Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, including new attendee Sally Ann Forsyth (CEO of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, but representing Herts LEP).

The Chair advised that preliminary work on the Stevenage Town Investment Plan (TIP) was progressing apace, with the Board having met on 3 occasions in a relatively short space of time.  If any Board members felt that they wished to contribute to the process, and had been unable to do so during the meeting, then he would be happy for them to contact him direct.

The Board was advised that apologies for absence had been received from Charles Amies (Homes England), Malcolm Evely (Airbus), Greg Westover (Legal & General) and Steve Finlan (the Wine Society).

The Board received a conflicts of interest list.

County Councillor David Williams asked that his role as Chair of the Hertfordshire Growth Board be added to his conflicts of interest entry in the list.

Sally Ann Forsyth stated that she was also a Board Member of the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

It was AGREED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Stevenage Development Board held on 7 April 2020 be approved as a correct record, subject to an amendment to the final sentence of the sixth paragraph of Minute 7 – Impact of Covid-19 on Programme – to clarify that WENTA was providing support to businesses at the Business Technology Centre.

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

Chris presented a series of photographs which showed progress made on the Queensway North development, the Town Square Public Realm project and the Town Centre North Block scheme.  Other notable projects in the pipeline included the SG1 scheme (on 14.5 acres of town centre land, with 11 development plots and 1,800 new homes).  A planning application had been submitted for the New Bus Interchange (an integrated transport hub for the central parts of the town).

In response to questions, Chris confirmed that

·           pre-Covid lockdown, the public’s response to the regeneration proposals had been mostly positive.  The more the physical works had progressed, the stronger the enthusiasm for the proposals.  This had been aided by enquiries received at the Visitor Centre in the Town Square; and

·           it was likely that there would be increased construction costs due to the delays caused  by Covid-19, although the scale of these was at present unknown.  Every step would be taken to minimise the extent of increased costs.

Andrew Fisher (Barton Wilmore), assisted by Graeme Collinge (Genecon), gave a presentation which provided an update on progress in connection with the production of a Stevenage Town Investment Plan (TIP), in the form of a study of the assets, opportunities, challenges and investment focus for the Development Board.

In terms of Stevenage assets/strengths, Andrew highlighted the following:

·           A strategic location, with good proximity to London and strong rail, road and air infrastructure links;

·           Strong local housing market, with proven demand and values and positive delivery, including via town centre regeneration;

·           Strong and growing economy – manufacturing and science strengths, with bio-science and technology clusters, high skilled employment and high workforce engagement;

·           Significant international businesses located centrally, with major expansion investments being made and over £1bn of private funding invested into the Bioscience cluster;

·           Distinctive New Town Heritage and identity, with an Arts and Culture Strategy in place.  Demand for new and improved arts and leisure offer and celebration of heritage;

·           North Hertfordshire College - rated as a ‘Good Provider’ by OFSTED and with good connections to local businesses and providers and progress being made in local education provision with positive outcomes from several local secondary schools;

·           Positive programme of town centre regeneration and delivery, including land acquisition and public realm investment;

·           Clear future vision and well established public / private partnerships / leadership;

·           Consolidated land ownerships and significant publicly owned land and assets, particularly in the town centre; and

·           Willingness to embrace growth and change and a positive cross organisational partnership approach over recent years.

In relation to Stevenage challenges, Andrew advised that these included:

·           Economic - Low self-containment - Highly mobile workforce, but high value jobs appeared to be taken by people travelling in.  GVA growth in recent years behind Herts/England.;

·           Economic - Physical separation of employment areas and the need to enhance connectivity;

·           Regeneration - Town centre had limited evening economy and still required significant regeneration. Good progress, but lots more to do as part of the £1bn regeneration framework;

·           Regeneration - Potential challenges for current retailers, given high proportion in the clothing sector and desire for a higher-end offer;

·           Regeneration - Lack of employment within the town centre, or other sources of footfall; self-contained due to the way the town was designed and with facilities that have aged around the same time;

·           Infrastructure - Positive moves in transport and infrastructure, but withchallenges still remaining, such as connecting Gunnels Wood Road businesses with the central parts of the town, as well as the rail station connectivity;

·           Infrastructure - Relatively high levels of affordable housing need and this is a Council priority;

·           Infrastructure - All future growth scenarios for Stevenage suggested a deficit in infrastructure funding with forward funding required  consistent with the picture across Hertfordshire;

·           Education/Skills - Workforce engagement was high, but resident earnings were lower than expected;

·           Education/Skills - Lower levels of skills above level 4 and occupations amongst Stevenage’s resident working age-population;

·           Education/Skills - Potential to enhance opportunities, provision and aspiration for higher end  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

[Covered under previous item: Town Investment Plan Progress – see Minute 6 above.]

Norman Jennings (Hertfordshire LEP) reported back on the work of the Skills Sub-Group, established at the Development Board meeting held on 7 April 2020.

Norman advised that the first meeting of the Sub-Group had focussed on three key themes:

·           Opportunities – it was felt the Town Fund and other Regeneration projects provide for a wealth of opportunities, but that with the current rich mix of businesses operating in Stevenage that there had always been and remained some first class opportunities for employment and careers for Stevenage residents.;

·           Capabilities – there was a need to further develop the untapped capabilities of local residents to ensure they were best positioned to maximise the opportunities that currently existed and would hopefully be available in the future.  It was felt that there was good provision available within the town to help develop these capabilities, however there may be a need for greater co-ordination of some of this provision; and

·           Aspirations – as previously mentioned at the Development Board meetings, there was a concern that, as with other local New Towns, there is an opportunity to help look at routes for young people to acquire higher level skills andthere was a need to inspire young people and their influencers to maximise their potential.

In terms of the current position with the labour market, Norman explained that the employment rate for Stevenage grew faster than any other District in 2018, and at circa 84% was the highest in the county, which was a real positive.  Workplace earnings in Stevenage were higher than the county average and second only to St. Albans,.  However, resident earnings were lower than the county average and lowest of all Districts. 

In respect of employment by sector, Norman advised that the top two sectors in Stevenage, accounting for circa 33%, were health & social care and wholesale/retail.  Next highest was professional/scientific and manufacturing, accounting for circa 22%, so again arguably different ends of a spectrum in terms of earnings potential and possible qualifications.

Norman had looked at data which showed first indications of the Covid-19 impact on the labour market, i.e. job posting analytics.  Over past 4 weeks leisure/travel, sales and customer services occupations had seen an average 54% reduction in postings.  Over same period, business/public services and administrative occupations had seen a reduction of 330 postings (33%). Conversely, there had been a smaller reduction in professional scientific and manufacturing occupations.  This highlighted the precarious nature of some of the typically lower qualified jobs.

In relation to skills/qualifications, Norman stated that Stevenage had the lowest percentage of residents with a Level 2 qualification and the second lowest with a Level 4+ qualification.  Apprenticeships were discussed and seen as a positive opportunity for young people.  There had been 660 apprenticeship starts in 2018/19, a 4% reduction on 2017/18, but in the top 4 across all Districts.  Further analysis showed that, as a rough guide, apprenticeship starts accounted for 0.75% of the population, the highest in the county, whereas in St. Albans it was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Chris Barnes (Regeneration Manager, SBC) advised that plans were in place to improve the Stevenage Even Better website, including a new “My Town” section with information about the Town Deal campaign, “Meet the Development Board” pages, and with the ability to add information as the campaign developed.

Chris stated that the new pages would align with the Even Better branding, while being designed slightly differently to create a separation with the existing.  The majority of the content would be taken from the MyTown sections on gov.uk and would encourage visitors to visit the portal and provide their views.  As the campaign developed additional content could include an ‘opportunity map’ of the town, outlining some key investment areas alongside a potential standalone news and reviews/blog section to keep the pages ranking highly and to create a greater separation between the existing Even Better pages and the new MyTown content.

It was AGREED:

1.     That, once agreed, the Vision and Core Values relating to the Development Board and the Town Investment Plan (TIP) be published on the Stevenage Even Better website.

2.     That Board support officers ensure that the social media presence regarding the TIP is maximised in readiness for a publicity campaign as soon as the UK comes out of lockdown.

Town Fund Programme

Matt Partridge (Chief Executive, SBC) asked Karen Hillen (BEIS) if she was able to provide any insight from the Government regarding the Town Fund, and the possibility of it being a factor in the recovery from Covid-19, or it even being enhanced to further aid the recovery.

Karen Hillen replied that any plans to modify the Town Fund Programme in the light of Covid-19 were being worked on by Government officials.  However, she advised that £12.5M of High Street Fund monies had been re-prioritised towards Town Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).  She commented that the Minister was looking for “shovel ready” projects which could proceed as soon as the lockdown restrictions were eased.  Further Government Guidance on Town Deals was expected later in May 2020, although late July 2020 remained the deadline for the first batch of Town Investment Plans to be approved.  If the Stevenage TIP was likely to be ready by late July, then the Development Board should indicate this to the Government as soon as possible.

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.

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

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

·      September 2020 (tbc)

·      December 2020 (tbc)

The Chair thanked everyone for their attendance, and advised that the next Board meeting (also likely to be held in a teleconferencing format) would take place at 2.00pm on Wednesday, 3 June 2020.

Future meetings were scheduled for:

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

·           September 2020 (date tbc)

·           December 2020 (date tbc)