Issue - meetings

The Business Growth Manager provided an update on the main Business Growth Strategy to Members.

This was the first briefing to the new committee and outlined the priorities for the Development Directorate for 2019-23.  When considering the six priorities, the following was noted:

• Building Back Better – this strand was focussed on nature recovery, sustainable transport, and carbon reduction.
• Enabling Housing Growth – this was being delivered via Dragonfly and included Council housing via Bolsover Homes and construction of commercial sales properties via Dragonfly Development Ltd.
• Increasing Revenue Streams – This included projects such as the development of the Crematorium, Dragonfly Development Ltd., and local growth plans for Shirebrook and Creswell.
• Making the Best Use of our Assets – a key deliverable under this strand had been the review of Council garage sites.  Over £1m had been secured via disposal or redevelopment and teams were now assessing other assets to go through a similar review process.  A dedicated officer had now been appointed to assess proposals for development of the Pleasley Vale site.  This would involve complex consideration of listed buildings, the conservation area, and a variety of stakeholders including Mansfield DC and Nottinghamshire CC.
• Promoting the District and Increasing Tourism – the new Tourism and Place Manager had now started in her role, and it was hoped to move this area forward swiftly due to her past experience working for the Council on tourism.
• Working with Partners – the team were now able to move forward with this area of work because of the UKSPF monies allocated by the Leader’s Executive & Partnerships team for business support and development.  This commenced in April.  The team were also working with partners from One Public Estate (OPE) as part of a countywide exercise looking at the future scope for publicly owned buildings within Bolsover town centre.  The team hoped it could lead to the Council being able to access additional funds.

The Business Growth Manager also noted that following the recent District Council election, it would be appropriate to review the Strategy and Action Plan as it came to the end of its lifecycle to ensure that new Members priorities were being addressed.

A Member queried the four areas of delivery under the Working with Partners strand.  The officer directed Members to the action plan appendices for further detail - the four areas were Business Support, Business Engagement, Social Value Index, and OPE.

A Member queried who was part of the OPE team.  The officer noted that this was a national team.  As a result of the unsuccessful LUF bid the area had been identified as having public buildings and land which could benefit from redevelopment.  By taking part in the current consultation exercise this would put the area in a strong position when future funding was announced.

A Member questioned why Dragonfly had no clear target dates assigned within the Enabling Housing Growth action plan.  The officer noted that these could be included in future updates once they had been decided.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7