Issue - meetings

Questions by the Public

 

 

Meeting: 05/12/2011 - City Council (Item 82)

QUESTIONS BY THE PUBLIC

To receive questions from and provide answers to the public in relation to matters which, in the opinion of the Lord Mayor, are relevant to the business of the meeting in accordance with paragraph 10 of the Constitution.

 

Questions, of no longer than 50 words, can be submitted to the Democratic Support Unit, Corporate Support Department, Plymouth City Council, Civic Centre, Plymouth, PL1 2AA, or email to democraticsupport@plymouth.gov.uk. Any questions must be received at least five clear working days before the date of the meeting.

Minutes:

The following questions were received from members of the public, in accordance with paragraph 10 of the Constitution.

 

Madeline Bridgeman attended the meeting to ask her question and Councillor Fry (Chair of the Cabinet Member for Planning, Strategic Housing and Economic Development) responded as set out below -

 

Question No

 

Question By

Relevant Cabinet Member

 

Subject

6 (11/12)

Madeline Bridgeman

 

Councillor Fry, Cabinet Member for Planning, Strategic Housing and Economic Development

 

Inward Investment

As a mother I would like to ask the Councillors with the imminent closure, demolition, and loss of our Airport, how do they propose to attract and encourage overseas investment and employment into Plymouth and protect and secure a future for our children and their children?

 

Response:

 

The loss of the airport is not something anybody would wish for Plymouth and I can assure you we did everything in our power as the Local Authority to preserve its future. The bottom line, as you now know, is that it was not commercially viable and no one organisation could continue to absorb the losses it was occurring.  At the end of the day, the routes provided were limited and the patronage low.  It was not being used sufficiently.

 

So it is closing but we have to look to the future and even without an airport in the city I strongly believe we have an excellent offer to the right kind of investors. Inward investment to the city was and is only partly considered on accessibility.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                    cont’d……..

There are a number of factors which drive the decisions of investors, including land values, workforce characteristics, the housing market, supply chains and business support mechanisms.  In recent years, overall levels of Foreign Direct Investment have declined significantly due to changes in the global economy and increased competition elsewhere in the world.  It was those types of foreign investment where accessibility was sometimes proportionately more important as a “deal-breaker” but even then the use of technological advances has meant traditional use of air travel for business purposes has declined.  Plymouth can, therefore, play on other strengths that we have.

 

We need to build upon and promote our strengths.   Plymouth does have an enviable depth of skills, talent and expertise in areas of growing importance to global industry – such as (but not exclusively) marine and renewable engineering. It is this talent base and supply chain that will be the reason for investors decisions to invest and less about convenience.

 

We will use events and festivals like the Marine City Festival next year to help attract new investment to the city based on these unique attributes and our experiences of promoting the city for inward investment during the America’s Cup shows what a strong offer we have, regardless of Airport connectivity.

 

Of course we do still have to invest in our connectivity and we are working hard to ensure we have regular three hour train times to London, improved car links, quicker public transport links to Exeter Airport, which is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 82