Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, including new attendees Sharon Brownlow (attending on behalf of Catapult) and Norman Jennings (Hertfordshire LEP).

The Chair stressed that it was important for the Board to continue to meet during these strange times in order to maintain sight of the vision for Stevenage and to work together to formulate a robust Town Investment Plan (TIP) for submission to the Government.

The Chair accepted that this would be challenging, but had been encouraged by the fact that the conditions for the release of the Growth Deal 3 monies had been met at the last Board meeting, and that work would now focus on the various steps required to produce a robust TIP for Stevenage.

The Board was advised that apologies for absence had been received from Ed Jordan (WENTA), Charles Amies (Homes England) and Stephen Ward (Catapult) (Sharon Brownlow substituting).  Malcolm Evely (Airbus) had advised that, due to a clash of commitments, he would be joining the meeting late.

The following potential conflicts of interest were declared:

Adrian Hawkins – Hertfordshire LEP;

Councillor Sharon Taylor – Stevenage Borough Council; Hertfordshire County Council; and Hertfordshire LEP;

Adam Wood – Hertfordshire LEP

Norman Jennings – Hertfordshire LEP

County Councillor David Williams – Hertfordshire County Council; Hertfordshire LEP; and University of Hertfordshire.

It was AGREED that, in order to negate the need for existing potential conflicts of interest to be declared at each meeting, a list of such interests be maintained for the Board, with only new interests needing to be declared at future meetings.

It was AGREED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Stevenage Development Board held on 20 March 2020 be approved as a correct record.

Chris Barnes (Regeneration Manager, SBC) gave an oral update in respect of the Stevenage Regeneration journey so far.

Chris advised that no major issues had arisen since the previous Board meeting held on 20 March 2020.  The Town Square/North Block works were on hold, with the contractor reviewing the Government guidance for the construction industry to see if operations could re-commence safely and with appropriate social distancing safeguards.

Chris reported that the Queensway North scheme was still on site, operating with about a third of the usual workforce.  Additional sanitising areas had been provided, and social distancing protocols were being enforced.  Many of the smaller sites monitored by the SBC Housing Development Team were continuing to operate, consistent with the Government’s overall desire to maintain work in the construction sector with safe working practices in place.

In terms of emerging projects, Chris explained that SBC officers were working to ensure the pre-planning stages were completed during the lockdown period, in order that these were ready for the next stages when restrictions were lifted.

In response to a question regarding the Stevenage Bus Station project, Chris stated that the planning application had been submitted and a dialogue had continued between the Regeneration and Planning Teams.  A decision had yet to be made as to a method of determining major planning applications during the lockdown period.  Matt Partridge (Chief Executive, SBC) commented that this issue, together with public engagement on planning applications during the lockdown period, was one of the urgent issues for consideration by Borough Council Members and officers.

Andrew Fisher (Barton Wilmore), assisted by Graeme Collinge (Genecon), gave a presentation on a baseline update of information for use in the work on producing a Stevenage Town Investment Plan (TIP).  Andrew commented that this had been prepared using existing evidence bases, policies and strategies and mapping tools.

Andrew presented introductory slides highlighting some key issues; the Strategic context/profile of Stevenage; and existing policies/strategies.

The slides relating to the Housing sector concluded with the following Assets/Opportunities/Challenges:

·           A strong local housing market with rising values;

·           Positive on delivery with a significant number of new homes across a variety of sites, including via the town centre regeneration;

·           A re-balancing of the housing stock to provide quality affordable homes, and a range of private housing including aspirational homes;

·           Stevenage had consistently recorded high levels of affordable housing need and this was a Council priority, with a delivery programme in place to support this;

·           Values depended on more than location, quality remained key, particularly in the town centre; and

·           Significant numbers of additional homes planned for the town centre with approximately one-third consented to date.

The slides relating to the Employment Sector included the following highlights:

·           Key sectors were health, manufacturing, Research & Development (R&D), logistics and retail;

·           The LEP desired growth in the R&D sector had not been capitalised on in the Jobs Growth forecasts;

·           Jobs growth was expected to come from B1(a/b) uses, with a reduction in expected B2 jobs;

·           Key employers in Stevenage were GlaxoSmithKlein, MBDA and Airbus;

·           In terms of community flows, there was low self-containment; 51% of Stevenage residents commuted elsewhere; 54% of Stevenage jobs were taken by in-commuters; there was a highly mobile workforce, but the high value jobs appeared to be taken by people travelling in;

·           In respect of GVA Growth, the Stevenage contribution to the national economy was £2.7Billion; this was approximately 6.6% of the Hertfordshire economy contribution of £40.7Billion; elsewhere, GVA growth over the 2015-18 period was significantly higher than Stevenage’s +3%; and given its assets and status within the A1M Growth Area, there was an opportunity to enhance contributions from Stevenage.

The slides relating to the Retail/Leisure sector concluded with the following Assets/Opportunities/Challenges:

·           The need to diversify the offer beyond retail, noting there were ageing leisure facilities with little evening / night time economy centrally;

·           Relatively low vacancy rates;

·           Close proximity of the town centre to public transport links;

·           Challenge of enticing higher end retailers in a very difficult climate to improve the retail mix and capitalise on Stevenage's wider catchment;

·           Increasing the time shoppers spend within the town centre through temporary attractions, such as pop up stores or markets;

·           Exposure of current retailers given high proportion in the clothing sector;

·           Modern market hall was poorly located, surrounded by service roads; and

·           Leakage of expenditure to other regional town centres.

The slides relating to the Community sector concluded with the following Assets/Opportunities/Challenges:

·           Arts and Leisure Centre and the Swimming Centre were increasingly popular;

·           Re-development needed to improve the quality and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Chair opened a discussion on the impact of Covid-19 on the TIP Programme and on organisations generally.  He commented that much of the work had, of course, focussed on conditions prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, and hence the full impact on the economy would not be known for some time.  However, he hoped the Board Members would be able to engage in the TIP process throughout the lockdown period and afterwards.

The Chair also took the opportunity to thank all the NHS and other Key Workers who were working to keep everyone safe and provided for.

Charlotte Blizzard-Welch (Stevenage CAB) considered that it was important to maintain a watching brief on organisations and businesses that may be struggling to re-open post Covid-19.

Neville Rayner (Groundwork East) stated that 50% of Groundwork East’s staff had been furloughed.  The organisation had offered to local councils, including SBC, the use of its excess vehicles.  Councillor Taylor thanked Neville for this offer and stated that SBC would give it some consideration.

Councillor Taylor explained that the HCC Local Resilience Forum/Strategic Co-ordinating Group was looking at Recovery plans, but was keen to keep as many major projects as possible on track throughout the lockdown period.

Matt Partridge (Chief Executive, SBC) advised that SBC was engaging with the HCC resilience cells, and had a number of local Stevenage cells operating, including a Business Liaison cell.  The Government Business Grants system had commenced, administered by SBC, and over £1.5M had already been paid out to Stevenage businesses.  Advice had been provided to commercial property operators, and support had been provided to WENTA/Business Technology Centre.

Adam Wood (Herts LEP) explained that, once the UK had gone beyond the immediate economic resilience and recovery stage, it would be important that the Board focussed on those projects that could be commenced or re-commenced swiftly.

It was noted that, whilst the Government wished work in the construction industry to continue, there had been problems in the supply chain of available materials for use on site.

Kevin Cowin (Mace Developments) explained that his company was in daily contact with the Government.  Mace currently operated 37 sites in the south-east of England, all of which had been suspended.  The Government had written to the construction sector asking contractors to remain on site where possible and providing advice on a staged re-opening of sites, with safety of workers paramount.  He agreed with the earlier comment that supply chain issues would be critical in keeping sites operational.

Kevin advised that Mace had been involved in the construction of the temporary London Nightingale Hospital, and lessons had been learnt throughout that process.  Safety Guidelines supplied to the construction industry were based on Public Health England advice.  Within the coming week, Kevin hoped to see a number of Mace’s sites safely re-opening.

There was no other business.

Meetings are being held monthly initially to enable the Town Fund proposal to progress.  Some may become workshops for developing the Town Deal proposal.  Meetings will revert to quarterly from late summer onwards.

·      Tuesday, 5 May 2020: 10.00am – 12.00pm

·      Wednesday, 3 June 2020: 2.00pm – 4.00pm

·      Wednesday, 28 July 2020: 10.00am – 12.00pm

·      September 2020 (tbc)

·      December 2020 (tbc)

The Chair advised that the next Board meeting (also likely to be held in a teleconferencing format) would take place at 10.00am on Tuesday, 5 May 2020.

Future meetings were scheduled for:

·           Wednesday, 3 June 2020: 2.00pm – 4.00pm

·           Wednesday, 29 July 2020: 10.00am – 12.00pm

·           September 2020 (date tbc)

·           December 2020 (date tbc)