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SUMMARY BOARD MINUTES OF THIRTY FIRST MEETING
HELD ON THURSDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2001 AT
THE MALTINGS, FARNHAM
Members Present
Allan Willett CMG (Chairman), Cllr. Ken Bodfish OBE (Deputy Chairman),
Professor Clive Booth (Deputy Chairman), Sarah Ward OBE, Cllr.
Kit Oliver (OBE), Caroline Williams, Dr Peter Read CBE, Russ Nathan
CBE, Janis Kong, Barry Camfield, Cllr. Kevin Wilson, Bryan Davies,
Jim Baker, Mary McAnally
Apologies for absence
Cllr. David Rogers
Others in Attendance (for all or part of meeting)
Anthony Dunnett (Chief Executive), Jeff Alexander (Agency Secretary),
Phil Bailey (SEEDA, Head of Secretariat), Marianne Neville-Rolfe
(SEEDA, Director, Business and International Division), John Parsonage
(SEEDA, Director Learning and Skills), Paul Hudson (SEEDA, Director,
Regeneration and Infrastructure)
Summary of Meeting
1. The Board :-
Reviewed the Annual Open Meeting that had been held earlier
in the day;
Welcomed the Brownfield Land Assembly Initiative;
Received an update on Hastings;
Received a report on the Chairman's recent activities and an
update on the SEEDA Board appointments;
Received an update on the Wired Region project;
Considered the initial proposals on the Corporate Plan as a
basis for a full draft of the Plan being prepared for the Board's
agreement on 13 December, prior to submission to Government by
21 December 2001
Received an update on the Regional Economic Strategy Consultation
Events;
Reviewed and noted the Finance Report and various SEEDA programme
investments.
Annual Open Meeting
2. The Board briefly discussed the SEEDA Annual Open Meeting
which had been held earlier in the day at the Maltings, Farnham.
It was agreed that the Open meeting had been positive, with a
good engagement with the audience. Several points were made in
regard to the arrangements for the next meeting.
Brownfield Land Assembly Trust
3. The Board noted that SEEDA was proposing to establish a special
purpose vehicle that will acquire, remediate and masterplan packages
of small brownfield land.
4. This initiative was welcomed by the Board. The proposal was
innovative and meet a particular need and demand in the South
East. There was a clear market failure because the private sector
was unwilling to develop smaller brownfield sites in urban areas.
The Board noted that SEEDA was working with its local authority
partners on this initiative
Hastings - Update
5. The Board noted that Lord Falconer would be visiting Hastings
on 22 November. The Chairman would be accompanying the Minister
in Hastings. Current work was now focussing on firming up the
outcomes and outputs which should be completed by the end of the
year. A period of consultation with the local community would
follow.
Chairman's Report
6. The Chairman reported on the following activities:-
Dinner with Engineering Employers Federation EEF - 23 October
2001
7. RDA Chairs had held a Dinner with the Engineering Employers
Federation (EEF). The main message to emerge was that EEF remained
concerned about the national economy.
Meeting with the Chancellor - 24 October 2001
8. The Chairman reported that he had held a meeting, together
with his RDA Chair colleagues, with the Chancellor and Ed Balls.
At this meeting the Chairman had made a presentation stressing
the need to open up the country to broadband as quickly as possible.
Coalfields Conference - 13 November 2001
9. The Chairman had attended and opened the Coalfields Conference.
Visit to Oxfordshire County Council - 14 November 2001
10. This visit had gone very well. Three issues on which the
County Council and SEEDA could take forward together were agreed:-
The Oxford-Cambridge Technology Arc;
Broadband; the County is undertaking an interesting project
and were keen to work with SEEDA; and
The Oxford Castle and Prison project.
SEEDA Board Appointments
11. The Chairman reported that the Government Office for the
South East had written to key stakeholders within the region seeking
their comments on the four candidates that the Secretary of State
was minded to appoint to the SEEDA Board. The four candidates
are:-
James Braithwaite CBE, Founding Director and CEO of IPR, Media
Development and Sales. Chairman and Director of Floella Benjamin
Productions Ltd. Chairman of Citizen TV Ltd. Director of Sussex
Enterprise Ltd. Member of Small Business Council.
Ken Thornber, Leader of Hampshire County Council, (Conservative),
Member of Regional Assembly Executive Committee. Management Consultant
to industry, NHS, commerce and local government. Ex Vice Chair
of Hants & IOW Police Authority.
Elizabeth Brighouse, Director of Oxfordshire Council for Voluntary
Action. Director (Non Exec) of Radcliffe Infirmary NHS Trust.
Consultant funded by DfID and DTLR in Russia. Trustee of Thames
Valley Partnership. Chair & Member of National Network Committee
of Prince's Trust. Elected as a Labour County Councillor in 2001.
Robert Douglas, Ex Vice President of Royal Dutch/Shell Group.
Ex CEO of Shell Italy. Currently Consultant, Chair of Surrey Learning
and Skills Council (LSC), Member of Surrey Economic Partnership.
Wired Region
12. The Board to give approval in principle to:-
the Projects Action Plan for 2002; and
the need to explore the creation of a joint venture delivery
agency.
Corporate Plan 2002/2004
13. The Board were reminded that the Corporate Plan submission
needed to be with Government by 21 December. DTI had generally
responded positively on the SEEDA submission on the Regional Outcome
Targets and Assumptions although they repeated their concerns
on the SEEDA Assumptions. SEEDA had now refined the Tier 2 Targets
and was developing more specific targets against the core milestones.
He asked the Board to note that the long term annual GDP growth
target had been reduced from 3.3% to 3.2% to reflect more pessimistic
national forecasts for the next two years.
14. The Board discussed specific aspects of the Corporate Plan
and concluded discussions by agreeing that this work was a priority
for SEEDA because of the opportunity to determine funding priorities.
Regional Economic Strategy (RES) - Consultation Events
15. The Board noted that the proposed consultation process falls
in to 3 key stages:
Stage 1: Consultation on existing RES Strategic Priorities
and achievements to date
16. The objective is send out the message that SEEDA is seeking
to build on the existing RES, this Stage 1 consultation would
provide:
Early and meaningful engagement of partners
Information that could be presented at the Stage 2 Consultation
events
Input to the consultation draft RES
17. This consultation stage will be targeted primarily at SEEDA's
main partners. As far possible it will be undertaken electronically
through E-mail with direct links to documents on the SEEDA web-site.
Stage 2: Consultation events
18. The Board noted that the aim was to hold 6 sub-regional and
themed events to be held in February and March. The morning event
would focus on the area and the afternoon would focus on a selected
region-wide theme. Themes had been chosen that had some relevance
to the area in which the event was being held.
19. In addition to these 6 consultation days, other events planned,
at least in part to inform the RES, so far include:
Sustainable Development
Transport (with the Regional Assembly and GOSE)
Social Inclusion / Social Enterprise
Stage 3: Issue of Consultation Draft RES
20. It was agreed that SEEDA would aim to produce a more integrated
RES which would be more consistent with the principles of the
Single Budget regime to be adopted from April 2002.
Date of Next Meeting
21. Thursday 13 December 2001, at SEEDA Headquarters. Start time
to be 13.30hrs.
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