Agenda item

The Council’s 2016 Strategic Review recommended that the council’s Economic Strategy should be updated to ensure it reflected the new realities of the changing funding climate and set a clear framework for existing and future projects with alignment to all council strategies.

The draft Economic Strategy is the result of extensive engagement with key stakeholders and partners to produce a strategic vision for the borough.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the VfM and Customer Service Overview & Scrutiny Committee reviews and endorses the proposed strategy six themes and corresponding targets and passes any recommendations and comments on to the Executive and Full Council.

Kelvin Mills, Head of Communities, presented the draft Economic Strategy to the Committee. The strategy had been updated following the Strategic Review and was currently out for consultation. The purpose of the document was to set out the strategic vision going forward. It would be kept under review and updated every couple of years.

Leanne Kelly, from Atkins Consultancy, provided the Committee with some background to the development of the strategy. Firstly, a socio-economic data analysis had been carried out using information from the ONS, Experion, etc. Secondly, a SWOT analysis had been undertaken for businesses in Waverley, looking at various factors including independent high streets, and infrastructure issues. Finally consultation had been undertaken with key partners including the UCA and Chambers of Commerce. The product of this work was the identification of six key themes that would form the basis for a more detailed action plan going forward.

The Committee thanked officers for producing a good quality first draft, however Members felt that there was some gaps in the data and it wasn’t yet ready to go on to the Executive and Council. Cllr Seaborne raised a number of points relating to the structure and content of the document. He stated that a clear introduction was required in order to set out what the strategy was seeking to achieve. He highlighted that key employers, such as private schools, the care sector, and major retailers had been omitted from the consultation. He also felt that there was a bias towards the town economy, particularly Farnham. Members found the section on the births and deaths of businesses very interesting, however noted that this section failed to highlight that growth in Waverley was the lowest in Surrey and it was suggested that a target be included to find out why this was the case.

In relation to home businesses, Cllr Holder queried whether these were assessed for business rates, and also whether they had access to superfast broadband. Graeme Clark, Strategic Director, advised that the council did periodically undertake an exercise to ensure that everyone was paying the correct rates. Access to superfast broadband was covered under Theme 2 of the strategy – High quality business and employment support – and Surrey County Council was working on key areas where there had been connectivity issues.

Members were concerned that very few businesses had been consulted, as the Chambers of Commerce were not representative of all businesses in Waverley and, in particular, did not include the larger retailers. The Committee also felt that it was important to show a breakdown by business sector.

Kelvin and Leanne advised the Committee that the Strategy would be would be updated to take into account the various consultation responses. They would revise the format of the document to include an introduction and include a breakdown by business sector.

The Committee felt that ideally the document would benefit from an O&S working group looking into it, but given the timescales for adoption acknowledged that this wouldn’t be possible. Members therefore requested that the updated version be circulated to them before it was included on the Executive agenda.

[Secretary’s note: Following the meeting, the Chairman relayed the Committee’s concerns to the Executive, who agreed to extend the timescales for adoption to allow a working group to look at the strategy in more detail.]