O&S.14/22
Following the Council’s adoption of
the Better Lives for All Strategy in September 2021, the Committee
was provided with an update on the Economy strand of the Better
Lives for All Strategy.
In discussion on the report, the following
points were raised:
(a)
Action TE1.1: The Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) investment plan
was discussed, with the individual projects to be shared with
Members before the Bid was made. It was
confirmed that the SPF Bid would not conflict with any potential
protective environment monies, dovetailing with various activities,
(e.g. regenerative farming), which would also aid biodiversity and
soil health. An update on specific
support for local farmers would be given to a future Committee
meeting;
(b)
Action
TE1.2: Following a question from a
Member, it was agreed that there had been insufficient interaction
with rural communities for the #MySpace
spring/summer campaign and, although available funds were reducing,
the Christmas campaign was already under development and there
would be greater involvement with rural parishes. The officers would contact rural communities
within a fortnight of this meeting and assurances were given that
local ward Members would also be involved. Because of this, it was PROPOSED,
SECONDED, and at the subsequent vote, AGREED that
the overall rating
for this Action should be moved from green (on track) to amber
(slightly off track but plan in place);
(c)
Action TE1.3: It was confirmed that there was a small amount of
financial support available to deliver on this Action. The Lead Executive Member stated that he wanted to
work on supporting tourist information centres in the
district;
(d)
Action TE1.4: It was clarified that although the objective set
had been for key town businesses, the project had also focused on
supporting rural businesses too. It was
stated that this high level action would be regularly updated with
the next iteration soon to reflect the situation with grant funding
availability;
(e)
Action TE1.5: Following the decision of the Executive at its
meeting on 7 July 2022 (Minute E.22/22 refers) in relation to the
Ivybridge Regeneration project, it was confirmed that this action
would be removed from the next iteration of this Delivery
Plan;
(f)
Action TE1.6: It was confirmed that the Council could not insist
that a Town Council produced a Town Centre Plan; and
(g)
Action TE1.7: It was stated that there was much demand for small
business premises in the area with current units often fully let
before completion.
It was then:
RESOLVED
That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee:
1. NOTE the progress in delivering
against the Better Lives for All ‘Economy Thematic Delivery
Plan’;
2. REQUEST an update on the outcome
of the Bid to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund once this had been
announced; and
3. REQUEST that the
overall rating for Action TE1.2 should be moved from
green (on track) to amber (slightly off track but plan in
place);