Agenda item

The Director of Business, Development and Growth will be attending this meeting.

The Performance Panel received a report which provided contextual information relating to the performance of the Business Development and Growth directorate.  

On behalf of the Performance Panel, the Chair welcomed the Director of Business, Development and Growth to the meeting.

Members of the Performance Panel received a presentation from the Director of Business, Development and Growth.

The directorate, which was formed as part of the organisational restructure in May 2016, encompass the following services –

• Employment Skills and Business Support
• Development and Regeneration
• Markets and Town Centre (including the operational responsibilities for car parking)
• Property Services

The directorate was primarily focused on driving economic growth and building the business rate base through the delivery of the Economic Development Strategy, and was responsible for delivering a number of the council’s strategic projects which included –

• Westaway Integrated Sports Facility
• Chorley Skills framework
• Improve the look and feel of the town centre
• Digital office park

Key items for discussion included –

• Performance in relation to job creation being strong with the performance measure rated green and exceeded target.
• Indicators for new business supported through grant funding and advice from the council which continued to meet target levels.
• Floor space brought forward as part of Chorley BIG (Business Improvement for Growth) was rated red at quarter 3, being 6.36% off target.  Although there had been an increase in floor space being brought forward recently the figure still fell short of target.
• Chorley Works placement target of 100% had been exceeded.

Future priorities for the directorate included a refresh of the Economic Development Strategy.  As part of the refresh performance targets would be reviewed to distinguish between performance measures within the council’s control and those that were outside its control.

Presently, the Director of Business Development and Growth was reviewing staffing resources in the directorate.  The purpose of this review was to establish the skills set and expertise available to ensure that staff resources were appropriately assigned.    Other considerations included projects which would be best delivered in partnership with other organisations, and those the council could deliver itself.

During debate, members of the Performance Panel raised a number of queries which included –

• The definition of a work placement.
• Opportunities been identified as a result of the Cuerden development in the borough of South Ribble.

It was reported that following the Economic Development Strategy review, the main priority would be to identify and bring forward employment sites. It was important that the appropriate businesses were identified for the different sites and ensuring that the correct infrastructure was in place, which included digital and road network.  To achieve this objective the council would need to engage with other service providers and sectors both regional and national. 

In response to questions asked in relation to the Market Walk extension; the Director of Business Development and Growth had been encouraged by the way in which the project was developing.

RESOLVED –

1. That the report and verbal representation be noted.
2. That the definition of work placement be clarified by the Director of Business, Development and Growth for members of the Performance Panel.

On behalf of the Performance Panel, the Chair thanked the Director of Business Development and Growth for attending the meeting and congratulated his on the progress made since taking up his position in the authority.

Since the meeting a response has been circulated which provided clarification of the definition of work placement as defined by Job Centre Plus.