South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

MEETING HELD ON THURSDAY 1 APRIL 1999 AT SEEDA HEADQUARTERS (AUTODESK HOUSE)

Members Present:
Allan Willett CMG (Chairman), Professor Clive Booth, Cllr. Ken Bodfish, Cllr. Kit Oliver, Cllr. Kevin Wilson, Cllr. David Rogers, Bryan Davies, Russ Nathan CBE, Sarah Ward OBE, Barry Camfield, Jim Baker, Janis Kong

Apologies for absence:
Caroline Williams (Board Member)

Others in Attendance: (for all or part of meeting)
Anthony Dunnett (Chief Executive), Jeff Alexander (Agency Secretary), Phil Bailey (SEEDA), Stephen Sadler, SEEDA), Anna Whyatt (ERA), Rob Bennett (SQW/BPP), Graham Tubb (Acting Regional Manager, SEERA), David Saunders (Regional Director, GO-SE), Lucy Robinson (Director, GO-SE), Kathy Slack (SEEDA), Pat Tempany (SEEDA)

Summary of Meeting:
The Board discussed a range of operational, constitutional and programme matters.

The Board agreed:-

• The delegation of certain Programme and Administrative authorities to the Chief Executive.
• Reviewed the land assembly, reclamation and servicing of the Biggins Wood site, Folkestone.
• The Chairman of SEEDA and SEERA (South East England Regional Assembly) should meet, supported by senior executive staff, to reinforce the close working relationship between the two bodies.
• That the Europe Committee should be a joint SEEDA/SEERA Committee.
• A Health and Safety Policy and a Grievance Procedure for SEEDA.

Regional Economic Strategy
The Board discussed the progress on preparing the Regional Economic Strategy, noting that on time and on course. An update was provided by each Board Committee Chair (the key Committees and the Chairs are listed at the end of this note) on meetings held by their Committee. The Board noted that the Committees were making valuable progress and will provide an effective contribution to the Regional Strategy.

Single Regeneration Budget - Round 5
The Board had a full discussion on the national guidelines that 80% of the funding should go to support large comprehensive regeneration schemes in the most deprived areas (in the South East, this meant Brighton, Portsmouth and Southampton) whilst the remaining 20% of funding would support pockets of deprivation. The Board agreed that these three most deprived areas would be provided with the required level of £20-25m of support within the coming SRB Rounds during this Parliament as requested by Ministers, subject to good quality bids being received from those areas. The Board did discuss moving away from a rigid 80/20 split and were content to consider this but again recognised that any support needed to be subject to good quality bids.

Skills Development Fund
The Board agreed proposed priorities for the Skills Development Fund. These were to build on existing successful projects, fund projects that meet the skills needs of the priority business sectors, meet business skills (management development, leadership and knowledge management), strengthen links between education and business, promote the application of IT and promote employability (key skills) in all sectors.

SEEDA, SEERA and GO-SE
Liaison The Board was joined for its regular liaison session with SEERA by Graham Tubb who updated the meeting on the latest developments and provided an insight into the latest thinking within SEERA on the potential role of the Assembly with regard to Regional Planning Guidance. Lucy Robinson, a Director of the Government Office for the South East (GO-SE) briefed the Board on the current Regional Planning Guidance review. SEEDA and GO-SE recognised that there was an opportunity to align both the Regional Planning Guidance and the emerging Regional Strategy as the separate consultation processes proceeded over the Summer and Autumn. David Saunders (Regional Director, GO-SE) and Allan Willett acknowledged the continuing close relationships between SEEDA and GO-SE.

Recruitment
The Board noted the progress made on recruitment (a Head of Personnel, Helen Mead, had been appointed and the positions of Director Regeneration and Infrastructure, Director of Enterprise and Head of Marketing would soon be filled. The Board noted the draft budget for 1999/00.

SEEDA BOARD COMMITTEES
The Board has agreed that the following Board Committees should be established by SEEDA. They are, with Board Members who have agreed to chair. Board Committee Chair Europe* Ken Bodfish Regeneration and Social Inclusion David Rogers Innovation and Technology Transfer Bryan Davies The Learning Region Clive Booth. Regional Infrastructure Janis Kong Rural Development Sarah Ward Working with the Voluntary Sector Jim Baker Business Development Caroline Williams Enterprise Russ Nathan Sustainability Kit Oliver

*Joint SEEDA/SEERA Committee.