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SUMMARY BOARD MINUTES OF THE TWENTY FIFTH
MEETING
HELD
ON TUESDAY 22 MARCH 2001 AT SEEDA HEADQUARTERS
Members Present
Allan Willett CMG (Chairman), Professor Clive
Booth, Cllr. Kit Oliver (OBE), Caroline Williams, Janis Kong,
Barry Camfield, Jim Baker, Dr Peter Read CBE, Cllr. David Rogers,
Mary McAnally, Bryan Davies, Cllr. Ken Bodfish OBE, Sarah Ward
OBE (for part of the meeting), Russ Nathan CBE (for part of the
meeting)
Apologies for absence
Cllr. Kevin Wilson
Others in Attendance (for all or part of
meeting)
Anthony Dunnett (Chief Executive), Jeff Alexander
(Agency Secretary), Phil Bailey (SEEDA, Head of Secretariat),
Paul Hudson (SEEDA, Director, Regeneration and Infrastructure),
Justin Elcombe, SEEDA, Chatham Maritime, Project Director)
Summary of Meeting
1. The Board :-
- Considered and discussed the latest position
on the Foot and Mouth crisis;
- Approved the proposed development and investment
strategy for Chatham Maritime;
- Agreed the formation of a reconstituted
Business Board Committee;
- Discussed and noted an update on the Wired
Region;
- Received a report on the Chairman's recent
activities;
- Approved the SEEDA Accountability Plans
on "Rural Economy" and "Communities and Urban
Renaissance";
- Reviewed and noted the Finance Report and
various SEEDA programme investments.
Foot and Mouth Update
2. Sarah Ward, Board Member with responsibility
for Rural Affairs, confirmed that the South East was currently
one of the least affected regions (in terms of the prevalence
of the disease itself) but that eight cases of Foot and Mouth
had been confirmed with three more cases currently been investigated.
She advised the Board that she was supporting the slaughter policy
as a resolution to the crisis. It was noted that a paper was being
prepared that set out the response by SEEDA to the crisis with
the focus on the medium to long term recovery of the region's
rural businesses and tourist industry. Actions by SEEDA included
establishing the Rapid Response Task Force (RRTF).
3. Details of SEEDA's actions and links to other
relevant sites will be placed on SEEDA's web-site.
4. The Chairman added that the RDAs were represented
on the Michael Meacher Rural Task Force by the Chairman and Chief
Executive of SWERDA (Sir Michael Lickiss and Jill Barrow and that
the simple message was that businesses needed support and that
carcasses needed to be disposed of more quickly than at present.
The Chairman would be writing shortly to key partners in the region
to let them know the action taken by SEEDA to date.
5. Members welcomed the initiatives taken by
Sarah Ward and SEEDA. It was noted that the economic consequences
of the crisis were likely to be serious and therefore the RRTF
role in co-ordinating help for business was crucial.
Draft Chatham Maritime Business Plan
6. This item was preceded by a tour of the Chatham
Maritime site.
7. Members were informed that the draft Plan
was directed at achieving an integrated sustainable community
at Chatham Maritime. The overall strategy was to deliver an enhanced
training, learning and skills programme through the proposed expansion
of University places and linking Greenwich and Kent Universities
on the site, promote business expansion through the proposed innovation
centre and provision of move-on space, build tourist, hotel and
retail facilities, provide a new marina of international quality
and provide initiatives to promote high quality urban design in
the housing on St Marys Island. Finally the Chatham Maritime project
should be seen in the overall context of the North Kent regeneration
strategy.
8. The Board were invited to discuss and consider
the project and approve the "medium" investment strategy.
It was noted that the aim was to deliver the strategy at zero
cost and that the full business plan would be subject to a H M
Treasury "Green Book" analysis which would include a
thorough risk appraisal.
9. Members welcomed the plan and approved the
proposed investment and development strategy.
Formation of Business Board Committee
10. Members were reminded that the review of
the Business Committee had concluded that the Committee should
now operate in a similar way to other SEEDA Board Committees.
Members agreed that high calibre business people needed to be
attracted on to the Committee and therefore the key objective
of the Committee should be to advise on strategy and policy in
areas such as the three year Corporate Plan that will be developed
in the Summer and the review of the Regional Economic Strategy;
Wired Region Update
11. The Chief Executive drew Members attention
to the paper and added that:-
- Major telecommunication companies were providing
broadband mapping information but discussions with the companies
were on-going;
- SEEDA was working closely with DTI and that
he sat on the Ministers Steering Group for e:online;
- No guidance was yet available on the use
of the £30m. funding announced in the DTI/DfEE White Paper;
and
12. Members recognised that the Wired Region
project was one of the most important projects being undertaken
by SEEDA because of its economic and regeneration benefits. They
acknowledged that involving businesses at a high level was a critical
issue and noted that consideration was being given to setting
up a ICT Sector Group.
Chairman's Report
13. The Chairman reported that he had attended
a number of meetings with the region's Members of Parliament to
discuss local and regional issues. He had continued with his series
of visits to the local authorities, visiting Slough Borough Council
(21 February 2001) and he had attended an encouraging meeting
of the Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership.
14. The Chief Executive had attended a meeting
on his behalf with the Chancellor, Deputy Prime Minister and other
senior Ministers in Middlesborough. Important announcements had
been made including new financial flexibilities surrounding the
RDAs single budget to be introduced from April 2002 and new resources
for Regional Assemblies to help them expand their role.
Date of Next Meeting
15. Thursday 26 April 2001, at SEEDA Headquarters,
Guildford. Start time to be 10.30hrs.
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