Agenda item

The Council is recommended to note the New Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan 2024-32 set out in the report at agenda item 9.

Portfolio Holder for Planning & Regeneration and Economic Development.

112.1   Cllr Liz Townsend introduced the Economic Development Strategy and thanked the Economic Development Team for their hard work completing the Strategy and Action Plan. She explained that following the Council declaring a climate emergency it was recognised that things needed to be done differently by working within social and ecological thresholds. The strategy aimed to create flourishing, sustainable and equal economy. It was highlighted that all four settlements in Waverley had property vacancy rates well below the national average and this had been further supported by providing funding for Business Improvement Districts in these settlements. Officers would continue to meet with these groups along with the more established Chambers of Commerce to assist them in achieving their plans.

112.2   Waverley were working with the UCA on their trailblazing regional initiative Pixel Rise which aimed to create a thriving ecosystem in gaming and to promote creativity, innovation and inclusive inclusivity. Professor Sophie Smith, Director of the School of Games and Creative Technology would be attending the Guilford and Waverly business question time on Monday June 3 hosted and chaired by Professor Amelia Hadfield, Associate Vice President at the University of Surrey.

112.3   The Leader seconded the strategy and asked to reserve his comments till later in the discussion.

112.4   Cllr Murray welcomed the section called Creative Waverley focussing on Farnham and encouraging worldclass artists and professionals to use public and retail space. He also welcomed the aspiration to create an additional thousand jobs over the next five years but highlighted the caution that 45.5% of businesses fail within 5 years. He highlighted the lack of affordable accommodation in Waverley and the risk to businesses as staff cannot afford to live nearby.

112.5   Cllr Williams welcomed the strategy and highlighted the section of the strategy on a thriving and green economy.

112.6   Cllr Martin, Leader of the Principal Opposition Group, felt the section on the donut approach was interesting and highlighted the issues of online shopping and its effects on the high street. He emphasised the increase in coffee shops and the diminishing of pubs and felt the document did not capture the changing face of the high street.  He welcomed the areas on retaining key businesses but emphasised that increasing car parking charges were inconsistent with retaining a good economy.  He also felt acquiring properties and spending public money on them was not the right approach. He welcomed the focus on rural economy and improving the links with these small businesses.

112.7   Cllr Merryweather supported the strategy and emphasised the importance of the document and that it reminded us that as important as the High Street is we must also remember that the health and education sector needed support too.

112.8   Cllr Spence welcomed this paper, particularly the emphasis and priority put on the Green Waverley theme. He highlighted that climate change was the biggest existential threat and impacts everything and everyone. He felt that at a time when the government is rowing back on some of its commitments it was vital that this Council stepped up its activities to promote and support green initiatives and emphasised that this strategy sets that out. He welcomed the section on digital connectivity as this was a huge issue in some of the villages where the lack of mobile and broadband connectivity was impacting all.

112.9   Cllr Cockburn highlighted that the document didn't reach the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee until two days ahead of the meeting. She advised that a document the size of this was impossible to give justice to in such a short time. She wished to thank Catherine Knight who came along and patiently took the committee through the document and they concentrated on the management plan and the aspiration but there was no way that the committee could give full consideration. She asked that, in future, officers ensure documents be given to overview and scrutiny in good time so that those who do want to look at every single word actually get the opportunity to do so.

112.10Cllr Atkins advised she was a huge supporter of economic development but felt that in reality local councils and Chambers of Commerce didn't change the economic success of an area the businesses do. She was concerned to see that the stakeholders consulted didn't involve big businesses, big employers, small businesses landlords, who actually can make change locally and suggested that, as this was a working document, it would be sensible to do that so that a collaborative vision could be created.

112.11 Cllr Duce welcomed the document and the fact it is grounded in donut economics. He also welcomed the inclusion of supporting younger people accessing employment and the ability and potential of entrepreneurship. He noted that fewer students were applying directly to University, partly due to the economic situation and the uncertainty. He advised that more and more were investing in their own businesses whilst they were already studying because of the scope of social media. He offered his services to the Executive to help in any way.

112.12The Leader advised it was full circle for him as one of the first sessions he had working with other parties was on donut economics. He recalled working with a number of individuals who are now councillors several years later. He felt it was really excellent to see a strategy come before us that took a broader view of economics and one that had a wider vision of what constitutes value, as a pillar of our refresh of the Wider corporate strategy. He thanked the officers and Cllr Townsend who had put a great deal of effort into this over the last few years. He welcomed the evidence-based strategy and felt it was incredibly informative about the profile of the borough. He advised that high streets did have to change, and they were in the main, but needed a little bit of help because legislation to support that change had actually been quite lacklustre. He agreed with Councillor Murray regarding housing that is affordable because otherwise people can't actually work here. He emphasised that however big those businesses are and however much they want to contribute if nobody can afford to live in the area, to employ them in the first place, they will struggle He was pleased to Second the proposal.

112.13Councillor Townsend summed up emphasising that affordable housing was so important and that Waverley currently had about five and a half thousand homes waiting to be built and it was important developers build those, however, she highlighted that we have no carrot or stick and need the government to step up as the standard method was not working. The economic development team were working in collaboration with Guildford to offer huge opportunities across the areas.

112.14In response to Cllr Atkins comments she advised that the reason why we were not talking to big businesses was that we have to recognize our sphere of influence.  Surrey CC was dealing with the big businesses so Waverley were working closely with Surrey and their Economic Development Team to ensure we were not duplicating their work. What we were doing was concentrating on our core businesses, small micro startup businesses that we could influence and help. She noted Cllr Cockburn’s points and apologised for the delay as officers were working to the wire. She emphasised she would much prefer that members had more time to look at important documents. She thanked Cllr Duce for his offer and welcomed a discussion. With regards to Cllr Spence’s comments she agreed this was a big issue and she was working with Surrey regarding their dropping of the fibre spine project.

The Council notes the adoption by the Executive of the new Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan 2024 - 2032