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MINUTES OF THE THIRTY SIXTH
MEETING OF SOUTH EAST ENGLAND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
HELD ON FRIDAY 19 APRIL 2002 AT SEEDA HEADQUARTERS, GUILDFORD
Present
Allan Willett CMG (Chairman), Professor Clive Booth (Deputy Chairman),
Cllr. Ken Bodfish OBE (Deputy Chairman), Sarah Ward OBE DL, Cllr.
Kit Oliver OBE DL, Caroline Williams, Dr Peter Read CBE, Janis
Kong OBE, James Brathwaite CBE, Barry Camfield, Mary McAnally,
Robert Douglas, Elizabeth Brighouse, Cllr. Ken Thornber CBE
Apologies for absence
Cllr. Kevin Wilson
In Attendance
David Shakespeare (Chair, South East England Regional Assembly),
Charlotte Dixon (Acting Regional Director, GO-SE), Paul Bevan
(Chief Executive, South East England Regional Assembly), Anthony
Dunnett (Chief Executive), Jeff Alexander (Agency Secretary and
Director, Strategy and Corporate Services), Phil Bailey (SEEDA,
Head of Secretariat), Paul Hudson (SEEDA, Director, Regeneration
and Infrastructure), Marianne Neville-Rolfe (SEEDA, Director,
Business and International Division),
Summary of Meeting
1. The Board :-
- Noted the Declaration of interests by Members;
- Received updates on the Regional Venture Capital Fund, Clusters
Week and the Regional Economic Strategy;
- Noted the report by the Chairman;
- Discussed briefly the list of Inward Investment achievements;
- Discussed and noted the Social Inclusion Statement;
- Discussed various matters with the Government Office for the
South East and the Regional Assembly;
- Reviewed and approved the Business and International Accountability
Plan;
- Reviewed and noted the Finance Report and various SEEDA programme
investments.
Declarations of Interest
2. None
Regional Venture Capital Fund (RVCF)
3. The Board noted that commitments to the Fund were close to
the level sought and that options to secure the balance were being
actively pursued.
Chairman's Report
RDA Chairs Meeting (26/27 March)
4. The Chairman noted that George Barlow (Chair of the London
Development Agency was now the RDA Chair of Chairs) and that Lord
Thomas (Chair of the North West Development Agency) had retired.
Economic Partnerships Dinner (16 April)
5. Economic Partnerships had taken the opportunity to reinforce
messages that had been delivered during the consultations on the
RES and they confirmed that they considered that the RES Consultation
continued to proceed well.
Prince's Foundation Dinner (18 April)
6. The Chairman noted that SEEDA was involved with the Prince's
Foundation in a number of ways and asked that a briefing paper
be sent to all Members.
Chairman's Successor
7. The Chairman noted that the advert for his successor had appeared
in the Sunday Times on 7 April. He confirmed that the deadline
for applications was 30 April.
Corporate Plan
8. The Chairman noted and welcomed the response from DTI (Alan
Johnson) on the SEEDA Corporate Plan which, in addition to approving
the plan, accepted the concept of assumptions.
9. The Chairman also raised issues concerning Workforce Development
and Corporate Social Responsibility. The Board agreed that these
issues needed to be discussed in more depth at a future Board
meeting and within the context of the review of the Regional Economic
Strategy.
Clusters Week (April 15-19)
10. The Board noted that SEEDA was the first RDA to promote a
"Clusters Week". The week involved a mixture of events,
workshops involving cluster practitioners from other RDAs and
Dinners. SEEDA had worked closely with Ifor Ffowcs-Williams who
was an expert in micro-clusters.
Inward Investment
11. The Board noted the list of Inward Investment achievements
over the past year. They acknowledged that the report covered
projects involving SEEDA rather than all inward investment to
the South East. They welcomed the spread of successes around the
region, the quality of the companies and that they were drawn
from all parts of the world. The Board agreed that the list of
successes was particularly significant given the global crisis
in business confidence over the past year.
Social Inclusion Statement
12. The Board welcomed the Social Inclusion Statement as a useful
document which would be particularly helpful in their discussions
on the appropriate vision statement for the RES. They noted that
SEEDA had been involved in its preparation, together with GO-SE,
the Regional Assembly RAISE and other partners. The Board reaffirmed
SEEDA's commitment to tackling social exclusion (through economic
inclusion) and noted that social inclusion was a key element of
SEEDA's sustainable development objective.
GO-SE/Regional Assembly Liaison
13. Charlotte Dixon noted that there would be a number of reviews
and strategies for consultation published in the coming months.
They included the ORBIT, Thames Valley and South Coast Multi-modal
Studies, the Regional Transport Strategy consultation document,
Ashford and Milton Keynes studies, the White Paper on Regional
Government, the results of the Comprehensive Spending Review,
South East Ports Strategy, South East Airports Strategy and the
London Spatial Development Strategy
14. The Board discussed the following issues with GO-SE and the
Regional Assembly
Regional Transport Strategy
15. The draft Regional Transport Strategy, prepared by the Regional
Assembly, has been approved by the Assembly's Planning Committee
and will be going forward to the to the Executive Committee on
26 April. It is expected that the public consultation will begin
in June and that the process will be finalised by the November
Plenary. There will be a formal Examination-in-Public before the
Strategy is adopted.
16. Members noted and welcomed the fact that the draft strategy
and the RES Consultation paper were broadly in line. The SEEDA
role was to put together the economic case for infrastructure
improvements and to help promote a holistic solution to the transport
problems in the region.
Regional Economic Strategy Review
17. The meeting noted that SEEDA and the Assembly had worked
well together on the RES Consultation events.
Affordable Housing
18. The Assembly stressed that affordable housing was a priority
for the Assembly. A workshop was being arranged for May and subsequently
a meeting would be held between the South East England Regional
Assembly and the London Development Agency with Lord Falconer.
19. The Board agreed that housing remained a serious concern
and that it impacted on the social inclusion and economic development
agendas and therefore housing should be considered as part of
the review of the RES.
Regional Government White Paper
20. It was agreed that SEEDA and the Regional Assembly should
work on an appropriate response to the White Paper, after it had
been published.
David Shakespeare
21. The Board noted that David Shakespeare would be standing
down as Chair of the Regional Assembly and recorded a formal vote
of thanks to him recognising the important part he had played
in ensuring a close working relationship between the Assembly
and SEEDA.
Business and International Accountability Plan
22. The Board noted that there had been some areas of slippage
against the Accountability Plan but that overall progress against
the six Strategy for Business objectives was on target.
Regional Economic Strategy
23. The Board received an update on the consultation exercise,
noting that the draft document was available on SEEDA's website
and that letters were being written to all partners in the region.
Date of Next Meeting
24. Thursday 23 May 2002, at SEEDA Headquarters, Guildford. Start
time to be 10.30hrs.
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