Agenda item

To consider progress in delivering the Economy Corporate Priority.

Members considered the progress of delivering the Economy Corporate Objective, including Planning, presented by Councillor Chris Boden, Mark Greenwood, Anna Goodall, Simon Jackson, Councillor Mrs Laws, Matthew Leigh, Carol Pilson and Ann Wardel.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows: 

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough stated she would like to understand why no business has benefited from the business rate relief scheme that is in place, is this due to lack of advertising or lack of suitability? Councillor Boden responded the discretionary business rate relief is a mechanism which can be used to try to attract businesses into Fenland which otherwise would not come to the Fenland area, it is a useful tool which can be used by the Economic Growth Officers in those circumstances. He added that the danger of setting this up was if it is used as a blanket policy anyone could apply for it, even those who were not going to come into the Fenland area, which is why it was made into a discretionary policy to be used sparingly and appropriately and to date no businesses have come to fruition but the tool is there and will be used when necessary. Simon Jackson added there are new businesses coming into Fenland and everything is looked at on a case-by-case basis.

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough stated she receives questions about hiring the Boathouse on a regular basis at weekends, but she understands that it is not open for hire at the weekends? Mark Greenwood responded that due to staffing issues it is difficult to staff the Boathouse at weekends which is also the same for South Fens. Councillor Sennitt Clough asked if this could be clarified with residents as there seems to be some confusion around the hiring of the venues. Mark Greenwood stated he would take that away and make availability clearer.

·         Councillor Nawaz stated he would like a breakdown of the 59 companies and why they did not come to the Fenland area. Simon Jackson responded that a breakdown can be provided but some are commercially sensitive. He added that enquiries come through directly to Fenland District Council or via other routes like the Government using its networks with other embassies around the world and there is also some proactive marketing through the CPCA. Simon Jackson stated that in terms of servicing these enquires, the biggest problem is there is not a lot of land available with the infrastructure and road networks needed to house these projects which then pushes these businesses to look outside of the Fenland area, when developments do become available companies are contacted and local buildings are occupied very quickly. Anna Goodall added the types of businesses coming into the Fenland area translate into investment into the area.

·         Councillor Nawaz stated he would like to understand what the UKREiiF exhibition and soft-landing package is, and the proposition created for a target market per annum is this per one year or per every year? Simon Jackson responded UKREiiF is a UK exhibition seminar helping leaders, investors, developers and Governments, which get together annually to see people who would normally not get together to promote the area they represent. He stated that the CPCA use this as an opportunity to flag wave the Fenland area and use this to promote what the Fenland area can offer regarding new business opportunities, with a soft-landing meaning it is a way of helping a business who may have no footprints in Europe or the UK to connect with authorities who can help launch their business with the right connection of people in the right area. Anna Goodall added it is a very competitive market and this is a way of attracting business and investment into the area so anything that can be done do make Fenland stand out in a positive way and provide a good experience will be achieved through the soft-landing approach. Simon Jackson stated that any proactive marketing experience needs to be specific to the customer who are being attracted to the area by ways of a proposition, looking at the customer’s needs and what the Fenland area can supply to make that business work and thrive.

·         Councillor Roy stated he had noticed that in London there are a lot of Cloud based and IT based businesses that are looking to relocate their office space and asked how effective the promotion for Fenland is to the smaller business markets as the land prices offered in this area are highly competitive? Simon Jackson stated in terms of the Cloud based companies who are looking to relocate to the Fenland area, there are not strong enough office places to offer companies who wish to relocate, however, there is communication happening with companies on Linkin to build a picture of what Fenland can offer businesses for the future expansion of the area.

·         Councillor Roy asked for more details about the enforcement of 392 pending cases and how it is being addressed? Councillor Mrs Laws stated Planning Enforcement have worked on lowering those numbers shown in the presentation and some of these are historic cases and some have pending court cases which do take time. Matthew Leigh added that Planning Enforcement is complex and when it comes to dealing with commercial premises and enterprises it can be challenging, with there being a need to look proactively at individual cases and resolve the breach planning control to close further cases.

·         Councillor Mrs Davis asked why the South Fens Business Centre is only 63% occupied and what might be making this unattractive to businesses? Mark Greenwood responded there is flexibility with the rent rate that can be charged to encourage businesses into the building, which has also helped to encourage tenants to stay who were thinking of leaving but in some cases smaller companies do decide to work from home to cut cost to their business outlay, however, the Boathouse is 96% full with the last few places under offer which will bring the Boathouse to 100% occupancy. He stated that there is a dedicated marketing budget in place for South Fens and the advertising is ongoing as to what can be offered and what is available, however, the one issue with South Fens is the connection, but now high-speed fibre optic is being fitted in the area this should speed up communication and connection.

·         Councillor Barber stated there is a piece within the presentation on page 8 about communicating with smaller businesses around business rates bills and services offered, but in her experience business bills are paid via a Direct Debit each month and she felt it would be more beneficial to send the services offered from the Council on a separate letter rather than with the bill to encourage more response. Simon Jackson responded that the business rates bills gave the team an opportunity to get some extra messages out, this is also carried out with the Council Tax bills as well, which is only part of what the team have to offer in terms of communication, with there being regular press releases published and a Fenland for Business website. He added that the aim is to have a strong customer relationship management system in place to enable stronger engagement with local businesses, it has taken a few years to build but there are now around 25,000 businesses in the Customer Relation Management System (CRM), as a minimum that system enables the team to send out monthly newsletters to every business registered, but the CRM system does allows the team to engage with every single business logged to the opt in scheme on a one to one basis to identify the needs and aspirations of each business and help them grow. Anna Goodall added there is a monitoring system in place and there have been some positives that have come back, especially with promoting the grant system.

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough asked Councillor Mrs Laws for an update on the Whittlesey Butter Cross project? Councillor Mrs Laws responded that following an on-site discussion, which included herself and Phil Hughes, removing the step around the Market Place is unrealistic, which is a surface on the Market Place where the Butter Cross monument is and at present there is a step up which is not very distinctive and several members of the public have had falls, trips and in some cases a broken bones, with public events also being held on the Market Place which can consist of around 200 people at any one time. She stated that the following improvements are planned to this space:

o   removal of the phone box, which is not in use

o   the salt bin will be repositioned next to the George Public House

o   removal of the galvanised bike rack outside of Betfred

o   adding a different colour to every third block to highlight the potential trip hazard in the area not painted yellow around the monument

o   the benches will be refurbished and painted as will the wheat stalks

o   the bike racks will be galvanized and painted black along with the traffic signage and the planters

o   broken drop bollards will be replaced with lightweight lockable bollards

o   removal of the temporary fencing

o   a storage unit will be located adjacent to the litterbin beside the George Public House.

Councillor Mrs Laws stated that the Market place is owned by Cambridgeshire County Council and the phone box is owned by BT but everything else is owned by Fenland District Council and with this plan in place the work should be completed by 2025 as an enhancement and improvement to the historic area and within a Conservation Area in Whittlesey. Councillor Sennitt Clough stated she understood the funding needed spending by March 2025 or does the project just have to commence at this time? Councillor Mrs Laws confirmed the funding needed to be spent by March 2025. Councillor Sennitt Clough asked how sound is the structure of the Butter Cross monument? Councillor Mrs Laws responded this is something that is being investigated, the structure is safe, but work will need to be carried out within the next few years and grant funding is being investigated to achieve this.

·         Councillor Mrs Laws provided an update on Planning stating the Council successfully recruited to the vacant Planning Policy Manager and Planning Policy Officer positions which will allow the Council to progress the local plan producing a process timetable to take the Council through to examination, with officers currently working on the consultation response to lead members and are awaiting the results of the national consultation whist continuing to develop the local plan in the background. She assured members that planning will be engaged and updating as they move through the process, and they will resurrect the working party, which will involve members from parishes and the districts. Councillor Mrs Laws stated that planning recruitment has been successful since committee introduced the retention payments, with there being no further resignations from the planning team and the posts that have been recruited to are Matthew Leigh - Head of Planning, two Senior Planners, a S106 Officer and a new Enforcement Officer and there are vacancies for the following posts, which are currently covered by contractors, Senior Enforcement Officer, Tree Officer, Senior Planner and Principal Planner, with the advert for the vacancies remaining live on the Council’s website and are marketed via social media frequently. She stated that Matthew Leigh is working on some emerging plans and ideas of how to continue to reduce the agency staff within the service which will be cost effective. Councillor Mrs Laws advised that the performance statistics are:

o   Majors 87.50% accumulative within 13 weeks

o   Minors 86.9% accumulative within 8 weeks

o   Others 86.2% accumulative within that period

o   Majors 84.62% on a 24 month rolling period within 13 weeks

o   Minors 75.84%on a 24 month rolling period within 8 weeks

o   Majors allowed at appeal following refusal 3.80%

o   Minors allowed at appeal following refusal 0.64%.

·         Councillor Barber asked what does Others cover? Councillor Mrs Laws responded that these are smaller items, such as sheds and brick walls.

·         Councillor Gerstner asked Councillor Boden if there was any update as to when the consultants for the outline business case for the relief road may be delivered? Councillor Boden confirmed there has been no update and the position is the same as it has been previously, there is yet to be a public consultation and once this has happened a report will be produced by Spring 2025.

·         Councillor Nawaz stated he would like to understand why there is a 10% drop at the Wisbech Boat Harbour? Carol Pilson responded there has been a lot of work being undertaken with the Transformation Team around how boats are organised in the Yacht Harbour so the figure seen has been fluctuating recently but this means more paying customers can occupy the berths that are available rather than having non-paying customers taking up space within the Yacht Harbour.

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough referred to the CPCA putting some funding towards Whittlesey railway station and asked for an update and if the two station adopters in Whittlesey could be part of the dialogue around improvements to the railway station? Anna Goodall responded she would pass the question on and request a response be sent to members after the meeting.

Members noted the update on delivering the Economy Corporate Objective, including Planning.