Agenda and minutes

To note any apologies for absence from Members.

Apologies were received from Councillor S Brookfield.  Councillor A Critchley attended as substitute.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

In relation to Item 5 – Wilmslow Town Centre Business Improvement District, the following made declarations in the interest of openness:-

Councillor D Jefferay declared that he was the ward member for Wilmslow East.

Councillor M Goldsmith declared that he was a member of Wilmslow Town Council and had actively lobbied with the Town Council for funding for Groundworks.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 31 May 2022.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 31 May 2022 be approved as a correct record.

In accordance the Council’s Committee Procedure Rules and Appendix on Public Speaking, set out in the Constitution, a total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to put questions to the committee on any matter relating to this agenda. Each member of the public will be allowed up to two minutes each to speak, and the Chair will have discretion to vary this where they consider it appropriate.

Members of the public wishing to speak are required to provide notice of this at least three clear working days’ in advance of the meeting.

There were no public speakers.

To consider the way the Council should vote in the Business Improvement District ballot and to ensure officers have appropriate delegations to complete ballot papers on behalf of the Council.

The Committee considered a report on the Wilmslow Town Centre Business Improvement District ballot and the way the Council should vote in the ballot.

The Council was the owner of several hereditaments within the proposed Business Improvement District (BID) area and therefore would be entitled to vote in the BID ballot, and, if the ballot was successful, be liable to pay the levy for its hereditaments falling within the scope of the BID proposal.  The estimated BID levy on the Council was circa £5.5k/per annum (increasing by 0.05% per annum after 22/23) and would be payable over the five year term of the BID.

The report recommended that the Council should vote ‘Yes’ as there would be a relatively low cost to the Council in the form of the levy, the BID proposals complemented the efforts of the Council to support the vitality and viability of Wilmslow Town Centre, aligned with the Council’s corporate priority to support successful town centres and was in line with the recommendations of the emerging Wilmslow Town Centre Vitality Plan.

RESOLVED:  That

1          the Wilmslow Town Centre Business Improvement District be supported by the Council.

2          delegated authority be granted to the Director of Growth and Enterprise to complete any ballot slips the Council is entitled to complete in the  Business Improvement District ballot, voting in support of the Business Improvement District in the ballot on behalf of the Council for the Council’s hereditaments.

3          in the event the Council is requested to attend the Business Improvement District meetings in an advisory capacity, the Director of Growth and Enterprise accept and agreed the most appropriate officer representation and empower that officer to provide such advice to Business Improvement District meetings as they consider necessary.

4          in the event of a ‘yes’ vote and the Business Improvement District proceeding, delegated authority be granted to the Executive Director Place to consider the Terms of Reference of the Business Improvement District Board, and having regard to any advice given by the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Chair of the Economy and Growth Committee, determine whether to put forward a Cheshire East Council representative for appointment onto the Business Improvement District Board, and if so, select the appropriate appointee and empower the appointee to make any decisions required on behalf of the Council.

To provide a review of the performance of the Growth & Enterprise department for 2021-22 working to the priorities and actions within the Council’s Corporate Plan 2021-25.

The Committee considered the 2021/2022 Annual Performance Review report for the Economy and Enterprise Department.

The report detailed the performance against the key priorities and key performance indicators of services in Housing, Estates, Rural & Cultural Economy and Economic Development.

The Director of Growth and Enterprise highlighted the following achievements:

• the Housing Team had been at the forefront of the Council’s response to support Afghan and Ukrainian refugees.
• the Estates Team continued to support the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy, surpassing the annual capital receipts target of £1m by achieving a year-end total of £1.3m.
• the Rural and Cultural Economy Team had been ensuring that the country parks and paths were available for use by residents and visitors and that Tatton Park had been awarded a number of awards including ‘Green Flag’ and ‘Green Heritage site’ and a Sandford Award for the  Excellence in Heritage Education.
• the Economic Development Team had been at the forefront of the covid response and had administered the discretionary grant for support for business in the retail, leisure and hospitality sector. Development of  Crewe Market Hall and Castle Street, Macclesfield had been completed and the Team was leading on the levelling-up programme with the production of business cases for submission for funding.     Following submission of a bid by the Team for Crewe to be the new GG Rail Headquarters it had successfully made the shortlist of six towns and cities in the competition out of 41 bids.

The Committee commented and asked questions on the following:

• Energy efficiency in homes in Cheshire East and availability of government grants -  it was reported that the Council had a number of programmes at the moment which were aimed at people in low incomes and off gas.  The Team was working closely with social housing providers in connection with the Social Housing Decarbonising Fund and future work would include working with the private renting market to make changes.   Funding would also be available to help rural resident move away from reliance on solid fuel to provide for alternative such as heat source pumps.
• Footfall in town centres and how it was measured – it was explained that the Council had been monitoring the data in all the key services centres and had commissioned the use of mobile phone data, which showed where people had travel from to the town centres.
• Progress on the Gypsy traveller transit site – it was reported that work was ongoing to progress the discharge of planning conditions. An application had been submitted to Homes England for additional funding toward development costs which had been successful.  The Council was awaiting the Homes England contract, and if agreed, could progress to the construction stage and start tendering for the work.
• Community Asset Transfer framework – it was stated that consultation had been carried out and a call for site with Parish Councils.  The uptake had not been as significant as anticipated.

The Committee congratulated officers on their hard work during the year and the positive results  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

To consider the Work Programme and determine any required amendments.

The Committee considered its work programme for 2022/23.

It was noted that at present there were eight agenda items listed for the September meeting of the Committee, and it was asked if an earlier start time for that meeting could be considered.

RESOLVED:

That the Work Programme for 2022/23 be noted.