Agenda item

To receive an update on the Economic Recovery & Growth workstream of the Gloucester Recovery Plan.

 9.1      The Cabinet Member for Economic Growth & Recovery, Councillor Melvin, introduced the action plan and highlighted key elements. She outlined that the plan was a blueprint for driving the City forward as part of the recovery process. Furthermore, she advised that there would be another Economic Recovery Task Force meeting in the next couple of weeks. The City Growth & Delivery Manager added that the action plan dealt with a third of the four stages of recovery as outlined at the Committee meeting held on the 15^th of June 2020. It was a short-term plan and largely dealt with the period between now and businesses reopening. He outlined the underlying principles upon which the action was based namely, 1.) Partnership and Collaboration, 2.) Building on activities which were already underway but also inventing new ideas 3.) Transformation. The City Growth & Delivery Manager then brought Members’ attention to the four areas of activity on page 4 of the action plan and elaborated on each of these. He added that the investment material for the City was key and work had been underway on an inward investment site. It was hoped that there would be a soft launch of this in the coming weeks. Additionally, he stated that the plan was underpinned by data collection and understanding what is happening in the economy. As such, there were plans for a Data Dashboard which would enable ongoing analysis of key opportunities as well as problem areas. This would include areas such as footfall, demographics, business trends, start-up rates and closure rates. Finally, whilst there was a lot of ambition, it would be business-led with the Council assisting businesses to steer them in the right direction.

9.2     Councillor Haigh thanked the Councillor Melvin for the comprehensive plan. However, she expressed her concern that there was a contradiction with the reference to a ‘Destination Marketing Organisation’ on page six of plan with the preceding agenda item (Report into the Future Marketing of Gloucester) which recommended an internal place marketing team.  Moreover, she added that whilst there had been a lot of discussion around involving the business community, she also hoped to see residents involved in the economic recovery process.  Further, she asked if it would be possible for the data from the Data Dashboard to be shared with the Committee.

9.3       In response, Councillor Melvin advised that the data was not yet ready, but the Overview & Scrutiny Committee was perhaps the best committee for this data to be shared. Similarly, she welcomed the suggestion to involve the public in the economic recovery process. She then outlined some other initiatives which had been taken as part of the economic recovery process. This included a jobs fair which was scheduled for September, a meeting which would be taking place to discuss the National Retraining Scheme, and proposals to repurpose premises and reimagine business models where the current model is not working. Similarly, there was also work being undertaken to create a map which could be shared with other service areas.

9.4       Responding to a query raised by Councillor Stephens, the City Growth and Delivery Manager advised that the collaboration with GFirst LEP alongside the City Council‘s own links with businesses helped to provide information on how businesses in the City are doing. Moreover, he agreed with the idea that the Rapid Response Taskforce should include different organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, JobCentre Plus to provide assistance to businesses which ceased to trade and had to carry out redundancies. He added that this was one of the issues he would to be raised at the meeting with JobCentre Plus.

9.5     Addressing questions raised by Councillor Hilton, Councillor Melvin advised that there were short, medium- and long-term goals which would be presented to the Economic Recovery Task Force at the next meeting after which they would be brought before the Overview & Scrutiny CommitteeHowever, the Stroud Market was back, and there were plans to hold a once a month late afternoon/early evening market through the gate streets. Furthermore, a lot of the work was underway to transform the indoor market. Lastly, she encouraged Members to bring forward any other suggestions and ideas they may have and highlighted the importance of cross-party work.

9.6      In response to Councillor Pullen ‘s questions around pubs and the night time economy, Councillor Melvin expressed concern at  reports of people not adhering to the rules at a local pub on Super Saturday. Further, she explained that whilst some pubs were open in Gloucester, no clubs were yet open in line with government guidance. The pubs that had not yet opened were either too big or too small, and Officers were working with them to assist where possible. Additionally, she commended the City’s pubs for embodying the City‘s spirit of resilience. Councillor Watkins echoed the disappointment with the reports of people not adhering to the rules at a local pub on Super Saturday. She added, however, it was important to note that this was a more isolated occurrence with most people adhering to the rules at other pubs in the City. Moreover, she highlighted that Gloucester had an organised night-time economy. There was a scheduled night safe meeting to consider any necessary adaptions to the night safe plan alongside the police and other partners.

9.7     The Chair thanked Cabinet Members and Officers for the update.

9.8       RESOLVED: - that the Overview & Scrutiny Committee NOTE the update.