The Committee is to receive a presentation.
Minutes:
At the request of the Committee, the Head of Economic Development, Culture & Community gave a presentation on the London Enterprise Panel (LEP).
Members were informed that as part of the LEP Growth Deal, an initiative “London New Homes Bonus” (NHB) was top sliced to the LEP to fund the Growth Deal. This amounted to 80% (£56m) to provide a Programme of activity to support economic growth priorities.
· GLA/London Councils invited bids from Boroughs along LEP themes.
· Bid submitted in August 2014 for £1.6m
· Final settlement agreed in January 2015 as £1.369m
The presentation detailed the following programme that the service identified would provide maximum growth as part of the Growth Deal Project
· Romford Town Centre
· Supporting retail businesses
· Havering business incubator hub
· Care Havering
· Build Havering
· Renewable energy investment
The Committee was informed that the Romford Town Centre Project had six project areas that included making improvements to Romford Market. Officers had identified that the market needed to attract new traders and footfall.
Another part of the Town Centre Management initiative was to recruit a Town Centre Manager to lead on the various programmes and projects. This included reviewing how Romford was marketed and its branding. It was also stated that was a need to develop a business plan with the Town Centre partnership in mind.
Members gathered that part of the Romford Town Centre project was to deliver projects to diversify the Town Centre’s High Streets. Officer were also considering an engagement programme with High Street landlords which would develop an incentive programme in making the Town Centre more attractive for retailers.
Officer explained that the LEP funding would also enable the service to acquire an interest in empty/low value units on South Street.
The presentation outlined that Havering’s retail sector held the second largest number of SME’s in the borough and the largest number of employees. However, numbers of jobs and SME’s were in decline [Size of firms in London: ONS, 2012].
The service recognised that the High Streets and Town Centres provided employment, activity and local distinctiveness as well as potential for business growth. Within Havering, vacancy rates were low in most centres but Collier Row and Rainham were above average.
In Supporting the High Streets Projects, the following programmes had been identified:
• To developing a town team in Hornchurch
• To provide borough-wide retail-focussed business support
Member were informed that part of the Havering Business Incubator hub project was to set up an incubator hub for around 20 start-up businesses in Romford. The business incubator would deliver a programme of events and workshops and provide a business advice service for new and existing Havering businesses
Under the Care Havering Initiative, the Committee was informed that the Care Act would lead to a fundamental change in the way social care was delivered with the focus on prevention rather than response.
Havering had the highest proportion of adult social care users aged 65+ compared to other London Boroughs. The Care Havering Projects was looking:
• To provide a sector-specific business network and training
• intensive ‘fast track’ support for 12 SME’s in the health and social care sector
• And to develop a “ Buy with Confidence” Scheme to attain standards
As part of the Build Havering, officer informed the Committee that construction represented Havering’s largest sector making up 20% of its businesses compared to its neighbouring boroughs of Barking & Dagenham (13%) and Redbridge (11%).
The service detailed that construction skills had been identified as an issues by both pan London and in the labour market review. There were potential for linkages to Havering Colleges ‘Advanced Technical Centre’ proposals.
As part of the Build Havering Projects, the following programmes were planned:
• To provide a sector-specific business network and training
• Intensive ‘fast track’ support for 12 SME’s in the construction sector
• To provide work opportunities for the locally unemployed, apprenticeships or work experience in the construction sector.
• To overcome the barriers that skilled-builders have to secure employment e.g. training, obtaining qualifications and cards
The Committee was informed that Havering had the highest renewable energy potential of the London boroughs, largely due to the high potential for wind energy.
It was also stated that Havering also had the seventh highest potential for solar pv electricity generation of the London boroughs.
That Havering residents had accepted and adopted renewable energy and was the fifth highest number of solar photovoltaic installations of all London boroughs, with 744 solar installations (200 more than the sixth highest borough)
As part of the Renewable Energy Investment Projects, the service planned:
• For the council to implement a renewable energy scheme
• To provide business advice on renewable energy to businesses particularly in the Riverside BID
• And to support low carbon businesses (start-ups and existing) in Havering
The Next Step
The Committee was informed that the service was looking to agree final allocations for each project area (to new total of £1.369m). Following this the next action plan was to develop delivery plans for each of the six project areas for a prompt start on 1 April 2015.
The following preparatory work were outlined to Members:
• Romford Market Review (May 2015).
• Business and landlord engagement in Romford (Jan 2015)
• Recruitment of a Romford Growth Manager (April 2015)
• Market shaping and business development research into the local care and support market (March 2015)
• Number of renewable energy feasibility studies (March 2015)
The Committee noted the presentation.