Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Tracey Cannon and Tom Kirkham.  

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has

consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B)

4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business to consider.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable

Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the

Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a) any business on the agenda

b) any urgent additional items to be considered

c) any matters arising out of those items and if appropriate, withdraw

from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 7^th February 2023.

Moved by Councillor Derek Adams and seconded by Councillor Jen Wilson

RESOLVED that the Minutes of a Local Growth Scrutiny Committee held on 7^th February 2023 be approved as a correct record.

(Members should contact the officer whose name appears on the List of Key Decisions for any further information).  NB: If Members wish to discuss an exempt report under this item, the meeting will need to move into exempt business and exclude the public in accordance with the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 and Local Government Act 1972, Part 1, Schedule 12a for that part of the meeting only.

Committee considered the List of Key Decisions and items to be considered in private document.

Moved by Councillor Derek Adams and seconded by Councillor David Dixon

RESOLVED that the List of Key Decisions and items to be considered in private document be noted.

The Scrutiny & Elections Officer explained the various documents that had been presented to Members as part of the review and the approach taken so far.

The Director of Economic Development, Dragonfly Development Limited (DDL), presented a review of the South Normanton Town Centre Regeneration Framework, acknowledging the Committee’s original review plan to take each town area in turn.  They noted that the Framework had originally been commissioned in autumn 2015 and had highlighted a range of public and private interventions that could be made to improve the town centre and surrounding areas.

As agreed with Committee, officers had produced a scorecard analysing progress against the various elements of the Framework including in surrounding villages and hamlets.  On reflection, the Framework document hadn’t guided development to a great extent within the area.  Many elements remained undelivered as the document had been aspirational in nature requiring additional buy-in from Town and Parish Councils to engage in the development plans themselves.  Where funding had not been in place, many ideas had been difficult to deliver.

It was noted that the previous Regeneration Frameworks, to some extent, also sat outside a wider strategy for development and there was not a bank of costed projects ready to put forward to support the area.  While the intention of the Frameworks had been to lever investment, the lack of costed projects had made them almost impossible to deliver.  As there was an insufficient evidence base within the document, additional research would now be required in order to evidence and cost the projects that could regenerate the town centres.  Furthermore, due to the age of the documents, there was no reference to current issues such as carbon reduction, digital connectivity and nature recovery.

The original document was completed back in 2015-17 and did not fit with current community aspirations.  The aim of completing the community consultation at the time was to ensure partners were on board with regeneration.  The suite of documents overall was potentially too ambitious and very resource intensive to produce.  It was highlighted that going forward any new approach to regeneration planning must provide value for money.

The officer acknowledged that the Frameworks hadn’t had the expected impact and it was clear that officers welcomed recommendations from Committee on potential future activity.  They noted that it was important that the Council was clear how it could support parishes and that there were clear mechanisms to signpost elsewhere when the Council could not assist.  This would also enable the Council to prioritise future action more effectively.

The Director noted that at a previous meeting there had been appetite from the Committee to work closer with parishes particularly for the Clowne framework area and that this would also be a good approach for South Normanton.  Of the three core delivery objectives, none had progressed.  Of the five Stepping Stone projects, none had progressed.  It was noted, however, that South Normanton and all the core villages in the surrounding area had been assessed through the Town Centre Health  ...  view the full minutes text for item LOC56-21/22

The Director presented the update to Members highlighting key points within the report.  Members were reminded that the Strategy had been originally developed during the Covid pandemic.  The core aim of the Strategy had been for the area to ‘build back better’, if as per the national approach, including nature recovery.  The Director noted that the Development team would be looking to complete a refresh of the Strategy following the upcoming election.

Members were advised that the crematorium project was now nearing the construction phase and that a number of additional projects within the action plans were either complete or in-hand.  Furthermore, a Nature Recovery Summit had taken place on 10^th February which had received excellent local support.

A Councillor queried what the current situation was with the creation of dragonfly development Ltd and the potential transfer of council staff.  The Director confirmed that consultation was currently taking place with staff identified as affected by the creation of the company.

A Councillor sought clarification on the remit of the dedicated Pleasley Mills officer role.  The Director confirmed that the aim of the dedicated post was to facilitate the regeneration of the site.  The dedicated resource would be in place for a three-year period.  A key focus would be on assessing the constraints of the site and improvements that can be made, in addition to looking at new areas where additional rental income could be secured.  The Councillor noted that they were pleased to see such progress.

Moved by Councillor David Dixon and seconded by Councillor Jim Clifton

RESOLVED that the report and feedback on progress be noted.

(Director of Economic Development, DDL/ Business Growth Manager)

The Director of Economic Development briefed Members on the draft strategy.  It was noted that the Council had benefited from support from an LGA consultant to review existing approaches to business engagement.  To date this had not been a priority action for delivery, however work in this area improved during the Covid pandemic and consequently the team realised that greater emphasis was required on business engagement.

It was noted that the Service had recently secured a CRM system to help capture local business information and to track specific needs of the local business community.  A substantial proportion of recent engagement had focused on climate change and business support.  The service believed a lot of progress was now being made in this area.

The Portfolio Holder for Growth referred to the InBusiness Magazine which was now in circulation and noted that at the start of their four-year term in 2019 the Council had insufficient information to truly know our local businesses.  They noted that the Council had transformed their approach.  They highlighted that the new CRM system was making an enormous difference and was enabling the Council to share publications and advice on grants, business resilience and best practice.

The Director confirmed there was a notable increase in networking events being held, which had been highly successful in terms of attendance by the local business community.  A key piece of information gathered was that local businesses welcomed face-to-face contact rather than web based.

Moved by Councillor Jim Clifton and seconded by Councillor Derek Adams

RESOLVED that (1) the findings and recommendations of the Grant Thornton Business Engagement Strategy Review report be noted,

(2) the formal adoption of a Business Engagement Strategy and Action Plan be supported.

(Director of Economic Development, DDL/ Business Growth Manager)

The Scrutiny & Elections Officer advised Members of the progress to date in implementing the recommendations.  Two out of six recommendations had been achieved to date and officers from the Leader’s Executive and Partnerships Team, Leisure and Development were engaged in the integration of social value.  Further work was taking place with officers in the Procurement team to ensure that policies reflect the agreed way forward.  The Officer reminded Members that during the course of the Review a draft Social Value Policy had been produced with further work required during the monitoring and implementation phase.  Subsequent to the approval of the recommendations by Executive, the opportunity to complete a Business Process Review (BPR) of the Council’s social value approach in procurement had arisen.  The Council had secured support from the LGA to complete this. This had identified the need for a whole Council approach to embedding social value.  Although completing the additional review would mean a 6-to-12-month delay in completion of the policy, it would ensure a whole council approach in the long-term leading to better outcomes.

A Councillor noted that ‘Social Value’ was very much a current buzz word, and they were aware that not everyone was on board with the concept.  They queried if the message on the importance of the concept was being conveyed correctly by officers and Members leading on this area.  They also stated it was vital that the Council clearly communicated any successes in relation to social value outcomes.

The Director agreed with the sentiment and confirmed full buy-in to the concept was essential to ensure that a whole Council approach and achievements could be celebrated.

The Scrutiny & Elections Officer confirmed that the monitoring period could be extended to allow completion of the Policy and the Director agreed this was the best approach.

Moved by Councillor Derek Adams and seconded by Councillor David Dixon

RESOLVED that (1) the progress against the review recommendations be noted,

(2) Members acknowledge any exceptions to delivery and clarify the additional action required by the service be acknowledged,

(3) Scrutiny Members make their report and findings public, in accordance with Part 4.5.17(4) of the Council’s Constitution,

(4) Officers continue to implement the recommendations and a final report in six months’ time highlighting exceptions to delivery be submitted.

(Scrutiny & Elections Officer)

Committee considered their proposed work programme for 2022/23 and noted that this was the final meeting for this committee cycle.  The Chair thanked Members present for their input to the work of the Committee.  The Chair also noted that Councillor Clifton was retiring after 24 years as a District Councillor and 28 years as Parish Councillor and thanked him for his long and dedicated service. 

Moved by Councillor David Dixon and seconded by Councillor Janet Tait

RESOLVED that the Work Programme 2022/23 be noted.

(Scrutiny & Elections Officer)