Please note that the total time allotted for this item is 30 minutes – as set out in the Constitution, Chapter 2, paragraph 3.7(d)
The following item of Opposition Business has been proposed by Cllr N Dixon, seconded by Cllr C Cushing:
There’s mounting concern that this Council isn’t doing enough in terms of supporting the growth of sustainable economic development across the District to retain and grow jobs within existing businesses and to attract inward investment, either for infrastructure or from the arrival of new businesses to areas with the greatest socioeconomic deprivation. Although at least two strands of its Corporate Plan should be capable of delivering new better paid and higher skill career opportunities at scale this Administration is failing to deliver.
In particular, the District, isn’t achieving the creation of new sustainable, high skill career jobs within existing, or new businesses, in proportion with housing growth nor is it attracting infrastructure investment to help support internal growth or to attract new businesses. There’s very little evidence of multi-agency work with adjoining Districts, the County Council, the New Anglia LEP or direct with central government; over the past two years there’s nothing significant to show it has the determination to strive and drive to deliver on these commitments.
In fact, there are good reasons to suggest the socioeconomic deprivation gap across the District is widening mostly because those at the bottom end are becoming more deprived and disadvantaged. When is this Administration going to recognise that situation and what is it going to do, other than drawing up plans devoid of effective action and tangible outcomes, to actually deliver beneficial change to local economies, improve social mobility and community wellbeing?
This motion calls on this Administration to redouble current efforts to:
1. Speak up for North Norfolk to win inward investment and create high skill career jobs on a scale comparable with our neighbouring Districts.
2. Work with partners and others agencies creatively so that North Norfolk isn’t left out of the funding support streams that our neighbouring Councils seem to tap into.
3. Get alongside local businesses keen to grow and expand and cultivate the tentative enquiries from businesses seeking to migrate into North Norfolk.
Minutes:
The following item of Opposition Business had been proposed by Cllr N Dixon and seconded by Cllr C Cushing:
‘There’s mounting concern that this Council isn’t doing enough in terms of supporting the growth of sustainable economic development across the District to retain and grow jobs within existing businesses and to attract inward investment, either for infrastructure or from the arrival of new businesses to areas with the greatest socioeconomic deprivation. Although at least two strands of its Corporate Plan should be capable of delivering new better paid and higher skill career opportunities at scale this Administration is failing to deliver.
In particular, the District, isn’t achieving the creation of new sustainable, high skill career jobs within existing, or new businesses, in proportion with housing growth nor is it attracting infrastructure investment to help support internal growth or to attract new businesses. There’s very little evidence of multi-agency work with adjoining Districts, the County Council, the New Anglia LEP or direct with central government; over the past two years there’s nothing significant to show it has the determination to strive and drive to deliver on these commitments.
In fact, there are good reasons to suggest the socioeconomic deprivation gap across the District is widening mostly because those at the bottom end are becoming more deprived and disadvantaged. When is this Administration going to recognise that situation and what is it going to do, other than drawing up plans devoid of effective action and tangible outcomes, to actually deliver beneficial change to local economies, improve social mobility and community wellbeing?
This motion calls on this Administration to redouble current efforts to:
1. Speak up for North Norfolk to win inward investment and create high skill career jobs on a scale comparable with our neighbouring Districts.
2. Work with partners and others agencies creatively so that North Norfolk isn’t left out of the funding support streams that our neighbouring Councils seem to tap into.
3. Get alongside local businesses keen to grow and expand and cultivate the tentative enquiries from businesses seeking to migrate into North Norfolk.’
Cllr Dixon began by setting out the context behind the motion. He said that local economies were the wealth and revenue creators essential to sustaining the people and fabric of the District. He said that his experience was based on the east of the District but that it was likely to be equally true in relation to the west of the District. He said that while agriculture, tourism and the care sector made up a large part of the district’s economy, there was a reliance on specialist businesses to create well paid, highly skilled work with career opportunities. It was these jobs which raised socio-economic standards, reduced deprivation and improved quality of life. He said that much had been done recently to improve education in schools and raise ambitions amongst the district’s young people. However, many left the District to find quality, well paid jobs once their education was completed. If the Council was to meet the aspirations of such young people, more had to be done to retain specialist businesses and to help them grow. Some needed infrastructure improvements and others needed pump-priming to help them turn ambitious plans into reality. It was also necessary to convert more of the tentative enquiries from businesses wishing to relocate to North Norfolk from outside the area. By doing more, businesses would want to come to North Norfolk and career-minded young people would want to stay. Cllr Dixon the said that boosting business growth was a key strand of the corporate plan which underpinned the success of several other strands. He concluded by saying that he was bringing this matter forward now as it was past the mid-point of the administration. He said that several major housing schemes had been delivered and now the priorities needed to be balanced with investment and support being provided to quality, sustainable businesses. Otherwise the district’s towns would become dormitories with high commuter carbon footprints and low socio-economic performance.
Cllr Cushing reserved his right to speak.
The Chairman then invited Cllr R Kershaw, Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth, to respond. Cllr Kershaw began by asking whether Cllr Dixon had considered the changing of two words in the motion which he had proposed prior to the meeting. Cllr Dixon replied that he had but he felt that he could not accept them as they negated the meaning of the motion.
Cllr Kershaw said that over the previous two years the Council had worked with the Norfolk and Suffolk economic plan and improved the relationship with the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and secured funding for the North Walsham Heritage Action Zone (HAZ), Fakenham infrastructure projects, funding to help with withdrawal of water abstraction licences in the Bure Valley and funding to help relocate agro-tech businesses. However, it was evident with the recent draft of the Norfolk and Suffolk economic plan, that growth and investment was being focussed around the Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge triangle, in line with the levelling up agenda. This was the competition faced by the Council. It had to be acknowledged that the District faced constraints regarding digital and physical infrastructure, transport and training. The growth in offshore electricity production highlighted the shortage of deep harbours needed to sustain such operations. He went onto say that take-up of land at the Broadland Business Park had been slow and that manufacturing had been undermined by retail and food outlets were yet to take up properties. Cllr Kershaw said that throughout the pandemic, the Council had been engaged with a wide range of businesses and had not yet seen the empty shops in the District’s town centres that many other areas such as Norwich had seen. In the 2020/21 Business Rates outturn report, North Norfolk had the third highest levy which indicated business growth. Cllr Kershaw said that the contact that the Council had had with businesses had shown that the future lay with climate change and sustainability. He said that over 25% of jobs in North Norfolk were in the tourism and hospitality sector and there was a growing need in the care and agricultural sectors. There was growth in the digital sector but it was impacted by the slow rollout of broadband and poor mobile connectivity. He concluded by saying that the Council had engaged with the hospitality sector to improve the offering and he outlined recent successes in this sector. Options were also being explored with several partners to look at improving eco-tourism in the District.
Cllr J Rest said that he would have like to have seen some suggested projects listed within the motion. He added that the reference in recommendation 2 ‘to work with partners’, could include other members of the Council. He also asked that if the main opposition group was ever in a position to take any such projects forward that they assessed any long term risk and longevity.
Cllr E Seward said that he supported the aspirations of the motion regarding economic growth but that they must be grounded in evidence and fact. Businesses needed customers to survive.
He then countered the suggestion that there was no evidence of multi-agency work with adjoining districts, saying that he had attended a Norfolk Leader’s meeting earlier that year when Great Yarmouth submitted a bid for the regeneration of the town centre and NNDC had readily supported that bid. The Council recognised that the district would see the benefits of growth in neighbouring areas as it would be bring jobs and residents nearby towns and villages.
In response to the assertion that there was little evidence of work with the New Anglia LEP, Cllr Seward said this wasn’t true. The LEP had contributed £1.3m to the North Walsham HAZ scheme. Regarding the County Council, he said that the Council was working closely with them to support the infrastructure around the large housing scheme in Fakenham. There was also ongoing work at county level on a new bus interchange in North Walsham.
Cllr Seward said that in terms of the ‘growing gap’ and ‘tangible outcomes’, the Council had had to step up during the pandemic and provide support to businesses. Over £126m was distributed businesses was distributed quickly to 5000 small businesses. It was so successful that the Council was congratulated by a Government minister and received a national award. It was in recognition of this achievement that the Government awarded a further £760k recovery and resilience grant to the Council to help support small businesses as they came out of the pandemic.
Cllr Seward said that earlier that day he had attended a briefing with the Norfolk & Suffolk LEP on their economic plan. He reiterated Cllr Kershaw’s earlier comments that North Norfolk needed more help to resist the pull towards the Norwich/Thetford corridor.
In conclusion, Cllr Seward said that this was an ongoing challenge and effort that didn’t begin and end with one administration. He said that when he was elected in 2007 there were three empty sites in North Walsham that were designated for employment land. They remained empty today. This showed the struggle that had gone on for many years and more help was needed from Government to stop the hoarding of land.
Cllr S Penfold said that he had attended several meetings in the past with the Leader of the Opposition, where policy documents and statements had been pulled apart for not being clear and concise. Referencing phrases such a ‘mounting concern’, ‘reasons to suggest’ and ‘get alongside’, Cllr Penfold said that these were vague and not supported with any data or evidence. He felt the motion was poorly worded.
Cllr H Blathwayt referred to Cllr Dixon’s ward of Hoveton, where the boat building industry was thriving. All of them currently had full order books.
Cllr L Shires said that she wanted to talk about some of the data. She said that compared to the England and Norfolk averages, North Norfolk had a higher percentage of residents in employment and a higher percentage in self-employment. The percentage of maths and science apprenticeships was also higher as was the figure for residents working over 45 hours a week. Cllr Shires said that there was an issue regarding the distance of residents from accessing further higher education. The number of residents within 30 minutes travel time was the lowest in Norfolk and this was the same for residents within 60 minutes of education facilities. This was a problem that must be addressed if young people were to get the education they needed to achieve the careers that they deserved.
Cllr Cushing then spoke as seconder of the motion. He said that his view hadn’t been changed by the comments that he had heard. He still believed that the Administration wasn’t doing enough. It was the role of the opposition group to challenge those in control. The Corporate Plan set out clearly the ambitions of the Administration and it was interesting to look at the actions relating to ‘Boosting Business Growth’. Actions such as ‘Growth Sites Delivery Strategy’, ‘develop a mechanism for providing support for business start ups’ ‘Economic Growth Strategy’ and ‘work with partners to identify skills deficiencies and monitor apprenticeships’ were all listed as being delayed due to Covid.
He then spoke about the success of neighbouring councils where investment was much larger and said it was clear that they worked closely together, whilst North Norfolk seemed to remain isolated and disengaged. He acknowledged the investment that was going to North Walsham but questioned that this was evident in other parts of the District such as Fakenham.
Cllr Cushing said that this was the third anniversary of the Liberal Democrat administration taking control of the Council and their achievements were poor in relation to other Councils – he referenced the failure to benefit from the Community Renewal Fund, which was extremely disappointing. In conclusion, he said that Covid was mentioned a lot as a reason for not taking action, yet other local authorities had achieved a lot and they did not use it as an excuse.
The Chairman then invited Cllr Dixon, as proposer of the motion, to close the debate. He said that this was a strategic motion and he felt that it was not appropriate to be drawn into the detail on some of the matters raised. He said that he did not underestimate the enormity of the task, adding that he recognised the efforts and results that were being achieved. It was also not about the distribution of government grants to businesses. It was about quality job creation and business growth in order to address the pockets of deprivation and the socio-economic problems that accompanied them. He asked members to support the motion.
When put to the vote, the recommendations were not supported, with 9 voting in favour and 22 against.