Councillor Evans OBE (The Leader of the Council) introduced the item to Cabinet and highlighted the following points:

 

a)    As part of the economic plan, there would be a £4.4 billion investment in defence for the City which would generate 7,000 new jobs for the Dockyard alone. There would be 25,000 more job opportunities in the size of Plymouth’s workforce by 2035;

 

b)    A new industrial strategy which featured Plymouth as a case study;

 

c)    2,000 Babcock employees would relocate to the City Centre;

 

d)    Plymouth was announced as the National Centre for marine autonomy;

 

e)    New businesses were arriving in the City such as Helsing;

 

f)     There had been Memorandum of Understanding with Homes England for 10,000 new homes to be built in the City Centre;

 

g)    The Council received £519 million of investment in strategic transport infrastructure as well as over £300 million of investment in public transport altogether;

 

h)    There was a £40 million public investment in the Civic Centre, creating a brand-new City College campus focusing on blue and green skills;

 

i)     There was significant interest in Plymouth’s housing at UKREIIF;

 

j)     The celebration of the opening of the first phase of the Armada Way scheme;

 

k)    The development of Plymouth’s health hub with the start of the CDC;

 

l)     Major upgrades by the Freeport, with £73 million investment;

 

m)  A £3 billion investment in Plymouth’s NHS, going towards Derriford Hospital;

 

n)    The Growth Alliance was established to make sure Plymouth maximised the opportunity given by government. It would support all Plymouth businesses to benefit, grow and attract new levels of inward investment. It would become a world-class centre for marine autonomy ensuring Plymouth children got the best jobs with first class education. It would ensure Plymouth was able to attract the very best talent and make sure Plymouth drove social value and good growth. Plymouth would have the very best transport and accessibility as well as promoting the city not only nationally but globally.

 

o)    The new defence investment was an opportunity to reimagine the city centre and create an amazing destination. Plymouth would create new homes for its new workforce and use this as the catalyst to regenerate the city centre;

 

p)    There was new investment into shopping and leisure at the Barcode and Drake Circus;

 

q)    There had been major investment from the university at Inter City Place;

 

r)    There had been a new City Centre Arts University;

 

s)     There had been significant investment into high quality public realm which was on-going;

 

t)     The celebration of The Box museum received one million visitors;

 

u)    Housing in the city centre would be underpinned by the growing workforce based there over the next 50 years;

 

v)    Work would begin on detail planning and place making. Technical studies would be done dealing with transport, accessibility, utilities, net zero, repurposing buildings and getting the housing mix right. Plymouth would need public engagement to drive buy-in and civic pride;

 

w)   The council would work to formalise its partnerships and securing additional resources into the future;

 

x)    The council was engaging the government’s new towns taskforce to ensure future success.

 

Collette McMullen (Skills Director at Babcock International Group) highlighted the following points:

 

y)    The commitment of decades of partnership with Babcock and Plymouth City Council;

 

z)    There was a long term surety of work in the dockyard for decades into the future;

 

aa)  As a leading UK sovereign company, Babcock delivered with employment and growth, with the investment in skills development and regeneration of local communities;

 

bb)Dockyard operations would be optimised to help deliver better for customers and for the nation as well as Plymouth;

 

cc)  For engineering and nuclear skills development, Babcock were at the forefront of the nationally funded skills plan. Babcock worked across the region with higher and further education including independent training providers, to ensure that they were training the right skills. Leading on nuclear skills had led Babcock to being at the forefront and able to take on pilot schemes that were on offer, develop courses and to support colleges;

 

dd)Off-site facilities would be developed such as:

 

I.              An advanced manufacturing facility;

 

II.            An integrated logistics hub.

 

III.           Assisting Plymouth in removing poverty.

 

ee)Babcock was looking to relocate 2,000 employees from the dockyard into the city centre which was part of their commitment to the regeneration of the city;

 

ff)    Babcock would develop the projects in the spirit of partnership and in the partnership commitments that had been made;

 

gg)  Babcock referenced the additional workforce they required for defence and there was a need to attract and retain.

 

Joe Wharton (Assistant Director, Homes England), supported by Helen Bone (Regional Head MPP, Homes England) discussed the following points:

 

hh)Tangible steps were being made from internal investment and external investment, facilitating key projects in the City Centre;

 

ii)    Thanks were given to local businesses and authorities for their funding and partnership towards the plan;

 

jj)    Work was underway with the Economic Development team to develop the city living framework scope that would rewire the city;

 

kk)Homes England would continue to endorse and promote Plymouth beyond the city whilst bringing future funding into the city;

 

ll)    Homes England were hosting the Inaugural Southwest Housing Construction Conference in September 2025 which would tell the story of the Southwest’s contribution to the UK growth mission.

 

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) highlighted the following points:

 

mm)               At the time of when Councillor Lowry worked at the dockyard at the age of 16, there were around 20,000 employees. Within 10 years, the number reduced to 5,000 employees. There was an opportunity for Babcock to grow when there was an expansion of the submarine facilities, but the net benefit for Plymouth did not happen;

 

nn)As part of the plan, Babcock would again grow their facilities and it was exciting to hear that Plymouth would benefit from the building work, training and long term opportunities for young people;

 

oo)Plymouth had invested heavily in its high street with was showing dividend with the number of empty properties being bought; 

 

pp)Plymouth had approximately 800 people living in the city centre but this needed to expand to 8,000 people for a city centre of Plymouth’s size.

 

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing Cooperative Development and Communities and Chair of Child Poverty Working Group) highlighted the following points:

 

qq)The city of Plymouth and the dockyard were inextricably linked and the success of one was dependent on the success of the other;

 

rr)  Quality of life and housing were essential to living within the City;

 

ss)   Plymouth’s City Centre was densely populated pre-war and what was created was a central business district but one that did not continue to develop over the years;

 

tt)   There will be focus on housing towards Brownfield sites in the St Peter and the Waterfront ward;

 

uu)Housing in walkable areas was paramount;

 

vv)  Working with Plymouth Community Homes would be key;

 

ww)               The City regeneration is key for future generations, similarly to the post-war development;

 

xx)The redevelopment of the civic centre was important as Plymouth would be creating a new marketplace with a whole new set of people living in a different way in the centre of Plymouth.

 

Tracey Lee (Chief Executive) highlighted the following points:

 

yy)  It had been identified after liaising with government officials and ministers for many years, that the gap to restructuring and reinventing the City Centre is with a housing offer;

 

zz)  The Growth alliance not only needed to make sure there was sufficient housing for defence jobs but also needed to move forward with business innovation and the support for business;

 

aaa)                The work around Defence with Babcock and the Ministry of Defence was essential but also linked closely with businesses in the city who were expanding the work they did on marine autonomy, marine engineering, thinking about the future and future technologies, future industries and businesses that Plymouth needed;

 

bbb)               Tracey Lee (Chief Executive) and Councillor Evans OBE (The Leader of the Council) attended a Devonport open day recently, where children learned about the docks and the initiatives undertaken now would provide jobs for the children in the city into the future;

 

ccc)                The need for a world-class education system to ensure access to high-quality and well-paid jobs in the City;

 

ddd)              The transport system would need to be reliable for 2050 and beyond;

 

eee)               The partnership would bring this all together ensuring the upskilling of people who were in work and supporting those not in work to find work;

 

fff)   The collaboration with colleagues in Cornwall, Devon and Torbay was important as the endeavour was a regional one and Plymouth’s reach went beyond city boundaries.

 

The Cabinet agreed to:

 

1.    Endorse the partnership working with the MoD, MHCLG and Babcock as set out in the report;

 

2.    To note the MOU to progress our ambition to deliver a new town within the City, supporting 10,000 new homes;

 

3.    To note the engagement by the City Council with the new town’s task force, call for evidence and to endorse further discussions with the government;

 

4.    To accept up to £1 million pounds of external funding for the procurement of technical studies and master planning work, as set out in the report and delegate the award of contracts to the Strategic Director of growth.