Agenda item

Economic update

Councillor C J Davie, Executive Councillor for Economy and Place, updated the Committee on a number of issues relevant to the Committee.

He reported that Autumn had seen a strong theme of Leadership across sectors, not least establishing the Tourism Commission, hosting the inaugural meeting on 28^th September which would develop recommendations over the course of 6 meetings. The recommendations would be brought back to committee.

Supporting businesses and helping them to adapt to the future throughout the last six months  had resulted in some striking statistics about the scale of need and activity. More than 600 businesses had enrolled onto LCC's Business Growth Hub Programme, more than 42,000 users had accessed the Growth Hub website since March and multiple well received on line events had taken place – including weekly events from Team Lincolnshire.

The Local Enterprise Partnership had approved the new Team Lincolnshire Business Plan for the next two years, it was focussed around: 1) The High Potential Opportunity in the Food Processing, Automation and Robotics Sector; 2) Investment and Development in the Commercial and Residential Sectors; 3) The Officer Re-location Sector – Enticing more businesses to our area. The new Team Lincolnshire Business Plan would be showcased to the Team Lincolnshire ambassadors on Thursday 22^nd October at a webinar. Team Lincolnshire ambassadors would represent the region at the Midlands Forum for Growth Conference from 24-26 November talking about the South Lincolnshire Food Enterprise Zones, Enterprise Zones and our Future High Streets. As well as providing advice and access to grant funding a range of strong projects to support business and create opportunities continued to be delivered. 

Work was progressing at pace on the South Lincolnshire Food Enterprise Zone in Holbeach.  Following the award in August of £6.4m from the Government's Getting Building Fund, the Council was now able to proceed with the delivery of a Cluster Hub building on phase 1 of the scheme, which would provide a mix of employment space for small and start-up businesses, providing site infrastructure and taking steps to safeguard the future delivery of the second phase of the project. Architects had now been appointed for the design of the Cluster Hub building, which was due for completion by March 2022, and Agents had been appointed to promote the site.  A soft launch of the new branding would take place in November followed by a full launch in early February.

The Pilgrim Fathers installation at Scotia Creek is due for completion in December, followed by the Huttoft Boat Shed café in January. The extension of the Skegness Countryside Business Park would be completed in March, and Agents had also been appointed to promote this scheme to local developers and small businesses, with some exciting expressions of interest having already been made.

In Market Deeping plans were currently being developed to spatially reconfigure the Eventus business centre, to adapt to small businesses' new ways of working, and this would provide a test bed for new forms of business accommodation, which could be developed elsewhere. Elsewhere in business centres small works were also planned over the winter at Wyvern House in Lincoln, the Carbon Neutral Business Zone (CaNeBuZo) in Long Sutton and Kirton Distribution Park, to improve the offer to small businesses.

Regular communications were being issued via Business Lincolnshire to remind employers that the current furlough scheme came to an end at the end of October and the new Job Support Scheme commenced from 1^st November. Messages had gone out via all channels highlighting the support options available for businesses and employees who were facing redundancy situations. This included support from the DWP's Rapid Response Service as well as support from the Growth Hub Advisers for businesses wanting support for example, with diversification, finance or HR support. The Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce was also providing up to 2 hours of free HR advice to all businesses (not just Chamber members). Business could also access mental health support tools.  Employees considering starting a business could access one of 3 start-up schemes. 80% of clients undergoing diagnostics / reviews with the Growth Hub Advisers this week had highlighted an interest in the new DWP Kickstart scheme or internship programmes and Advisers were supporting SMEs to access these schemes.

Cumulative furlough data at Local Authority level to the 31^st August showed that 95,600 people in Lincolnshire had been on furlough at some point since the scheme began (important to note this was cumulative).  This was 29% of the eligible workforce and was slightly lower than the proportion nationally, which was at 30%. East Lindsey had the highest take up of any district in Lincolnshire, at 35%; whilst Boston had one of the lowest take up rates in the whole country at 21%. It was estimated that the total value of Job Retention Scheme claims in Lincolnshire was just over £300m.

Green Master Plan

The Head of Environment reported that the first draft of the Green Master Plan had been produced and would be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee.