Issue - meetings

To inform members of Cabinet on the progress made toward the development of an Economic Development Strategy for South Kesteven 2024 – 2028.

Purpose of report

To inform members of Cabinet on the progress made toward the development of an Economic Development Strategy for South Kesteven 2024 – 2028.

Decision

That Cabinet:

1.    Notes the content of this report in respect to the development of the Economic Development Strategy including the revised timetable set out in Table 1 of the report.

2.    Notes that a Workshop for Members of the Finance and Economic Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be held on 17 July 2024 to consider feedback from the recent consultation and its impact on the development of the Economic Development Strategy.

Alternative options considered and rejected

To move straight to a re-draft, without a second FEOSC Members Workshop.

Reasons for decision

This revised timetable facilitated a request from FEOSC to be regularly updated on progress towards the adoption of an Economic Development Strategy for the District 2024 – 2028 and provided a direct opportunity for Members to fully engage with the process.

Over 250 public sector partners were written to, including business club representatives and members of the public. Over a 4 week consultation and over 50 responses were received, focussing on:

·       ‘Connectivity’ within the district to maximise economic and social benefit. Respondents recognised the excellent infrastructure links provided by the A1, A52 and East Coast Mainline, however, noted the rural dimension to the district and the lack on internal connectivity between settlements across South Kesteven and the areas of employment, tourism, and leisure.

·       Consideration to facilitating a supply of available commercial business premises. Comments identified that whilst issues around the supply of employment land were considered in the strategy there were limited references to ensuring a supply of commercial premises that would meet the needs of local business; a ‘supply side’ issue considered to be consistent across the district.

·       Identification and development of key sectors. Respondents noted the sectoral approach to supporting new and emerging sectors that would be important in providing new and higher value employment opportunities across South Kesteven, however, they felt the strategy should go further and identify which sectors should be supported.

·       Further consideration to understand local productivity drivers and inclusion of plans to address them. The strategy recognised the need to increase productivity locally and the challenges in the relative performance of the district in comparison to the regional and national economies, however, respondents would like the strategy to be more specific on what the local issues are i.e. economic activity rates, skills, company profiles or other.

The results of the consultation required further analysis before reporting into the workshop on 17 July.