Agenda item

(Director of Neighbourhoods)To consider the attached report AMED-001-2015/16.

The Economic Development Officer presented a report to the Cabinet Committee and updated them on a number of projects and issues being explored by the Economic Development Team.

(1)        Staffing – The Economic Development team was now fully staffed.

(2)        Essex Superfast Broadband – EFDC Officers have worked with Essex County Council Officers to successfully complete the procurement process for the Rural Challenge Project phase of the Superfast Essex Broadband project. The contract had been awarded to Gigaclear, a company who specialise in the building and operation of fibre broadband networks in rural communities They build fibre to the premises (FTTP) networks. Marketing and engagement will commence immediately to the local communities. The building of the network and the delivery of the services were expected to commence by the end of the year.

Enquiries from the public asking how the programme was going should be directed to the Superfast Essex website where they would be able to access the interactive postcode checker map and identify whether their property was within the rural challenge project area. If they were not then they would be able to identify the status of broadband delivery to their postcode, as covered by other phases of the programme

(3)        Eastern Plateau – The Eastern Plateau Local Action Group have been awarded approximately £1.8m and the aim of the funding was to create jobs and promote business growth in rural areas. It will focus on projects covering farm productivity, rural tourism, the provision of rural services, culture and heritage forest/woodland productivity and small business growth.

The final formalities are being signed off with the Rural Payments Agency and the Eastern Plateau are looking to start processing active applications later this year. Marketing had begun on a number of projects spread across each of the different priorities, as previously mentioned. There had been some interest located in the Epping Forest District.

(4)        One Business Briefing – Our business newsletter has recently been issued, it has been given an overhaul with a brand new look and feel to it, aiming to deliver a high quality professional and informative magazine to businesses within the district.

(5)        District Centres Economic Development Fund – Members may recall that this was previously the Town Centres Development Fund which had now been expanded to include some of the smaller village centres in the district. We are meeting with the Town teams in a couple of weeks time and are hoping to be able to deliver a programme that they are keen to get involved in. We will report further at the next meeting.

(6)        Business Survey – EFDC have received a large quantity of data from Essex County Council which needs to be analysed and the team hope to report on this further in the near future.

(7)        Tourism Development – The Tourism Conference was a very successful event and as a result a number of local visitor related businesses have expressed an interest in becoming more involved in the work of the visitor economy and tourism board.

The director of Neighbourhoods advised the Cabinet Committee that the Council had received a draft proposal from the Tourism Forum suggesting that there was an opportunity in the market to host an air show at North Weald, due to the demise of the Southend Air Show. The proposal was not in any shape of a business plan it was just ideas and the intention was to firm up some of the costings and bring a report to the Cabinet in the near future. He further stated the partnership community days that were hosted at North Weald Airfield had always involved local community groups.

(8)        Partner Liaison – Recently members of the Economic Development Team have attended key events such as the Harlow Business Exhibition and the launch of the SELEP Rural strategy.

In terms of Partner Liaison also the work we have done with them in terms of putting the business briefing together, a number of external partners including Essex County Council have welcomed the approach to their information being published in our bulletin.

Resolved:

That the progress and work programme of the Council’s Economic Development Section be noted.

Reasons for Decision:

To appraise the Committee on the progress made with regard to Economic Development issues.

Other Options Consider and Rejected:

None, as this monitoring report was for information not action.