(a)

Paul Woods had been Chair of the Growth Board for two years and was previously Chair of the Chamber of Commerce in Plymouth. The Growth Board met five times a year and was an informal public/ private partnership and was represented by Plymouth City Council with the membership of Councillor Evans (Leader of the Council), Tracey Lee (Chief Executive) and David Draffan (Assistant Director for Economic Development);

(b)

the Growth Board had the responsibility for overseeing the delivery of the Local Economic Strategy, were ambassadors for the city and were target and results driven;

(c)

the following were the six strands as drivers of growth for Plymouth:

·         Ocean City Infrastructure

·         Digital Economy

·         People, Communities and Institutions

·         Learning and Talent Development

·         Business Growth and Investment

·         Visitor Economy and Culture

(d)

the Chair of the Growth Board congratulated the role of the Council’s Economic Development Team and said that there was better engagement between the private and public sector in the city now than there had been for the past 30 years and that this would pay dividends for the future success of Plymouth;

(e)

Plymouth was beginning to be nationally recognised for projects undertaken including and the City Deal, South Yard and History Centre; the aim now was to drive forward inward investment in the city;

(f)

inward investment in Plymouth was focused around the marine, hotel and social enterprise sectors; the Council actively worked to help businesses grow in the city by providing support and advice on grants, apprenticeships and funding.

(g)

the South Yard flagship project was a transformation growth project for part of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership; the site itself was 7 and ½ hectares in size and would be a marine industry campus. The aim of this project was to narrow the productivity gap in this sector in the south west region in comparison to the rest of the country. Significant progress had been made on site preparing the site for growth activity and a legal agreement had been signed by the MOD to transfer the land;

(h)

South Yard had been designed as an Enterprise Zone and was due to commence in 2016; there was a proposal for a technology centre which would link to ‘in sea’ testing for prototypes;

(i)

Plymouth was part of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership that had their own strategy that strongly reflected Plymouth’s objectives; Plymouth led on business projects on behalf of the LEP which included new business innovation space and business support services.  Every year the HSWLEP would bid into the Growth Deal and so far Plymouth had done well and secured funding for the South Yard Project and Forder Valley Link Road. The next focus was Growth Deal 3 and future bids for funding;

(j)

the following LEP and EU funded projects had the following benefits for Plymouth:

·         a grant of £6.7m awarded to Plessey from the Regional Growth Fund unlocked another £40m of growth;

·         Oceans Studio artists’ studios secured £4.2m of funding and supported over 100 artists and was supporting graduate pathways from Plymouth University;

·         Plymouth Science Park Phase 5 secured £7m of funding and supported 190 jobs;

·         Hearder Court secured £2.7 million of funding and supported 80 jobs;

·         Drake Circus Leisure secured £40m of funding and would support 350 jobs with 12 cinemas and 14 restaurants;

(k)

the Council regularly tracked 4 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) including productivity, net business growth, jobs and JSA claimant count:

·         Plymouth’s productivity was currently 97% - this was the highest it had been in several years;

·         Plymouth had 14% net growth in business; higher than anyone else in the Heart of the South West Area;

·         Since 2012 Plymouth has noticed a year on year decline in JSA Claimants – Plymouth was below the national average for the first time in 15 years

·         Total employment had gradually increased in the past 5 years

(l)

an offer letter detailing Growth Deal 2 funding had not yet been received despite the funding being announced; this was a cause for concern for Officers and was being followed up.