Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

There were apologies for absence from Councillors Colin Brotherton, Stephen Raven, Yvonne Stevens and Stephen Woodliffe.

To sign and confirm the  minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on The minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd August 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive declarations of interests in respect of any item on the agenda.

No declarations were made.

A report by the Economic Development Manager

The Committee considered an update on progress in delivering the strategic themes of the Economic Development Action Plan 2017/18, which was aligned to the Prosperity priority within the Council Plan 2016/17 – 2019/20.

The Economic Development Manager went through the report.  At the meeting of 23^rd November, in response to the adopted Council Plan, the Council was working to develop an economic framework that aligned to and underpinned the Prosperity priority creating a ‘check and balance’ through a RAG (Red, Amber, Green) system that would deliver open for business outputs and outcomes over the lifetime of the Council Plan.

The Growth Themes, detailed in the report, were designed to focus and contribute to the aims and objectives of the Council Plan and also help deliver on the identified jobs growth within the emerging South East Lincolnshire Local Plan. 

The five themes were:

1.    To promote and support inward investment into the borough

2.    To support business development & growth of new and existing businesses

3.    To support employability skills initiatives

4.    To foster start ups and nurturing entrepreneurs, and

5.    To encourage green innovation and infrastructure

The rolling Action Plan, appended to the report, was designed to be a fluid document but give direction of travel and would be subject to annual review to ensure that it remained responsive, appropriate and up-to-date.

The Action Plan headings replicated those within the Council Plan and provided that golden thread and the actions beneath gave the flexibility for the Council to engage partners to help deliver the Council Plan and take into account any collated data or information obtained by the Council through questionnaires, surveys or consultations.

Taking an annual ‘Health of the Economy’ survey would be one of the barometers that would be taken into account when developing further updates and admissions to future plans.

Results from the recent survey suggested that the Council was not too far away with its themes; however, the meaning of business support was changing and funding or financial support was no longer top of the list.

The survey results showed that 46% of businesses considered that they had performed a little stronger over the last 12 months compared to the previous 12 months; and 40% considered they would do so over the next 12 months.  46 % of respondents indicated that accessing finance might have less of an impact on business growth.  Of those who responded, 27%, found the supervisory and middle management roles the most difficult to recruit to.

The top issues identified as having the greatest impact on business were:

·         25% - support to access a suitable workforce

·         25% - improved road infrastructure

·         15% - help to access suitable funding

·         13% - improved digital infrastructure

Members raised various issues and the Economic Development Manager responded as follows.

Businesses could apply directly for funding from the Council’s funding partners.  This information was available on the website and social media, and the Economic Development Manager also contacted businesses with the information.

Theme 3, to support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

A report by the Head of Town Centre Leisure, Events and Culture

The Head of Town Centre, Leisure, Events & Culture presented a report, which set out the details of all stages of Phase 3 of the Prosperous Boston Task and Finish Group’s review and its outcomes.

This final phase had focussed on Tourism and Events and included a full review of any promotion of the town, all events and accommodation.  The outcomes were listed in the report.

The phase had culminated in a final meeting to allow the group to monitor the activity that had taken place across the review and identify outcomes achieved from the initial consultations undertaken in 2015. 

The group appreciated and recognised the quality of work and commitment level of all officers involved throughout the long, in-depth review.  The group unanimously agreed that the improvements achieved were significant when compared to the start of the review.  However the group decided to re-visit the Markets Service in line with the gradually declining trend in income and convene a meeting to scope the review.

Furthermore, the importance of monitoring all the outcomes from the review was agreed and the group would take up the review again in Spring 2018 to consider how the recommendations agreed over the two years were progressing.

The group concluded with two recommendations from the final phase relating to the need to support the ongoing sustainability of the Visit Boston website in future financial years.

The Chairman, who chaired the Prosperous Boston Task and Finish Group, then addressed the meeting and described the review’s fluidity and scope covering multiple service areas.  A number of common key areas of concern had been identified from the large scale initial consultations.  Significant outcomes had been achieved in addressing the majority of concerns, not solely by the group, but through collective working alongside Portfolio Holders, Members, officers and partnerships, and partly with funding by BTAC.  Due to this best practice joint working, the outcomes over the two years had justified the review and the time and effort it had taken.  Many outcomes had already been achieved because agreed actions had been implemented as the review progressed rather than at the end of the review. 

The group had concluded its review with the following two recommendations from the final stage relating to the need to support the ongoing sustainability of the Visit Boston website in future financial years and agreed to monitor all the recommendations in Spring 2018:

1.      That the Council develop a corporate policy covering advertising to enable income strands through the Visit Boston website for private advertising.

2.      That the Council develop a corporate policy covering corporate sponsorship to support private sponsorship to support the sustainability of the Visit Boston website.

Members commended the work of the group and the many excellent outcomes of the review, including the website, and much improved signage and toilet facilities.

Responding to questions, the Chairman said there had been many important outcomes achieved through constructive cross-party working; by Members going out and speaking to the public to obtain their views; and excellent  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70.

Standing Item by the Chairman

The Committee noted that the item on A-Boards would be considered at the January meeting and would be the sole item on that agenda.

The Chairman then suggested holding an Inquiry Session one hour prior to the next meeting on environmental enforcement in line with the new ways of working agreed following scrutiny training earlier in the year.  The sessions were informal and the first one held had been very successful.  The public Committee meeting could take place immediately afterwards.

It was confirmed that the environmental enforcement officers dealt with litter and dog fouling only; not street drinking.

Members discussed the options.  The Committee had agreed to enter the update onto its work programme in accordance with scrutiny’s usual method of reporting prior to receiving the scrutiny training.  There was a view that the update should be considered as an agenda item because it was already on the work programme.  However, Members reviewed the work programme at each meeting; it was flexible and reflected changing priorities. 

The Chief Executive confirmed that the environmental enforcement officers would attend either the informal or formal meeting, but suggested that meeting them in an informal session could be more constructive as those taking part could speak more freely.  However, it would be difficult to consider this topic at both meetings; Members might find the Inquiry Session sufficient, but if any issues arose that Members wished to scrutinise, these would be used to form the basis of a report to the Committee at a later stage.  The Committee meeting could be used to consider items resulting from the forthcoming scrutiny workshop.

During further discussion, it was confirmed that The Stump was supplied with tourist information and the Portfolio Holder suggested the Committee might wish to invite Transported Arts to a meeting to talk about their work.

The Chairman reminded Members of the Scrutiny Workshop arranged to take place on 16^th October.