Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors J Chesworth and B Price.

The Chair thanked Councillor M Summers for his contribution to the Committee following his retirement as a member of this Committee as a result of his appointment to Cabinet.

The minutes from the previous meeting held on 19 January 2022 were approved as a correct record.

(Moved by Councillor Dr S Peaple and seconded by Councillor R Claymore)

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair reported that:

1.    A Community Safety Focus Half Day had been held on 15^th February 2022, to which all councillors had been invited and which was designed to provide councillors with a forum to discuss with Officers and external partners in further depth the work to support community safety in Staffordshire and locally in Tamworth. This forum had brought together councillors, officers and external partners to discuss matters raised by constituents with councillors, the work and the priorities of the Staffordshire Commissioner and Tamworth Police and the Local Business Crime Partnership.

The Chair was seeking feedback from those who attended the event to inform future sessions.  The Chair and Vice-Chair thanked councillors and officers for their attendance at the session.

2.    The Committee’s annual report was being prepared and would be presented to the March meeting of the Committee, prior to presentation to full Council in the next municipal year.

3.    The Committee’s recommendations to full Council following the Committee’s consideration of aspects of Motion to Enjoy Fireworks Responsibly would be presented to full Council on 22 February 2022.

Update on responses received to Reports of the Infrastructure Safety & Growth Scrutiny Committee

The Chair reported that following the 19^th January 2022 Committee meeting, where this Committee received an update on the Castle Curtain Wall he attended Cabinet on 20^th January, where this matter was an item for decision.  At that Cabinet meeting the Chair reported to Cabinet the following recommendations from the Infrastructure Safety & Growth Scrutiny Committee had resolved to recommend to Cabinet that:

1.    Cabinet instruct that the contracted castle architects act as external quality assurance for the works;

2.    previous contractors performance be taken into account in the tender appraisal.

The Chair reported that Cabinet approved these recommendations as part of the overall approval of the project.

(Discussion item)

No new items were identified.

(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.

(Update and discussion on the Infrastructure Safety & Growth Scrutiny Work Plan)

The Committee considered its work plan and updated it as follows:

Infrastructure, Safety and Growth Scrutiny Work Plan

(Discussion item – link to Forward Plan is attached)

http://democracy.tamworth.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=120&RD=0&bcr=1

No further items were identified form the Forward Plan for inclusion in the Committee’s work plan at this time.

To receive updates from any Working Groups

There were no working group updates.