minutes: 60.1 There were none.
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QUESTIONS AND LETTERS FROM COUNCILLORS No deputations have been received.
Minutes: 61.1 There were none.
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Discussion of the Draft Economic Strategy Presentation by Simon Fanshawe, Chair, Economic Parnership. Copy of Draft Economic Strategy attached. Minutes: 62.1 The Chairman welcomed Mr Simon Fanshawe from the Economic Partnership to the meeting and asked that he introduce the draft Economic Strategy.
62.2 Mr Fanshawe explained that the first Economic Strategy and the Economic Partnership had grown out of the 1999 City Bid. This bid had gathered together many diverse groups across the city. There are currently 32 members of the Economic Partnership who speak for different sectors. Amex is about to become a member, as well as a head teacher. The Economic Partnership is funded by the South East of England Development Agency (SEEDA) and by businesses themselves.
62.3 Mr Fanshawe outlined the history of the Economic Strategy which grew out of the Tourism Strategy. At that time, the Economic Partnership brought together around thirty key players in the industry and brokered a discussion on such issues as how to raise the city’s profile. The Economic Strategy was owned by all those involved and was about the ‘big picture’. It was broken down into three broad areas: skills, sites and shifts (innovation).
62.4 Mr Fanshawe went on to explain the ‘skills’ driver in the city. Brighton & Hove has benefited from the minimum wage as there are lots of jobs in areas like hospitality. There was, however, a lack of high value jobs: there was high university retention but often these graduates were working in jobs below their skill levels. There was a need to stimulate inward investment to provide high salary jobs.
62.5 On the issue of ‘sites’ it was important to use sites intelligently and take the opportunities offered by New England House. On the subject of ‘shifts’ or innovation, Mr Fanshawe decribed the city as ‘enterprise-ready’ rather than ‘enterprise-driven’. Schools and universities are crucial in the ambition to become a more innovative city. The Economic Partnership had just organised a forum called the ‘Ed Heads’ which brings together key partners to discuss how to support a seamless transition from schools to work. There was also work with universities to encourage students to become more entrepreneurial.
62.6 Mr Fanshawe informed the Committee that, in the short term, the independent retail sector was holding up surprisingly well in the current economic climate and some independent retailers had a very good month in February. The Economic Partnership had worked with City College to train retail experts in the skills of brokerage in order to interact with the independent retail sector with the aim of addressing their needs. Mr Fanshawe noted that action was needed on the key sites in Brighton, such as the Marina, Preston Barracks and the Brighton Centre.
62.7 Members thanked Mr Fanshawe for his informative and interesting remarks and a long discussion followed. Following a question on the percentage of jobs in the city in the financial sector, Mr Fanshawe explained that the jobs are variegated and the job increases by Amex were welcome. The top 10 companies in the private sector only employ 17%. The largest employer is the Council. To help the third sector, the public sector needed to create innovative ways for the third sector to deliver services. A question was asked about ‘Participle’ and working with challenging young people. Mr Fanshawe replied that ‘Participle’ was doing good work but suggested that the resources devoted to those ‘Not In Employment, Education or Training’ (NEET) should be examined. Questions were asked about readiness in the city for the ‘upsurge’ following the current downturn and there was a discussion over bringing development sites forward. The Economic Partnership had set up a ‘Sussex Summit’ to bring together the Leaders of the three local authorities with lead officers to look at collaborate working to address shared issues, for example, the train services in the region
62.8 A lengthy discussion was held on planning consents and the question of whether certain sites would go ahead, following which the Chairman thanked Mr Fanshawe for a fascinating session. |
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Sustainable Events Guidelines
Report of the Director of Environment. Additional documents: Minutes: 63.1 The Chairman welcomed the Cabinet Member for Culture, Recreation and Tourism who was attending the meeting specifically for this report and the report on the Brighton Marathon. The Head of Sport and Leisure apologised on behalf of the report author who was on leave and introduced the report. He explained that the recommendation 2.1.2 in the report should read ‘comment’ on the timetable rather than ‘agree’ the timetable.
63.2 The Head of Sport and Leisure explained that the British Standard was being developed and the timetable in the city was organised to dovetail with this. He highlighted the good practice happening now (outlined in paragraph 3.6 of the report) such as on noise pollution, packaging and local sourcing. He asked Members for any comments on the system and the timetable. The draft guidelines would go to the Cabinet Member Meeting in May and any comments would be fed in to this.
63.3 Councillor Kennedy commented that it was great to see this starting to happen and the timetable seemed reasonable taking into account the need to work alongside the British Standard. She requested that a focus on waste and recycling be added to the list of issues being addressed in paragraph 3.6.
63.4 Councillor Davis asked how vehicle emissions were being addressed. The Head of Sport and Leisure replied that it was difficult to achieve a measurable performance indicator in this area and more work needed to be done in terms of what emissions are from cars at particular events. The Veteran Car Run has been reviewing the work they do and understood this was a key issue.
63.4 The Chairman noted that the timetable was a little disappointing but recognised the impact of the British Standard. He agreed with the need to address waste and recycling in paragraph 3.6 and asked that this section is more prominent in the strategy.
63.4 RESOLVED – (1) to endorse the creation of a sustainable event management system for outdoor events; (2) that the comments of the Committee (see above) be noted; (3) to request an update at a later meeting.
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Performance Improvement Report- Quarter 3 Report of the Director of Strategy and Governance. Additional documents: Minutes: (PLEASE NOTE THAT ITEM NUMBER 66 WAS TAKEN BEFORE THIS ITEM)
64.1 The Chairman explained to the Committee that, due to ill health, no performance officers had been available for this report. A written statement was circulated (for copy see minute book).
64.2 The Chairman noted that the main focus for concern was the employment figures. He reiterated the need to encourage more highly paid jobs in the city.
64.3 RESOLVED (1) that the committee are updated on progress against key indicators within the local Area Agreement and other indicators within the National Indicator Set;
(2) that the Committee reflects upon the detail in the report and request a year one update report to be brought to the Committee after June 2009.
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Shoreham Harbour Joint Area Action Plan Report of the Director of Environment. Additional documents: Minutes: 65.1 The Chairman explained that this item was for information only. He welcomed the Head of Strategic Projects and the Strategic Planning and Monitoring Manager to the meeting and asked them to introduce the report.
65.2 The Head of Strategic Projects explained that the report was an update on the position of the Joint Area Action Plan (JAAP) and inherently a planning document. Tackling deprivation and the economy and jobs were crucial: this was an economic project. He outlined the main challenges, for example, transport and flood risk, but emphasised that these would be issues that needed solving irrespective of the Shoreham Harbour Scheme. The Strategic Planning and Monitoring Manager went on to explain that the JAAP had already been to the Environment and Community Safety Overview and Scrutiny Committee (ECSOSC) and that they would be holding a scrutiny meeting on the JAAP to which all Councillors were invited on 2 June 2009.
65.3 Members noted that they had raised the issue of transport at the previous ECSOSC meeting and wished to raise it again. The Strategic Planning and Monitoring Manager agreed that transport, along with flooding and financial viability would be key issues. There are consultants working on the transport issues and they would provide a report for the Shoreham Harbour Joint Member Steering Groupin April. Following a question on the infrastructure, the Head of Strategic Projects explained that a range of options would be explored and there would be a proposal for a range of tariffs for developers to fund some of the facilities. It was clearly understood that the infrastructure must be recognised and detailed at an early stage, and that there would need to be great confidence that the funding (public and private) was available.
65.4 RESOLVED – that the report be noted. |
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Report of the Director of Environment. Additional documents: Minutes: (PLEASE NOTE THIS ITEM WAS TAKEN PRIOR TO ITEM 64)
66.1 The Head of Sport and Leisure introduced the report and clarified that it was a proposal for a route and more work was needed to address the concerns of the City Safety Advisory Group. It was understood that there would be a significant impact on the city but that the Marathon would bring great benefits for the city and for visitors.
66.2 The Marathon was planned for a Sunday to minimise impact and it was timed to attract runners who did not get a place in the London Marathon.
66.3 Councillor Marsh noted that her support was cited in the report and she still gave her support but wished to emphasis the importance of the safety and that the emergency services must agree with the route.
66.4 Following questions on why other cities don’t have marathons, it was explained that there were some, but not on this scale or with the profile a Brighton Marathon would have.
66.5 RESOLVED – that the Committee’s comments are reported to Cabinet when it considers the issue.
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BUSINESS RETENTION AND INWARD INVESTMENT STRATEGY Report of the Director of Cultural Services. Minutes: 67.1 The Head of Tourism and Venues introduced the report and noted that the document had not changed but that the Chairman's concerns over the inclusion of the third sector and the importance of the environmental industries, had been noted. The implementation plan detailed the way forward and a lot of this was actions that officers had been doing for some time. The BRII set out a way to do more and do it better. There was a clear set of actions based around better research, better understanding and better connections (with for example, the British Trade and Investment Board) The Head of Tourism and Venues explained that there was a need to get involved with businesses earlier and the Implementation Plan set the framework and specific points to take forward. One action was to capitilise on 'local ambassadors' to help sell the city to potential businesses.
67.2 Questions were asked about the limit of 50 employees in the BRII and how international and European Union connections were made. The Head of Strategic Projects explained that there was a broadly international business sector in the city. Some companies in the digital media were having difficulty managing their growth in the UK but would be looking at the EU given the exchange rate. The links and proximity to Gatwick helped the city.
67.3 The Head of Culture and Economy explained that there would be a re-aligning of resources in the Economic Development team in the Directorate. A question was asked about why the 'unusualness' of the city was listed as a weakness, and it was replied that it meant to indicate that lifestyle interests in the city may give the impression that it was not a serious place to do business.
67.4 RESOLVED - (1) The Committee endorse the Business Retention and Implementation Plan and (2) The Committee request updates from the Director of Culture and Enterprise on the actions contained within the Implementation Plan.
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Cultural Strategy draft report Verbal report. Minutes: 68.1 The Head of Culture and Economy gave a verbal update on the Cultural Strategy Scrutiny Workshop. The clear messages were on the importance of engagement, both in targeting the hard to reach and the dissemination of information. The marketing and profile of the city was very important. There was some namechecks that needed to be added to the draft strategy as the diversity of the city was not fully reflected. The Members who attended the workshop had agreed that the structure and themes of the draft strategy.
68.2 The final document would go to Cabinet in June and would then be published on the web for one year, with comments and amendments requested. At the end of the year, it would be radically reviewed.
68.3 Cllr Marsh commented that she would like the option to attend some of the scrutiny workshops and it was agreed to explore this option.
68.4 RESOLVED – that the draft Cultural Strategy comes to the 2 July meeting of the Committee for final approval.
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WORK PROGRAMME AND SCRUTINY PANEL UPDATE Minutes: 69.1 The Chairman introduced the work programme. It was agreed to move the item on Pride to the meeting in November. Members were reminded about the Scrutiny Workshop on the London Road SPD and it was agreed to ask if Cllr Marsh could attend. An item on the Open Houses was requested for the November agenda.
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ITEMS TO GO FORWARD TO CABINET OR THE RELEVANT CABINET MEMBER MEETING To consider items to be submitted to the next available Cabinet or Cabinet Member. Minutes: 70.1 There were none. |
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ITEMS TO GO FORWARD TO COUNCIL Minutes: 71.1 There were none. |
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Part 2 minutes of 5th February 2009 Meeting - Exempt under category 3 To agree the Part Two minutes from 5th February 2009. Minutes: 72.1 The Part 2 minutes of 5th February 2009 meeting were agreed. |