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Agenda item

Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee Update

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting (19 January 2022). 

Minutes:

82.1          Attention was drawn to the report from the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee, circulated at Pages No. 20-21, which gave an update on matters considered at the meeting held on 19 January 2022.

82.2          The Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee advised that the meeting had focused on the Gloucestershire Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) which provided gap funding to large private projects; usually a loan provider required an asset as security, however, there were some viable projects that did not have such an asset which was where the GIIF came in.  Applicants needed to demonstrate that the project would not go ahead without such a loan.  An overview of projects that had recently benefitted from the GIIF had been provided to the Committee and included the M5 southbound motorway services at Gloucester which had received £3m from the fund.  This was a £40m project which currently employed 400 people, mainly from the local area.  The services were regularly voted Britain’s best and had become a destination in their own right whilst supporting significant growth in numerous local food and produce businesses.  The second item on the Agenda related to strategic planning in Gloucestershire and Tewkesbury Borough Council’s Chief Executive had introduced a report compiled by Officers across the county which had been presented at the last meeting of the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Joint Committee and was intended as a reference point for Members.  The strategic plan for Cheltenham Borough, Gloucester City and Tewkesbury Borough Councils was the Joint Core Strategy which was adopted in December 2017 covering the period 2011-2031 and had identified growth requirements for 35,175 homes, 192 hectares of employment land and 39,500 jobs.  The Chief Executive indicated that, if any Members had a wider interest in the work going on around strategic planning outside of the borough and the Joint Core Strategy site, he would recommend looking at the link provided at Page No. 21 of the report which gave details of delivery of other plans around the county and major infrastructure delivery etc. 

82.3          The Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee advised that the final item was the Executive Director’s report which had prompted a lengthy discussion about the merits and demerits of the Community Infrastructure Levy compared to Section 106 Agreements in monetary terms.  The Chief Executive explained that the Community Infrastructure Levy rates were set before the County Council had significantly increased requests for education funding.  There had been discussion about the Community Infrastructure Levy not being particularly good, but it was noted that the three Joint Core Strategy authorities were working with the County Council to review the tariff and that work was being commissioned by the County Council; however, it was not possible to simply increase the tariff as there was a process of obtaining evidence to support any increase and gaining agreement across all Joint Core Strategy Councils before going out to consultation and a further examination in public.  This was a statutory process which would take about a year and each of the plans across the county had different agreements in terms of what they charged for so this was not straightforward.

82.4          With regard to strategic planning, a Member asked if any information was available about what was being done by other local authorities bordering Tewkesbury Borough and projects which may benefit the borough.  In response, the Chief Executive advised that the report did reference the Joint Core Strategy position in relation to Worcestershire; there was partnership working with the Worcestershire authorities which would be fed back via the Planning Policy Reference Panel which all Members were invited to attend.  He recognised the Mitton scheme impacted upon the Joint Core Strategy, and Tewkesbury Borough in particular, and he would be happy to answer any questions Members may have on this matter.

82.5          It was

RESOLVED          That the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee update be NOTED.

Supporting documents: