Accessibility settings

In order to remember your preferences as you navigate through the site, a cookie will be set.

Color preference

Text size

Agenda item

Growth Hub Presentation

To receive a presentation on the Growth Hub. 

Minutes:

82.1          The Chair indicated that the GFirst Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) had attended the previous Overview and Scrutiny Committee to give a presentation on its work of which Growth Hubs were a key element.  The Growth Hub Manager would now give a more specific presentation in relation to the Tewkesbury Growth Hub.

82.2          The following key points were made during the presentation:

·      Tewkesbury Growth Hub: Flagship delivery – First Growth Hub in the world delivered in a local authority setting, opened in 2018; key aims of the Growth Hub network: to help businesses to start-up, grow, boost performance and exploit their full potential, provide support for businesses to accelerate growth and create opportunities for businesses to meet, network and promote their services to each other; the award winning Tewkesbury Growth Hub was doing just that and was a flagship for the county and Growth Hub network; praised for innovative approach to supporting high growth potential businesses; successfully delivering the unique selling point of linking hub support with Council services.

·      First year success – Achieved high delivery rate; within the eight months – exceeded annual target for hub visitors, supported over 100 start-up businesses, delivered over 4,000 business support interactions, delivered 160 intensive business growth plans and delivered 55 business events in the hub; punched above its weight in comparison to other larger hubs.

·      Businesses supported – 40:60 ratio of start-ups to existing businesses; borough coverage and diverse range of sectors including manufacturing, food/drink, tourism and retail; supported businesses to invest in borough – positive growth rates, employment and business rates; connector of businesses and supply chain development e.g. gin and tea collaboration; working with library growth Hubs – creative sector business group; integrated delivery with other agencies within the building including Job Centre Plus e.g. helping tenants with staffing/employment needs, upskilling and confidence workshops, job fair, self-employed.

·      Hub events/Meeting space – Free workshops and one-to-ones led by business experts who give their time free of charge; demand-led e.g. social media, marketing, leadership, HR, sales, funding, green business, video, social enterprise; meeting spaces – local business hub hire and Committee Rooms for training, events and team meetings; co-working – drop in, free workspace, builds local business community.

·      Hub Incubator Offices – Support businesses to start and grow; one year lease and growth support from hub and partners; first year - IT company, graphic design and domiciliary care company.

·      Hub tenant testimonials – Members were provided with a selection of testimonials from previous and current tenants.

·      Hub USP – Council services – Hub is unique in its support as unparalleled access to Council services; offering a one-stop shop approach for regulatory, planning and environmental health advice; positive change to our service delivery model for businesses, putting them at the heart of what we do; business champions – simplifying support services with a single point of contact (planning, building control, environmental health etc); business advice surgery sessions e.g. planning – 37 sessions delivered to date; positive feedback from businesses.

·      Business surgeries – positive feedback – Members were given feedback from some of the businesses that had benefitted from the surgeries.

·      Case study – Members were taken through a case study on a local delicatessen that had been supported by the Growth Hub.

·      Best location for business – Tewkesbury Hub held as an example of best practice by government and other local authorities; visits from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; visits from other councils interested in replicating in their areas; linking Growth Hub, economic development and Council services into a seamless business support service; all combined with the fact that Tewkesbury Borough was the fastest growing district outside of London.

82.3          A Member queried whether figures were available to demonstrate how many new jobs had been generated through new and existing businesses locating to the area and the Growth Hub Manager confirmed that, if it was anticipated that jobs would be created then this would be monitored over the year so she would be happy to provide that information following the meeting.  The Member went on to question how the Tewkesbury Growth Hub was advertised and promoted and whether there were plans for expansion.  In response, the Growth Hub Manager advised that the Borough News was used for promotion and always generated a spike in enquiries, in addition, there was a social media channel dedicated to the hub and marketing campaigns were run in conjunction with the wider hub network.  She explained that using themes to appeal to the right markets and generate new interest was crucial.  In terms of expansion, a bid had been made to the GFirst LEP for funding which would double the space to give greater flexibility and entice more people in.  The Member questioned whether there was any potential to generate income from Growth Hub events and confirmation was provided that consideration would be given to this going forward, for instance, if the expansion went ahead, it was proposed to introduce a membership model with charges for working in the hub, as had been done in other hubs across the country.  The Chief Executive reminded Members that the Growth Hub was run in partnership with the GFirst LEP – the LEP had provided the capital for the Council to provide the hub and to support the upgrade of the Committee Suite which was used as a venue for events for businesses.  Tewkesbury Borough Council provided staff for the Growth Hub, which was effectively based on the Council’s own economic development unit, therefore, it had been more a question of refocusing how the service would work as opposed to additional resources.  The three incubator units provided a small rental income which offset some of the costs to the Council and it was noted that these had been incredibly successful; nevertheless, it was important to remember that this was a partnership between the Council and the LEP.

82.4           A Member sought clarification as to who the business champions were and was advised that they were internal officers who worked within different departments of the Council and represented their services, for instance, a senior planning officer and a business rates officer.  The Member also asked whether the short courses were run internally or externally and the Growth Hub Manager confirmed they were all led by businesses who donated their time; in response to a query as to why they did this, Members were advised that a lot wanted to give something back to the community but it also gave them a platform to interact with other businesses, although she stressed that the courses were all impartial.  The Member noted that the Tewkesbury Growth Hub had been described in the presentation as being the first Growth Hub in the world to be delivered in a local authority setting which he found very impressive.  The Chief Executive confirmed that it was certainly the only one in the UK and he was not aware of any others on a global scale.  He clarified that there were three tiers of Growth Hub – tier one hubs were the headquarters in Oxstalls and Cirencester; Tewkesbury Growth Hub was the only tier two hub; and tier three hubs were basic information points within libraries.

82.5           Another Member questioned what progress was being made in attracting larger companies across the borough in terms of mentoring; whether accommodation packages were offered to attract new companies to the borough; what feedback was received from existing partners and users; and what links had been put in place with other organisations within the Public Services Centre such as the Police.  The Growth Hub Manager advised that all authorities within the county were partners with the LEP in terms of the inward investment programme which aimed to attract businesses to the area.  With regard to accommodating businesses, she explained there was a land allocation coming forward and they were always looking to allocate more land, for instance, through the Garden Town where there may be an opportunity for an area for advanced manufacturing businesses; the Growth Hub was looking to promote key sectors which had been identified as advanced manufacturing, renewables, agri-tech and cyber.  Working with existing companies was also important to allow businesses to expand and the Growth Hub provided assistance with identifying premises etc.  With respect to mentors, they were extremely valuable and the team was always looking for new volunteers and was keen to sign up as many large and medium sized businesses as possible.  In terms of feedback, the Growth Hub Manager recognised the importance of returning to businesses to establish their wants and needs - that was a question which was regularly asked at the majority of sessions and would be a particular focus now that the Tewkesbury Growth Hub had been open for a year.  She explained that the team tried to offer things which businesses would need, for instance there had recently been a sold out event on sustainability, as well as on the demand from businesses which they heard on a daily basis.  The Chief Executive explained that the Growth Hub team had worked very hard to help larger business re-locate to the borough and they had been extremely positive about the support they had received.  Notwithstanding this, there was more work to do, particularly in terms of building businesses to ensure that the smaller ones could develop and he felt it would be very interesting to see what happened over the next 12 month period.

82.6           A Member queried whether the Growth Hub was looking to make any links with the Tewkesbury District Twinning Association which had a relationship with Miesbach in Germany and the Growth Hub Manager provided assurance that the team worked closely with the Deputy Chief Executive of the GFirst LEP who was the lead on the inward investment programme and was keen to liaise with the Twinning Association in relation to the advanced manufacturing campaign.  The Chief Executive explained that this had been discussed with representatives from Miesbach during the last trade visit and was an area of potential; however, one difficulty was that smaller businesses tended to be locally focused due to their nature and larger businesses believed they already had the links they needed to be able to do business without the support of the Growth Hub.  Notwithstanding this, he felt that maintaining links was worthwhile, particularly as Miesbach had very similar agricultural businesses to Tewkesbury Borough and there was a particular movement in Germany around sustainability and quality of food production which could be beneficial.

82.7           The Chair thanked the Growth Hub Manager for her presentation and congratulated the team on their hard work and dedication which had ensured the Tewkesbury Growth Hub was a huge success.  In terms of going forward, he asked how the success of the Growth Hub would be measured.  The Chief Executive explained that Tewkesbury Borough Council was in a contract with the LEP and was required to provide statistics in order to make national comparisons.  In addition, the Council monitored economic growth more widely and he suggested that the Committee could receive an annual report on the general economy of the borough.  He advised that the Council had been nominated for an award for promoting growth and a lot of statistics had been produced as part of that submission which were extremely positive about the performance of the Council.  As such, the Committee may also wish to monitor the general performance of businesses in the borough.  The Chair welcomed these suggestions and felt they could all be incorporated into an annual report to the Committee.  The Head of Corporate Services reminded Members that the Corporate Risk Register was considered on a quarterly basis by the Audit and Governance Committee and this included an item on effectiveness of the Growth Hub.  The Internal Audit team would be conducting an audit on the Growth Hub shortly to ensure it was delivering the partnership agreements with the LEP and to agree a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

82.8           The Lead Member for Economic Development/Promotion wished to commend the Growth Hub Manager for her drive, leadership and enthusiasm in taking the Growth Hub from a mere concept to something that was being treated as the gold standard to which others should aspire.  The breadth of work that went on in the Growth Hub was extraordinary and one of the most valuable aspects was that businesses could be referred to other businesses in order for them to support one another; networking was another important aspect.  In terms of statistics and monitoring performance, he felt that the biggest indicator of success could be seen in business rates for the borough.

82.9           It was subsequently

RESOLVED          1. That the Growth Hub Presentation be NOTED.

2. That an annual report on economic growth be provided to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to include performance of the Growth Hub and businesses within the borough.