Issue - meetings

Redditch Town Deal Investment Plan

Meeting: 19/01/2021 - Executive (Item 70)

70 Redditch Town Deal Investment Plan pdf icon PDF 318 KB

The covering report is attached.  The appendix to the report will follow in a supplementary pack.

 

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee is due to pre-scrutinise this report at a meeting on Monday, 18th January 2021.  Due to the limited time between this meeting and the meeting of the Executive Committee, any recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be reported at the meeting of the Executive Committee in a supplementary pack.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Head of North Worcestershire Economic Development (NWEDR) presented the Redditch Town Deal – Town Investment Plan.  During the presentation of this report the following points were highlighted for Members’ consideration:

 

·                The Town’s Investment Plan had been circulated in draft form for Members’ consideration.  The final version of the plan would be available in time for Members to consider at the meeting of Council on Monday, 25th January 2021.

·                The main challenge in drafting the final version of the Town’s Investment Plan was in respect of condensing the length from 20,000 to 10,000 words.

·                The Government had issued guidance in respect of expenditure of the Towns’ Fund when the project had first been announced.  This had provided useful information, including in respect of eligibility criteria.

·                The purpose of the Towns’ Fund was to provide financial support to facilitate a long-term vision for a town that would contribute to economic growth.

·                There were three key areas of focus including urban development, enterprise and the digital economy.

·                The proposals put forward in a Town Investment Plan needed to be based on local data, to have an evidence basis and to demonstrate that they would have a noticeable impact on economic development in that location.

·                The Government had provided specific guidance on the governance requirements in respect of Town Boards.  This included guidance in respect of membership as well as the requirement for the Chair of the Town Board to be a representative of the private sector.

·                The Town’s Investment Plan had to be submitted to the lead local authority, as the accountable body, as well as the Government for approval.

·                In developing the Redditch Town’s Investment Plan, the Redditch Town Board had utilised a number of consultants to help with the development of the plan, assessment of the spatial strategy and public consultation.

·                The objective of the proposals for Redditch was to unlock Redditch and to enable the town’s transformation from a traditional new town to a town suitable for the twenty first century.

·                The consultants that had undertaken public consultation as part of the project were experienced in market research.  This organisation had attempted to engage with a cross-section of the local community.

·                Consultation would continue to take place following approval of the Town’s Investment Plan.

·                Moving forward, there would be two key consultation documents forming the  future engagementstrategy, both at aprogramme level and detailed consultation plans for each of the proposed projects included in the plan.

·                Approximately 700 responses had been received during the consultation process.  This compared favourably with consultation feedback in other parts of the country where towns were eligible to apply for the Government’s Town’s Funding.

·                The Town’s Board had taken into account information provided by the public in response to previous consultation exercises, such as the State of the Area debates, and every attempt had been made to reflect the feedback from the public in the proposals within the plan.  The exception to this had been the request from the public to make improvements to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70