Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mrs J Brockway.

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

RESOLVED

            That the minutes of the Economic Scrutiny Committee held on 10 September 2013, be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(To receive a report by the Assistant Director Economy and Culture which sets out the purpose and objectives of marketing the County, and the concept of Place Marketing to enable the Committee to discuss priorities and focus for marketing activities)

Consideration was given to a report presented by the Assistant Director Economy and Culture which set out the purpose and objectives of marketing the County, and the concept of Place Marketing, to enable Members to discuss priorities and focus for marketing activities.  It described marketing, promotion and communications activities undertaken by Economy and Culture and Strategic Communications Services within the Council to support discussions on resources available for Marketing and Communications.  It was noted that parallel discussions had also been taking place through the Greater Lincolnshire Local Economic Partnership (GLLEP) on marketing and tourism promotion.

The Committee was guided through the report and it was highlighted that 42,000 homes were planned for Central Lincolnshire along with a population growth of 86,000 and 210 hectares of employment land.  Of this total, 18,800 dwellings had been allocated to Lincoln, which was an approximate 40,000 increase in population.

It was noted that it was important to promote the County in order to attract and retain investment which would then encourage tourism and create a higher quality of life for residents. 

The Committee was provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         In terms of tourism, there was a need to understand how many overnight stays and week-long stays there were in the County to help to understand supply and demand needs for accommodation;

·         The accommodation sector had a great potential for growth, as there was still a capacity for more hotel accommodation within the County;

·         It was acknowledged that Lincolnshire was a large County and different areas had different demands in terms of accommodation needs;

·         The authority worked closely with district councils on tourism issues, and shared an enquiry system;

·         The Communications team had strong links with the communications teams in all the districts, and there was an increasing online presence through social media as well as county news and local media;

·         The Executive Councillor Economic Development, Environment, Planning and Tourism reported that he chaired the meeting of Lead Economic Councillors, and there was attendance from all district councils, and it was a very active forum.  There had been a lot more interest in this area since the formation of the LEP;

·         The authority attended networking events and specifically targeted work around key sectors by attending food shows and engineering shows;

·         The authority's biggest resource was its people, and councillors needed to act as advocates for the county as there were many good places to invest in throughout the County as well as Lincoln;

·         An aspiration should be to create 1.5 jobs for every house that was built;

·         Infrastructure continued to be an issue;

·         The LEP had formed a working group to examine the supply and demand of tourism in the County, and it was suggested that a report be brought back to this committee in the new year with its findings;

RESOLVED

1.    That comments made in relation to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

(To receive a report by the Head of Enterprise which provides the Committee with information on a project helping businesses to 'go green'.  Lincolnshire County Council is working in partnership with the University of Lincoln following receipt of funding to extend the scheme.  The report asks the Committee for its thoughts on taking activity forward into the future)

Consideration was given to a report which provided the Committee with an explanation of the project between Lincolnshire County Council and the University of Lincoln to help businesses to 'go green' following a successful 'Phase 2' ERDF bid which would draw down £420,440 of EU funding for the 2 year project.  The project began on 1 August 2013 and would provide one to one support for businesses; assist in the development of a circular economy (identifying and reusing waste streams within and between businesses); and provide opportunities for accessing new markets by diversifying into the supply of green goods and services.

It was noted that it would be important for the authority to be fully informed on all new technologies which would be available if advice was to be provided to businesses.  Members were assured that all advice given would be impartial, accurate and address any pitfalls.

The Head of Enterprise informed the Committee that there was an informal working group to look at bids for accessing funding, and it was commented that it would be useful to have member input on this.  Councillors A Bridges and W S Webb volunteered to sit on this group.

RESOLVED

            That the Council's Resource Efficiency Business Support Programme       successes be noted.

(To receive a report by the Head of Regeneration which provides a history of how the Economic Regeneration Jobs Created or Safeguarded performance indicator was originally established, and looks at how the figure is calculated for each quarter and how it was proposed to refine the target to make it more relevant to a Commissioning Council)

Consideration was given to a report which provided the Committee with a commentary which identified how the Economic Regeneration Jobs Created or Safeguarded Performance Indicator was originally established and looked at how the figure was calculated for each quarter and how officers proposed to refine the target to make it more relevant to a Commissioning Council.

The Committee was advised that this report followed on from discussions which had been held at the previous meeting around the performance target for jobs safeguarded/created.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         It was suggested that an alternative way to measure the performance would be to calculate how many people were employed in Lincolnshire, and of that number how many of the jobs had been created through the work of the Council;

·         It was important for the target to be appropriate and demonstrate the scale of activity which was taking place;

·         There was a disproportionate number of young people and school leavers who were not going into employment;

·         There was a need to look at what could be done to retain jobs in the County;

·         There was a growth strategy for Lincolnshire, and Members might want to consider how the performance of the LEP strategy could be monitored;

·         There were 13,000 people who were unemployed in Lincolnshire, and there were 3,000 vacancies in the Job Centre;

·         There was a need to 'grow our own' in terms of doctors, nurses and pharmacists instead of recruiting from overseas.  It was queried whether there was a need for a medical college within the county;

·         It was felt that there should be more focus on outcomes rather than outputs, such as the aim to double the value of the tourism economy in Lincolnshire;

·         It was acknowledged that there was a need to report outputs, but it was suggested that they could be complimented by a commentary of the outcomes which would be valuable.  Officers agreed to feed this comment back;

·         The target for 2014/15 would be set using the current performance for 2013/14 as a baseline.

RESOLVED

            That the content of the report be noted and that a new target, based on the actual 2013/14 performance, should be adopted for the 2014/15 financial year be agreed.

(To receive a report by the Scrutiny Officer which enables the Economic Scrutiny Committee to consider its own work programme for the coming year)

Consideration was given to a report which enabled the Economic Scrutiny Committee to consider its own work programme for the coming year.

The Scrutiny Officer reported that there were no amendments to the Work Programme, and an update on Place Marketing would be added to the agenda for the meeting in January or March 2014.

It was requested that an update on the Lincoln Castle Revealed project be brought to a future meeting, and it was suggested that the Committee hold a future meeting at the Castle Heritage Centre to enable Members to see how the work was progressing.

RESOLVED

            That the work programme be noted and the above additional items added to future meetings.

(To receive a report by the Head of Regeneration which provides the Committee with a summary of the findings of the RAF Feasibility Summary recently completed for Lincolnshire County Council and The Royal Air Force by Focus Consultants)

Consideration was given to a report which provided a summary of the findings of the RAF Scampton Feasibility Study which had been recently completed for Lincolnshire County Council and the Royal Air Force by Focus consultants.

The Committee welcomed Wing Commander Richard Turner, Station Commander of RAF Scampton to the meeting.

It was reported that RAF Scampton was one of six operational RAF bases in Lincolnshire, and was one of the largest concentrations of employment within the district of West Lindsey, supporting approximately 800 jobs, both military and civilian.  It was one of the oldest and possibly most famous within the RAF portfolio as the original home of 617 Squadron, the Dambusters.

The Committee was informed that the future of RAF Scampton within the RAF had been uncertain for some time, and discussions with senior officers within the RAF identified that there was a great deal of affection for the base.  As a result a joint feasibility study was commissioned which encompassed the following elements:

·         How the base (ground and airspace) could be reused if the RAF were to withdraw either later in the decade or further into the future;

·         How could a shared military/civilian use be developed to reduce operating costs for the RAF and make an increasing cost to the Lincolnshire economy;

·         To raise the level of debate regarding the future of RAF Scampton within RAF High Command, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation and the MOD;

It was reported that the Feasibility Study had presented a credible model for the development of a major new aviation heritage attraction at RAF Scampton which would be able to sit alongside the existing scale of military use and would be flexible enough to work with a greater or lesser RAF presence.  The Committee was advised that five key stories had been identified which could be told through the site, and these were The First World War, The Dambusters, Coldwar Standoff, The Red Arrows, Aircraft Innovation in Lincolnshire, and an frequently updated exhibition focused on 'Fly-in' exhibits e.g. BBMF.

Members of the Committee were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         It was likely that RAF Scampton would remain open as an RAF base until the end of the decade.  There was a lot more of a positive outlook towards the base now, compared to a couple of years previously;

·         The next phase would be to get the County Council to engage with The Defence Infrastructure Organisation at a high level to look at the strategic business plan;

·         The RAF was a big part of Lincolnshire, and there was a lot of heritage within the County;

·         There could be a huge demand for this kind of attraction as approximately 170,000 people attended the Waddington Air Show each year;

·         A new attraction would need to fit within the context of what already existed in the County;

·         The presented  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.