Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Mr Barry Dennington and Cllr Brian Mattock.

a)    To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 11 February 2016.

b)    To receive and comment upon the draft minutes of the Board Meeting of the Swindon and Wiltshire and Swindon Local Enterprise Partnership held on 16 March 2016.

The Committee considered the minutes of the last meeting held on 11February 2016, and also received the minutes of the Board meeting of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership held on 16 March 2016 for comment if appropriate.

Resolved:

To APPROVE and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 11 February 2016 as a true and correct record.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the relevant Standards Committee.

Councillor Garry Perkins declared a non-pecuniary interest in relation to Ultrafast Broadband as some business areas upgraded might include his own business area.

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

There were no announcements.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the Wiltshire Council Constitution. Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of the agenda no later than 5pm on 21 April 2016. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

There were no statements or questions submitted.

To receive an update from the SWLEP Commissioning Group

A report was received from the Commissioning Group of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (SWLEP), as detailed in the agenda. Updates were provided on the Porton Science Park and regarding a report on Health and Life Sciences to be considered by the SWLEP Board.

The Committee discussed the report, noting work on High Value Manufacturing required additional refocusing, and that sector specific plans were to be established to look at the range of support to businesses, and that there was improving coordination with local MPs which would be continued.

The Committee also considered the Highlight report on current Local Growth Fund Schemes

Resolved:

To note the update

An update report was provided as detailed in the agenda on the Strategic Housing Market Assessment(SHMA) and Functional Economic Market Assessment (FEMA). A full briefing would be provided to the Committee before the next meeting.

It was explained that the consultant’s carrying out the work had identified from evidence obtained the SHMA and FEMA areas, and which reflected much of the work done for the SWLEP Strategic Economic Plan economic areas, and were different from what are currently operated as housing areas.

The Committee discussed the  update and upcoming requirements before the work was completed, with the Committee to oversee the work as it develops further.

Resolved:

To note the update.

A report was presented on prioritisation of projects within the Local Growth Fund (LGF)scheme and which was also reported to the SWLEP Board.

It was detailed that the timing for the next bidding round for the LGF was more complicated than previous rounds, and that  early indications had been that very large schemes would have the greatest chance of success. The Committee considered the existing projects which might be suitable, as well as the possibility of combining projects together if interrelated and if this was viable. It was highlighted that the process was likely to be extremely competitive, and any submitted project would need to be  well presented. The deadline for submission would be 21 July.

The Committee also discussed the long term housing fund proposed in the national Budget, and how to re-evaluate existing proposals to match the level of monies made available for LGF funding.

Resolved:

To note the update.

The Committee considered a report on the bid for Wiltshire Online to formally secure £2m match funding from theSWLEP, utilising the Local Growth Fund mechanism, to support Ultrafast (>100 Mbps) broadband connectivity roll out to targeted business areas in the county, to include some postcode areas of Swindon, within an eligible and agreed State Aid compliant intervention area.

The Committee discussed the update on the bid, noting that the money could not be utilised where the option was to be delivered commercially, and the need to map the coverage in Swindon and Wiltshire to determine which areas would match the requirements for use of the funds, and that both authorities would need to cooperate closely to obtain the funds.

Resolved:

To note the update

The Committee considered a report update on the European Structural Investment Fund(ESIF), as detailed in the agenda papers.

Members discussed the ongoing progress on ESIF sub-committees and the progress on all programmes.

Resolved:

To note the  update.

The report to the Joint Scrutiny Task Group on LEP Board recruitment is attached for information.

Paddy Bradley. Director of the SWLEP Secretariat, updated the Committee on ongoing work to appropriately measure the functioning and operations of the SWLEP against comparable LEPs. This had included investigating the makeup and recruitment processes of other LEP Boards, and expectations on Board members and particularly Chairmen.

The Committee also received details of work of the Joint Scrutiny Task Group which had assessed the SWLEP’s recruitment processes and would in future be monitoring projects to assess achievements and outcomes.

To consider items for future agendas.

The forward plan for the SWLEP Joint Scrutiny Task Group is also attached for information.

The forward work programme was noted.

To confirm the date of the next meeting as 24 June 2016 at County Hall, Trowbridge.

Future meetings:

12 October 2016

8 December 2016

It was noted that the date of the next meeting was scheduled for 24 June, and it was agreed this should be changed due to the impact of the European referendum the previous day.