Issue - meetings

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Skills, Planning, Economy and Waste)

The Chair welcomed the Portfolio Holder for Skills, Planning, Economy and Waste, Councillor S Doyle, the Assistant Director Growth & Regeneration and the Head of Economic Development and Regeneration to the meeting to provide an overview of the proposal to define and agree a 3-year work plan, with associated resources that addressed key council priorities, by delivering tourism and economic development focused activity, primarily in the town centre.  The Chair reported that this item was before the Committee for its consideration prior to Cabinet on 17^th March 2022.

The Portfolio Holder introduced the report and highlighted the key points which would be covered; Staffordshire Destination Management Partnership (Staffordshire DMP), a package of economic measures focussed on the town centre and a change in focus of the grants available.

The Head of Economic Development and Regeneration highlighted the following areas to the Committee:

1.    The challenges faced by the local economy and particularly the town centre / high street in terms of the COVID pandemic and changing consumer behaviours as well as the opportunity offered by the investment in the Tamworth town centre as part of the Future High Street Fund.

2.    In terms of tourism and heritage development theme, the proposal was to invest in the Staffordshire DMP as well as to invest in a bespoke Borough wide tourism action plan to increase the tourism offer, working with stakeholders.  This required a clear picture of deliverable actions, review of the suite of materials used, channels used, and to understand the target market for tourism in Tamworth; whether that be potentially families, overnight stays, and / or commercial tourism to accommodate local developments.

3.    In terms of the town centre business support programme, the proposal involved externally commissioned business advisers who would actively support town centre businesses’ growth in order to; (i) attract and support new businesses to open in the town centre, (ii) encourage existing businesses growth and (iii) encourage diversification of business types with a focus on food / hospitality and leisure / heritage.  In conjunction with this it was planned to introduce town centre business grants in place of the current start up business grants to support businesses to adapt and grow and to realise the opportunities provided as a result of the Future High Street Fund programme.

The Committee commented and sought clarifications in the following areas:

·         How any external business advisers would work with the existing Economic Development team, where it was reported that they would assist in providing additional resource to the team as well as further expertise in this specific area, from their experience of working with other councils, which would support the more general project management experience of the team.

·         The remit for the business adviser role and the cost / benefit analysis undertaken. It was reported that the tender documentation included details of the outputs required to be delivered by the business advisers, and benchmarking with other councils had been undertaken, however some flexibility had been retained in terms of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77