(i)

there were several strategies in place across the city, such as the Sustainable Communities Strategy and the Local Development Framework Strategy that would aim to improve new homes, population growth, new jobs and investment in Plymouth;

(ii)

infrastructure was to be focused upon in the growth and regeneration agenda, and was not simply housing led;

(iii)

Plymouth’s Spatial Strategy was one of the most successful in the country and clearly demonstrated Plymouth’s priorities such as the Eastern Corridor, the Northern Corridor, Sustainable Neighbourhoods and prioritizing Waterfront regeneration;

(iv)

a new department for Growth and Regeneration had been established in April 2009 in order to drive forward and support the delivery of growth and regeneration in Plymouth; four departments, namely Economic Development, Transport and Highways, Strategic Housing and Planning Services would now provide a more structured approach to support the growth and regeneration agenda in the city;

(v)

the Growth and Regeneration department would be broadly split into 3 categories namely, front line services, supporting and enabling growth and driving growth and regeneration in Plymouth;

(vi)

front line services included planning applications, homelessness prevention, housing needs, neighbourhood management, anti social behaviour, managed workspaces, commercial tenancies, business improvement districts, city market, network management, car parks, civil enforcement and boats and moorings;

(vii)

supporting and enabling growth and regeneration services included, major planning applications, affordable housing provision, economic development, transport major schemes and policy and strategy;

(viii)

driving growth and regeneration services focused upon partnership working and prioritization, delivery through programme boards and master plans; this working would allow partnership working across sectors;

(ix)

in a recent Sunday Times article in the ‘Home’ section, Plymouth was listed as being one of the top twelve places to invest in because of its waterfront location, its relative affordability and the strong strategic frameworks in place which support the regeneration agenda;

(x)

programmes were being put in place to enable partnership working; programme boards would be created for City Centre, Eastern Corridor, Waterfront, Northern Corridor, Enterprise and Skills, Sustainable Neighbourhoods, Naval Base/Devonport Dockyard and Place Management;

(xi)

the Growth and Regeneration department achieved the following successes in 2009/2010:

• Housing Stock transfer
• Affordable housing targets met
• Market recovery action plan delivered
• East end transport scheme – funding in place
• Private sector housing – kick start funding in place
• Plymouth science and innovation partnership launched

(xii)

key issues and challenges for the growth and regeneration department consisted of maintaining the support and momentum for growth in Plymouth, building upon delivery success to ensure continued recognition of Plymouth being the top area for growth in the region, to maximize opportunities, to support the transport infrastructure scheme, maintain the range of approaches to stimulate and encourage growth and to continue to maximize funding opportunities;

(xiii)

an Infrastructure Delivery Framework was in place to enable the proactive delivery of the Plymouth Growth agenda;

(xix)

the new structure to deliver growth and strengthen sub regional arrangements would consist of a Portfolio Holder Board, a Plymouth Growth Board and Plymouth Programme Boards.

(xx)

it was not known specifically what factors determined whether a car park charged for parking or not however the Director for Development and Regeneration would find out;

(xxi)

the programme boards are either geographic or thematic;

(xxii)

an agency was not employed to highlight Plymouth key achievements in terms of the growth agenda in the Sunday Times;

(xxiii)

the City Development Company was responsible for marketing in the whole of the city;

(xxiv)

infrastructure delivery contained a mixture of both private and public projects however the cost of public money spent would be given to Members;

(xxv)

it was expected that the target to achieve 42,500 jobs over a 20 year period was challenging but by expanding on work, for example, with the University of Plymouth and work in Medical schools, high quality jobs in the city should be viable. The key point was that the approach to attracting and creating the right jobs was still the priority and not so much whether there would be more or less than 42, 500 jobs;

(xxvi)

it was the responsibility of all partners to ensure local facilities were encouraged along with housing.

(1)

the update be noted; & the panel look forward to a further progress report during next year.

(2)

the Director for Development and Regeneration provide Members with the procedure for charging at specific car parks in Plymouth;

(3)

the Assistant Director for Planning Services provide Members with a breakdown in costs of the £800m investment in the city, between private and public sector finance.