53 Economic Development Team Update (00:20:00) PDF 510 KB
To receive a report from the Director of Place updating Members on activities undertaken by the Economic Development Team during the last two months.
Minutes:
The Group had before it, and NOTED, a report * from the Director of Place updating Members on activities undertaken by the Economic Development Team during the last two months. This included the following:
Prosperity Funding:
· 9 applications had been received to the current round. A further 5 businesses had been invited to full application (from rounds 1 and 2) but had not yet submitted forms. The next round closed for applications at the end of January.
· The Funding Panel meet on 17 January to make grant award decisions and a decision summary will be shared with the PDG Members.
· The January ‘Be Grant Ready’ workshop had 13 places booked with 7 spaces remaining.
Field to Fork:
· The ‘Meet the Producer’ project was proving popular with good levels of engagement on social media. The project was approximately halfway through with another 6 producers to be featured. A more in depth update on this project would be presented to the next Committee meeting. This project was specifically supporting the Field to Fork elements of the Shared Prosperity Delivery Plan with targets for:
· The ‘Meet the Producer’ posts and reels had been published weekly on Facebook and Instagram throughout December and would be ongoing.
· Grants had been offered to Food and Drink Devon and Devon County Show for further support projects to Mid Devon producers. This included networking events, membership support schemes and subsidised trade stalls. This supported delivery of outputs for businesses receiving non-financial support and supporting enterprises to reach new markets.
· Through the Devon Agri-tech Alliance, as part of the Business Support project with Devon County Council, 4 specialised events for farm businesses were being organised, the first of which would focus on "Routes to Market" taking place on 22 February at Pipers Farm. The next two events were pencilled in for end of March/ early April looking at Diversification and the third event in November looking at Regenerative Farming. The fourth event would take place early 2025 with the topic to be confirmed.
Visitor Economy
· Project work continues on both the Walking Festival and Tiverton Swan Trail.
· The programme for the Walking Festival was being collated, with the initial content to be featured in a promotional campaign - "Escape to Mid Devon" - running later this month to encourage holiday bookings in Mid Devon.
· The swans were with the artists until the end of January, when they would return for an anti-graffiti lacquer coating before being ready for installation by the end of March. The Planning Application for the Swan Trail would go to Planning Committee in February.
· A more in depth update on both the Walking Festival and Swan Trail would be presented to the next Committee meeting.
· With regards to other Visitor Economy projects outside the SPF:
· The Bradninch board was installed Friday 8 December opposite the SPAR, outside the Guildhall. Many thanks to the Town Council and residents of Bradninch for ... view the full minutes text for item 53