Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Director Economy and Development.

Scrutiny Committee – Economy will consider the report at their meeting on 11 June 2009 and their comments will be reported.

(Report circulated)

The report of the Director Economy and Development was submitted, advising Members on a range of possible initiatives intended to respond to the impact of the recession on businesses and individuals in Exeter.

Scrutiny Committee – Economy considered the report at their meeting on 11 June 2009 and the support and comments of members were noted.

Executive welcomed the report and endorsed the range of positive measures proposed by the Council.  They particularly welcomed the Trinity Project which aimed to provide debt advisers in the Council’s Customer Service Centre and Exeter County Courts. 

Executive resolved to proceed with the proposals outlined in Section 3 of the report.

The report of the Director Economy and Development was submitted, advising Members on a range of possible initiatives intended to respond to the impact of the recession on businesses and individuals in Exeter.

Scrutiny Committee – Economy considered the report at their meeting on 11 June 2009 and the support and comments of members were noted.

Executive welcomed the report and endorsed the range of positive measures proposed by the Council.  They particularly welcomed the Trinity Project which aimed to provide debt advisers in the Council’s Customer Service Centre and Exeter County Courts.  

RESOLVED to proceed with the proposals outlined in Section 3 of the report.

(Report circulated)

To consider the report of the Director Economy and Development – report circulated

The Director Economy and Development submitted a report which advised Members of a range of possible initiatives intended to respond to the impact of the recession on businesses and individuals in Exeter. Discussions had taken place with stakeholders including the Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses to establish a number of key priorities.  The proposals could be funded from the Local Authorities Business Growth Incentives Grant. (LABGI)

Members welcomed the report and noted the Director’s responses to their comments:-

• Support and debt recovery advice by many of the public sector services was acknowledged, but there were some additional benefits from setting up the Trinity Project.  A dedicated adviser in the City Council’s Customer Services Centre should ensure there was more opportunity to provide the advice and support needed by those facing re-possession. A presence at Home Re-Possession hearings at the County Court was also proposed.

• A sum of £570,000 was available to the City Council from the LABGI grant and there was flexibility on how this could be used. It was logical to spend some on building a base for the city’s future economic recovery.

• Although there have been signs of economic recovery, it was still too soon to call this the end of the recession, and limited indicators such as increased  house viewings, and an uplift in the mortgage availability are being countered by increasing unemployment figures.

• The Economic Development and Estates Teams and the City Centre Manager have made great efforts to improve the window treatment of vacant City Council owned properties, with a proposal to display some colourful, non commercial material. They continued to speak to landlords and agents with empty retail premises particularly in the city centre, but with no results to date.  

• Promotion and publicity to provide guidance for small businesses on how the procurement process operates would ensure that local small businesses are more capable of competing effectively. Part of the funding for this proposal would provide a dedicated web site for use by local business to share information and encourage greater use of locally based companies.

• The Head of Economy and Tourism added that a scheme to provide more specialist expertise for local employers to identify their skills base, would also be very beneficial. He agreed with a Member that there was likely to be some existing data to support this project and so it was possible that any external specialist support could be more limited. The funding would also ensure that the campaign could be backed up by a range of promotional materials in a sustained approach to make businesses more aware.

Scrutiny Committee- Economy supported the recommendation that Executive approve the proposals outlined in Section 3 of the report.

(Report circulated)