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SUMMARY BOARD
MINUTES OF THE TENTH MEETING
HELD ON THURSDAY
11 NOVEMBER 1999 AT SEEDA HEADQUARTERS
Members Present:
Cllr Ken Bodfish OBE (Acting Chairman), Cllr. Kit Oliver, Cllr.
Kevin Wilson, Cllr. David Rogers. Bryan Davies, Jim Baker, Caroline
Williams, Janis Kong, Russ Nathan CBE, Barry Camfield.
Apologies for absence:
Allan Willett, Professor Clive Booth, Sarah Ward OBE
Others in Attendance: (for
all or part of meeting)
Anthony Dunnett (Chief Executive, SEEDA), Jeff Alexander (Agency
Secretary, SEEDA), Phil Bailey (SEEDA), David Saunders (Regional
Director, GO-SE), Lucy Robinson (Director GO-SE), Cllr. Keith
House (Chair, Regional Assembly), Paul Bevan (Regional Director,
Regional Assembly), Jim Hedges (Head of Regional Funding, SEEDA),
John Hustler (KPMG)
Summary
of Meeting:
The
Board: -
- Recorded
their appreciation and thanks for the efforts by the staff involved
with the arrangements for the "Opening Ceremony" of SEEDA's
Chatham Maritime offices by the Deputy Prime Minister on 14
October and agreed to consider holding further Board meetings
near to major SEEDA projects, as appropriate.
- Agreed
that the Chairman and Chief Executive should consider a SEEDA
input into the current debate on regional planning guidance
in the South East.
- Noted
that SEEDA's draft Corporate Plan had been sent to the Government
Office for the South East.
- Noted
that the establishment of a "South East House" in Brussels was
proceeding well.
- Noted
their continuing support for the establishment of a regional
"equity gap" fund and agreed to set up a sub-group to oversee
this work.
- Reviewed
a number of Land and Property, Rural Regeneration and Chatham
Maritime projects and reviewed actual and forecast operational
and programme spend for 1999/2000.
Regional Planning
Guidance
The Board acknowledged that ether was an intense debate on economic
development in the South east region following the publication
of the report by the Government's panel, the "Crow" report, and
that housing featured as one of the principal issues of that debate.
The Board recognised that any response by SEEDA needed to be considered
with care and move the debate forward by focussing on the method,
management and delivery of housing and be firmly based in SEEDA's
Regional Economic Strategy. The Board agreed that the Chairman
and Chief Executive should together consider the appropriateness
and timing of a response by SEEDA.
GO-SE
Liaison
The Board held its regular liaison session with GO-SE. The main
item of discussion was the current debate on regional planning
guidance in the South East. David Saunders stressed that the "Crow"
report did not represent Government policy but was the independent
report of a panel. Government would issue draft RPG early in the
new year and that there would then follow a period of extensive
consultation over at least eight weeks.
Regional
Assembly Liaison
The Board briefly discussed the arrangements for the Assembly's
meeting on 24 November. The Board and Regional Assembly agreed
that the joint approach (SEEDA, the Assembly and local partners
working together) to setting up the "South East Office" in Brussels
has worked well and looked forward to other partners agreeing
to co-locate in the "South East House" in due course.
Regional
Economic Strategy (RES)
That Board were informed that the RES was now with Government
to consider and that a response could be expected before the end
of the year, there was no statutory obligation for Government
to approve the RES but SEEDA could expect a response from the
main Government involved indicating the Government's broad acceptance
(or otherwise) of the RES.
Regional Investment
Funds
The Board received an update on progress towards establishing
an "equity gap" fund in the South East. It noted that SEEDA was
working closely with the Department of Trade and Industry and
that tenders had been asked for fund managers. The Board noted
that they continued to give their full support to the proposals
to establish this fund and agreed to form a sub-group to oversee
the initiative.
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