Agenda item

Considered – Presentation by Dave Caulfield – Assistant Director, Growth Planning and Trading Standards, NYCC, Trevor Watson – Director of Economy, Environment and Housing, Harrogate BCand Janet Deacon - Head of Tourism and Culture, Scarborough BC.

Some of the key points highlighted in the presentation are as summarised below:

·       The aim of the transition period is to transfer eight Economic Development services into one whilst retaining business continuity. It is intended to ‘lift and shift’ staff, with a service restructure to follow later.

·       Staff events have taken place and district council area visits carried out by County Councillor Derek Bastiman and Dave Caulfield.

·       The development of an Economic Growth Strategy for North Yorkshire is underway, with Steer ED appointed as consultants and baseline evidence gathering underway, along with asset mapping and a strategy review.

·       Test and challenge workshops have been held with officers representing each local authority, as well as the LEP, NYCC Executive members and Directors of Development for York, North Yorkshire, East Riding and Hull (YNYERH).

·       The emerging pillars of the economic strategy include ‘Enterprise, Innovation and Investment’, with the importance of delivering ‘Quality Infrastructure & Connectivity’ and enabling ‘Skilled & Prosperous Communities’ in driving up economic growth and living standards.

·       The delivery of Business Support provision across North Yorkshire is currently multi-layered, with geographic variations in the type of support and the businesses and organisations that are eligible to access it.

·       Communication and engagement with businesses to re-assure and highlight new opportunities.

·       There will be continued opportunities for accessing national funding. Recently, the county has been allocated £16.9m over 3 years from the Core UK Shared Prosperity Fund, as well as £5.4m over 2 years from the Rural England Prosperity Fund also confirmed by Government.

·       Inward investment opportunities are possible, with sectors seeing investment and employment proposals including recycling, e-fuels and battery production.

·       Tourism accounts for 11% of the overall economy of North Yorkshire, supporting 41,200 jobs or 14% of all employment across the county.

·       An LGR task and finish group has been established to develop a way forward for tourism/visitor economy delivery, exploring all models to determine the most appropriate and sustainable model.

·       A future tourism provision review will look to establish economies of scale for the county, whilst retaining and protecting established local brands. Any new structure would look to ensure that North Yorkshire variations in destination marketing are taken into account to maximise growth opportunities as much as possible.

There followed a discussion, the key points of which are summarised below:

·       The inclusion of rural areas into future work to ensure that their needs are recognised.

·       What the size of the new Economic Development team across North Yorkshire as part of the new North Yorkshire Council will be.

·       The overarching mantra of the carbon neutral agenda and how this links in to the Economic Development service transition.

·       How the relationship with the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership will be affected by the formation of the new unitary council and whether joint working will continue.

Resolved – That the presentation be noted.