Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director of Regeneration and Economic Development – presented by the Managing Director, Business Durham.

The Committee considered the report of the Corporate Director, Regeneration and Economic Development which provided members with an update of the work and impact of Business Durham since its previous report in October 2014 (for copy of report, see file of minutes).

Dr S Goon, Managing Director, Business Durham was in attendance to present the report which provided detail of: background to Business Durham; relevant performance data; enterprise, engagement and outreach activity; business engagement; inward investment, innovation; business property and communications.

The Chairman thanked Dr Goon for his report which provided a lot of detailed information for members and suggested that in relation to promoting/marketing the county could they use the marketing approach adopted by Visit County Durham.

The Officer responded that Business Durham does work closely with Visit County Durham and informed members that a recently produced video promoting the County as the City of Light highlights the range of business within County however Visit County Durham and Business Durham target different audiences and therefore cannot always align approaches.

Councillor Temple sought clarification on the number of jobs which were stated on pages 47 and 57 of the report which were different.

The Officer responded that one set of figures were the jobs created and the other figures were the jobs that they hoped to create over a three year period.

Councillor Adam referred to Inward Investment on page 46 of the report and that they had received more enquiries from Europe than the Asian market.

The Officer responded that they had received a lot of interest from Europe due to access and that there can be visa issues with countries outside of Europe.

Councillor Davinson sought clarification as to whether Business Durham intended to deliver more enterprise talks to students. The Officer responded that they were in contact with all schools some engaged with Business Durham but some did not see it as a priority.

Councillor Davinson then referred to Appendix 7 of the report and sought clarification as to why occupancy rates in the West of the county was not doing as well as other areas. The Officer responded that whilst occupancy of St. Stephen’s Court and the Dales Centre was down in other units in the west occupancy was up. In relation to St. Stephen’s Court this was the result of a bad debtor, however hoping that the situation may change in the next financial year. Concerning the Dales Centre the rents had been reviewed which had resulted in one retailer leaving. However the retail units have now been relet. The enterprise centre remains under occupied after it was vacated by two companies for growth reasons and the police who moved to a better location. Business Durham are currently working through some leads but it was currently a tough market. The market for office accommodation is tougher than industrial units, principally because people who need offices have more option to work from home.

Councillor Clare thanked the officer for a detailed positive report and indicated that they were a body with limited income but were making significant achievements. He referred to inward investments and asked if a firm wanted to move into premises quickly but there were no premises available however land was available could the council reduce any of the potential barriers including planning barriers.

The Officer responded that there is a shortage of large square footage factory facilities (20,000 to 40,000 sq foot) and currently there are several enquiries for this size. There is currently a lot of office space in the East and the North of the county. It was confirmed that planners were excellent and were proactive in engaging with companies and the only thing that could be done to improve things is a change in legislation. The cost of building units is expensive for and uneconomic given the level of rental income that would be received.

Councillor Nicholson sought clarification if all land at NETpark, Sedgefield had been used and he welcomed the approach around Health with Business Durham talking to all Trusts to develop Durham’s healthcare offer, as part of the strategy to encourage businesses to locate here, grow here and diversify here and asked how this would progress.

The Officer responded that not all the land at NETpark had been used and that a further 340 hectares of land was available in the next phase, and after this an additional 40 hectares. In relation to Durham’s healthcare offer it was confirmed that the overarching theme for Durham’s healthcare offer is to create Durham as a living lab for innovation in tackling the health causes and consequences of social isolation, essentially stopping people becoming patients. Business Durham is currently in the scoping stage of the project building up links with the various partners and will be looking at health from a commercial perspective. It is intended that a pilot would be run in Durham however it was taking time to establish links with Hospitals to get them to share their data.

Resolved: (i) That the contents of the report be noted.

(ii) That a further update on the work of Business Durham be included in the refresh of the committee’s work programme for 2016/17.