Agenda item

Rafiq Chohan, Assistant Director for Economic Development and Inclusion, outlined a report setting out details of the Council’s obligations under Part 4 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill, which placed a duty on County Councils and Unitary Authorities to assess the economic conditions of an area.  He advised that £65,000 would be  provided for the area based grant which was to be used for developing the local economic assessment and conducting economic development activities.

The Panel was advised that the Government believed that local authorities should have a central role in leading economic development and regeneration and that the new local economic assessment duty would help to ensure that local authorities had a clear understanding of the conditions required for business to flourish in their area and for people to take advantage of economic opportunities.  The Panel noted the core principles of a local economic assessment and that a number of broad principles should be applied to ensure maximum impact.  The Government believed that economic assessments should not be constrained by local authority boundaries and for Slough the areas had been provisionally decided as Windsor and Maidenhead, South Bucks, Wickham, Spelthorne, Hillingdon and Hounslow.  It was recognised that there was a lot of movement in commuting patterns within these areas and there were established links with Hounslow and Hillingdon through to Heathrow Airport.

The Panel noted that an assessment should form part of the evidence based for the sustainable community strategy and following on from this would also inform local area agreement and multi area agreement negotiations. 

The Officer advised that the main bulk of the funding available would be spent on economic development activities that were key priorities of the economy as identified and highlighted in the assessment. 

In the ensuing debate a Member asked what control the Council could put on local bodies to make sure that skills were created and was advised that wherever possible the Council would try to influence this and now worked better with statutory agencies.  Members also asked a number of questions about Heathrow Airport relating to the number of employees who lived in the Slough area and also how the third runaway would benefit the local economy in Slough.  The concern was expressed that the additional runaway would have a high impact on the infrastructure and schools and other services in the area and the Officer advised that colleagues in the Green and Built Environment would make representations on behalf of the Council in this area.  In terms of the Heart of Slough project, Members asked in what ways the Council could influence the local economy by ensuring that building work was carried out by local firms. 

Resolved –

(a)  That the report be noted.

(b)  That within the Local Economic Assessment, the Council consult with those businesses which provide new technology and look at opportunities for up-skilling the workforce in Slough.