Contact: Sarah Lees Member Services Officer
Link: audio recording
No. | Item |
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Election of Chairman (Chairman of the Council in the Chair) To elect the Chairman of the Economy Policy Development Group for the municipal year 2020 / 2021. Minutes: RESOLVED that Cllr J Downes be elected Chairman of the Group for 2020 / 2021. |
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Election of Vice Chairman (00:00:41) To elect the Vice Chairman of the Economy Policy Development Group for the municipal year 2020 / 2021. Minutes: RESOLVED that Cllr N V Davey be elected Vice Chairman of the Group for 2020 / 2021. |
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Apologies and Substitute Members (00:02:05) To receive any apologies for absence and notice of appointment of substitutes. Minutes: Apologies were received from Cllr T G Hughes who was substituted by Cllr R Evans. |
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Remote Meetings Protocol (00:02:18) PDF 78 KB To note the protocol for remote meetings. Minutes: The protocol for remote meetings was NOTED. |
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Public Question Time (00:03:10) To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto. Minutes: There were no members of the public present. |
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Declaration on Interests under the Code of Conduct (00:03:30) Minutes: No interests were declared under this item. |
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Members to consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 12 March 2020.
Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 12 March 2020 were confirmed as a true and accurate record. |
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Chairman's Announcements (00:03:59) To receive any announcements that the Chairman may wish to make. Minutes: The Chairman stated that for the time being the Policy Development Group would focus solely on Covid-19 related issues as they affected the Council. |
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Covid 19 Economic Response (00:05:40) PDF 102 KB To receive a report from the Head of Planning, Economy and Regeneration providing members with information regarding the Growth, Economy & Delivery team’s COVID19 emergency economic and community response activities. To also inform members of emerging work setting the scene for recovery and providing the opportunity for the Economy PDG members to contribute towards the process and associated policy direction. Minutes: The Group had before it a report * from the Head of Planning, Economy and Regeneration providing Members with information regarding the Growth, Economy & Delivery team’s COVID19 emergency economic and community response activities, informing members of emerging work setting the scene for recovery and providing the opportunity for the Economy PDG Members to contribute towards the process and associated policy direction.
The focus of the discussion was structured as follows and the following updates provided:
Overview of the current situation
· At the current time here had been almost 40,000 deaths recorded nationally, 100 people had tested positive in Mid Devon and there had been 8 deaths in the district. · The impact upon the south west region had been immense in terms of the impact on the economy and the numbers of unemployed which had increased to 3.8% from 1.7% between March and April 2020. · Food and drink had really suffered particularly those supplying the hospitality industry · Regionally, tourism had been badly affected. · Town centre businesses, particularly retail, had been hit hard by the lockdown. · Small micro businesses had benefitted by Government grant assistance and in many cases they had been very creative in their endeavours to keep going. · Larger businesses had had particular issues and many had not been eligible for financial support.
Business Assistance
· Over the last 10 – 12 weeks the Economic Development Team had worked closely with the Rates team administering, to date, 1567 payments totalling £18,457m. There had been strict eligibility criteria in place regarding the initial Government scheme and a mix of businesses had qualified. Feedback from businesses had been very positive. · A new Discretionary Grants scheme had now been introduced providing a much smaller pot of money at just over £1.1m. Although this was much less it required far more intensive work with the Government requesting that this money be distributed as widely as possible. Information from businesses needed to be gathered before grants could be distributed. To date 21 payments had been made totalling £67,500. It was hoped a further £200k would be distributed in the following week. There were still gaps in terms of who was eligible for this scheme but the team were working hard with Devon County Council and the Local Enterprise Partnership so that partners could lobby Government and plug any gaps. · The administration of these payments was manageable at the moment given the dedicated nature of the staff working within the relevant teams. · The Rates Valuation office had been involved in determining how much was needed in each region in relation to business assistance and so far the amount of available money had not been exceeded with some businesses declining take up. Any unspent monies would need to be returned to Government. If there was an overspend the Government had said that they would cover it provided legitimate reasons could be provided. · As grant distribution under the national scheme was tailing off, it was mentioned that at some point a cut-off date to the original scheme would be ... view the full minutes text for item 9. |
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Start time of meetings To agree the start time of meetings for the remainder of the municipal year. Minutes: The Policy Development Group did not discuss this item therefore this would be rolled forward to the next meeting. |
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Identification of items for the next meeting Members are asked to note that the following items are already identified in the work programme for the next meeting:
· Economic Development Service update – continued response to and recovery from the Covid-19 crisis · Capital and Revenue Outturn figures for 2019 / 2020 · Hydro Mills (tbc) · Tiverton Regeneration Working Group · Town Centre health check information
Note: This item is limited to 10 minutes. There should be no discussion on the items raised. Minutes: The Policy Development Group did not discuss items for the next meeting although it had been stated by the Chairman at the start of the meeting that the focus for the Group in the short term would be on Covid-19 related issues only. |