Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Economy and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee - Thursday, 10th October, 2019 10.00 am

Venue: Council Antechamber, Level 2, Town Hall Extension

Contact: Michael Williamson 

Media

Items
No. Item

42.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 165 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2019

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 20189 were submitted for approval.

 

The Chair requested that in relation to Minute ESC/19/38 (Delivering Manchester's Affordable Homes to 2025), the following was added into the recommendations monitor:-

 

That the Committee be provided with a briefing note on the number of social rented properties built through onsite section 106 contributions

 

Decision

 

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on the 5 September 2019 as a correct record.

43.

The Growth Company's business support activity in Manchester pdf icon PDF 469 KB

Report of the Group Chief Executive, The Growth Company attached

 

This report provides an update on the GC Business Growth Hub’s delivery to support businesses across Manchester and provides detailed information on Start-up provision, as well as information on Manchester’s business demography, particularly in terms of business survival rates.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Group Chief Executive of the Growth Company, which provided an update on the Growth Company Business Growth Hub’s delivery to support businesses across Manchester and provided detailed information on start-up provision, as well as information on Manchester’s business demography, particularly in terms of business survival rates.

 

The main points and themes referred to in the report included:-

 

·                The GC Business Growth Hub’s vision was to create a thriving and productive economy by unlocking and accelerating the growth potential of businesses across the whole of Greater Manchester;

·                Since its establishment in 2011, the Hub had engaged with over 48,000 businesses, provided intensive support to 11,000 businesses and had  helped to create in the region of 10,000 jobs;

·                Since 2012 the Hub had supported over 1,000 individuals to start a business, facilitated over £200m in funding offers, had an GVA impact of £55m and reduced carbon emissions by 1.6m tonnes;

·                Examples of the business support services available to help businesses with growth potential find the support they needed;

·                Work that had been undertaken in raising the awareness of self-employment and business start up to people who may not traditionally consider this as an economic option as well as supporting businesses in the 0 to 3-year trading window; and

·                Details of Manchester Start-up and Business Survival Rates since 2012.

 

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees discussions were:-

 

·                What impact were the jobs being created through the Growth Hub having on Manchester residents, with specific reference to reducing the gap between well paid jobs and jobs that were low paid and also for residents who faced multiple challenges with entering meaningful employment;

·                What work was being undertaken in relation to embedding the low carbon workstream across employment sectors;

·                Could more granular information in relation to the jobs that were being created be provided, such as the sustainability of sectors that these jobs were being created in;

·                How were the measures of inclusive growth being addressed;

·                Taking into account the slight underperformance of Manchester’s survival rates for new businesses, was the Growth Hub focussing on the right type of businesses to support in terms of start-up;

·                What was the impact to Manchester’s economy and Manchester residents of the lower than average survival rate of businesses in terms of employment opportunities;

·                How were the Growth Hubs resources of support being used to help businesses create resilience and sustainability and was this support getting to the sectors that needed it most;

·                There was concern in relation to the impact to existing businesses by the creation of new business start-ups;

·                How did the Growth Company respond to business failures;

·                Was there a potential conflict for the Growth Hub between its universal offer to all businesses and its focus on particular growth sectors;

·                Were any business sectors not engaging with the Growth Hub; and

·                What was the governance structure of the Growth Hub.

 

The Head of Strategic Relationships for the Growth Company advised that Appendix 1 of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

44.

Inward Investment - update on the work of MIDAS pdf icon PDF 691 KB

Report of the Group Chief Executive, The Growth Company attached

 

This report provides an update on the work of MIDAS in attracting inward investment to the city, including details of performance over the last 2 years and MIDAS’ forward strategy.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Group Chief Executive of the Growth Company, which provided an update on the work of MIDAS in attracting inward investment to the city, including details of performance over the last two years and MIDAS’ forward strategy.

 

The main points and themes within the report included:-

 

·                The work of MIDAS, which included:-

·                Driving the promotion of Greater Manchester (GM) as a business location;

·                Attracting new investment in to Greater Manchester – both Corporate and Capital;

·                Providing aftercare services to recent investors; and

·                Account management of the significant Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and UK businesses in Greater Manchester;

·                An overview of Inward Investment trends at a UK, GM and Manchester level;

·                Key drivers for FDI, which in terms of GM, the most common driver behind GM’s successes was talent, followed by strength of the GM economy;

·                An outline of initiatives and work areas developed by MIDAs to counter-act uncertainty and a decreasing level of global investment, which included:-

·                The MIDAS Partnership;

·                An enhanced Account Management Programme; and

·                A more focused Business Development Strategy;

·                Details of two sector specific high potential opportunity inward investment propositions within Advanced Materials and Sustainable Packaging;

·                Support offered to Enterprise Zones (Airport City and The Corridor); and

·                The economic impact to Manchester and Greater Manchester as a result of the work of MIDAS

 

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees discussions were:-

 

·                What work took place in terms of making sure jobs created were sustainable should an investor exit the market;

·                Was there any specific reason why the number of jobs created within the Life Sciences sector had fallen as this was a sector of growth that underpinned part of the Local Industrial Strategy;

·                What long term benefits did technology companies bring to the conurbation;

·                A more detail explanation was sought in reference to the quality of leads coming through DIT;

·                To what extent did Officers think that Brexit would have on the attractiveness of FDI in Manchester;

·                It was queried as to whether the increase in property prices was considered a positive sign given that this increase often outstripped wage growth;

·                How were the deciding factors in successful FDI projects determined;

·                What were the incentives for attracting businesses to locate to Manchester;

·                What benefit would the NextGen campaign bring to the city and why was it hoped that this campaign would identify the next Facebook or Google, given the criticisms these organisations had faced in relation to their conduct; and

·                What was the next main area that MIDAS would be concentrating on that the Committee needed to be mindful.

 

The Leader advised that attracting technology companies to the city was a positive thing as they provided good employment, good training and good salaries.  He commented that the extent to which some of the very large tech companies appeared to avoid their national taxation requirements was a failure of central government to resolve, and was not a reason for Manchester to forego employment opportunities that these companies provided.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

45.

Visitor Economy Activity pdf icon PDF 875 KB

Report of the Group Chief Executive, The Growth Company attached

 

This report provides an overview of Marketing Manchester’s role in developing the City’s visitor economy; analysis of performance of the City’s tourism sector; and the highlights of Marketing Manchester’s recent activity, concluding with future opportunities and challenges.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Group Chief Executive of the Growth Company, which provided an overview of Marketing Manchester’s role in developing the City’s visitor economy. 

 

The main points and themes within the report included:-

 

·                The strategic context for Marketing Manchester’s activities;

·                An overview of tourism sector performance in Manchester with UK comparisons;

·                A review of Marketing Manchester’s activity delivered in 2018/19; and

·                Future opportunities and challenges

 

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:-

 

·                How would the new Tourism Strategy for 2020 – 2030 look to reduce carbon emissions within the tourism industry and how would it look to make the tourism industry resilient to the changes that climate change mitigation would bring;

·                What was being done to promote areas of the city, outside of the city centre, to encourage visitors to stay longer;

·                Was the current tourism performance due to any specific symptoms or were they part of a wider trend, with reference to hotel occupancy levels and business viists/events;

·                Was there a need to be concerned that hotel occupancy levels, although high, appeared to be stagnant;

·                Was there any specific reasons why the average spend per day and average night stay from international leisure from China was so high; and

·                What progress had been made with the proposed visitor levy.

 

The Leader advised that in terms of hotel levels, Manchester had had the fastest increase in hotel rooms over any city for a considerable period of time and the fact that it was having no impact on the percentage of rooms let was remarkable.  He advised that a more telling comparison would be to compare the yield per room as this was what drove the industry, and when compared to other cities, what visitors paid for a hotel room in Manchester was much higher.  In terms of conferences in the city, this was a more complicated area, as at times it was it was difficult to attract certain conferences, however, Manchester Central Convention Centre (MCCC) was having to turn business away as it did not have the capacity.

 

In terms of the tourism industry becoming resilient to the changes that climate change mitigation would bring, the Leader informed the Committee that the assumption that there would be a reduction in the number of flights into and out of Manchester Airport would reduce as a result of mitigation was not true, and the real challenge for the aviation industry in addressing climate change was how it made aviation a cleaner mode of transport.

 

Officers advised that the new Tourism Strategy would be subject to a nine month consultation period , which would start at the Growth Company’s Tourism Conference and as part of this, it would include how the strategy took on board the priorities and thinking of the Council in terms of addressing climate change and the goal of being a carbon neutral city.  In terms of tourism zones, it was acknowledged that there were opportunities to widen the tourism  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

46.

Revised City Centre Transport Strategy pdf icon PDF 284 KB

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development)

 

This report informs Members of proposals for a revised City Centre Transport Strategy (CCTS), aligned to the Greater Manchester Transport Strategy 2040. It is considered that a new strategy is now needed in order to take account of: the ongoing and future predicted growth of the city centre; changes in the policy context since the previous strategy was published in 2010, including the adoption of the 2040 Strategy; the ambition to be a zero carbon city by 2038 at the latest; and the outcomes of the City Centre Transport Strategy Conversation that took place in the autumn of 2018.  The report outlines the key principles and proposals suggested for inclusion within the revised strategy and recommends that an engagement and co-design exercise is undertaken with stakeholders to further develop the strategy. 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Development and Growth), which informed Members of proposals for a revised City Centre Transport Strategy (CCTS), aligned to the Greater Manchester Transport Strategy 2040.  The report outlined the key principles and proposals suggested for inclusion within the revised strategy and recommended that an engagement and co-design exercise was undertaken with stakeholders to further develop the strategy.

 

Officers referred to the main points and themes within the report, which included:-

 

·                The revised CCTS would build on the response to last year’s City Centre Transport Strategy Conversation, and would look to address the key issues raised;

·                Officers had taken the main messages from the conversation to develop a future vision and set of objectives for the future city centre transport system, which could contribute to making the city more liveable as it grew and evolved with cleaner air, improved public transport, and an attractive and safe environment to walk around and cycle;

·                The central aim was to set an ambitious goal for 90% of all trips to the city centre to be made on foot, by cycle or using public transport by 2040 in the morning peak;

·                The revised CCTS would look to deliver the vision by delivering an integrated, inclusive and sustainable transport network with increased connectivity and capacity, which met growth in travel demand for getting into the city centre and improve the quality, environment and legibility of the city centre streets to ensure it was a great place to spend time in and move around;

·                Outline of the proposals and types of interventions that would form part of the baseline for developing the updated strategy; and

·                Subject to Members’ agreement, it was proposed that an engagement and co-design exercise with key stakeholders was held on the ambitions and ideas to start in November 2019, with the responses being used as a basis for refining the proposals in line with those issues important to people using the city centre, and to support future growth.

 

The report was also scheduled to be consider by the Executive at its meeting

on 16 October 2019.

 

The Committee invited Councillor Davies, Ward Member for Deansgate, to contribute to the discussion on the proposals.

 

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees discussions were:-

 

·                It would be of upmost importance that city centre residents’ voices were heard as part of the proposed engagement exercise;

·                It would also be important to ensure that connected strategies/schemes were developed and progressed in tandem;

·                As part of the ambition of the revised strategy, consideration should be given to the use of new technologies for moving around the city;

·                Clarification was sought as to what the geographical definition was of the city centre;

·                A Member felt it was unclear as to what the actual ambition was for improving cycling and walking across the city centre as these modes of transport often conflicted with one another;

·                With an aim of the Strategy being to reduce the volume of cars within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

47.

Overview Report pdf icon PDF 334 KB

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

 

This report provides the Committee with details of key decisions that fall within the Committee’s remit and an update on actions resulting from the Committee’s recommendations. The report also includes the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee is asked to amend as appropriate and agree.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit which contained key decisions within the Committee’s remit and responses to previous recommendations was submitted for comment. Members were also invited to agree the Committee’s future work programme

 

Decision

 

The Committee

 

(1)       Notes the report; and

(2)       Agrees the Work Programme as submitted with the inclusion of the a report on the skills gap in the hospitality sector and a report on business survival rates and the impact on the economy, both of which are to be scheduled.