Agenda item

The Leader of the Council, Councillor David Henderson, and the Chief Executive, Garry Payne, will attend the meeting to introduce a report on the draft Business Plan 2019-2023 that has been prepared by the Service Director Performance and Innovation, Marianne Hesketh, who will also be in attendance. 

Members of the committee will have the opportunity to comment and ask questions.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor David Henderson), the Chief Executive (Garry Payne) and the Service Director Performance and Innovation (Marianne Hesketh) attended to present a report on the Draft Business Plan 2019-2023 and to answer questions from the committee.

Councillor Henderson said that the four-year Draft Business Plan had been prepared to coincide with the four-year election cycle. The Draft Plan comprised only items that it was possible for the council to influence.

Members of the committee commented on the Draft Plan and asked a number of questions.

The Chief Executive agreed that, in relation to collaboration with our partners to improve transport infrastructure, it would be helpful to be more specific about who those partners would be (Lancashire County Council and Blackpool Transport, for example).

Councillor Henderson confirmed that the Cabinet and Management Board had played a substantial part in the preparation of the Draft Plan, Management Board having considered it on several occasions.

Garry Payne confirmed that the regeneration team would develop an Economic Development Strategy and would also bring forward the plan for the Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zone. Further development of the vision for an Energy Coast would depend upon what opportunities arose.

In response to a question, Marianne Hesketh detailed a number of technological improvements that were either on-going or imminent, including the Citizens Access Portal, a new payment system to facilitate payments to the council by residents, Modern.gov committee management system and Office 365.

A question was posed about the scope for flexibility in business rates to encourage new start-ups. Marianne Hesketh informed members that advice from the Government on this issue was expected soon.

The point was made that climate change was not explicitly referred to in the Draft Business Plan and, it was suggested, it should be considered in relation to all parts of the Plan as a general principle. Councillor Henderson agreed with the point made, and said that it would be reflected.

A view was put forward that one of the ways by which the council should measure the ambition to have a strong local economy would be to monitor employment levels in the borough. Garry Payne said that such information was not readily or regularly available on a borough-wide basis, but job numbers and growth would be captured in the Hillhouse Implementation Plan.

A comment was made that the council did not measure open space provision, and so would not be prompted to take action if the level of open space available needed addressing. Garry Payne responded by saying that open space was dealt with in the Local Plan, but it was not the role or responsibility of the Local Plan to sort out something that was historically deficient.

The Chairman thanked Councillor Henderson, Garry Payne and Marianne Hesketh for attending the meeting, presenting the Draft Business Plan 2019-2023 and for responding to questions and comments from the committee. 

It was agreed that the comments made by members of the committee would be taken into account before a final version of the Business Plan 2019-2023 was submitted to Full Council for their consideration in March.