Agenda item

The Leader of the Council provided the Council with an update of business discussed by Cabinet on 17 January and 7 February 2018 (for copy see file of Minutes).

Councillor L Maddison asked the following question relating to the Cabinet report Item 1, Aykley Heads Strategic Employment Site:

At pages 14 and 15 of the report to Cabinet dated 21st February, reference is made to the Masterplan to attract business to the Aykley Heads site and to develop growth areas for business elsewhere in the County as a result of the development proposals.  Given that there was an aspiration to provide over 2000 jobs on the Durham gate, Spennymoor, site several years ago that has still to be realised could the portfolio holder advise how the investment in Durham will bring added value to other areas of the County and what resource will be made available to encourage developments and economic prosperity across the County, as well as in Durham City.

Councillor C Marshall, Portfolio Holder for Economic Regeneration thanked Councillor Maddison for her question and provided the following response:

The approach that the council had taken was to support market opportunities wherever they arose in the county and the Council had achieved considerable success in this approach.  It was estimated that more than £3bn of new investment was under delivery or planned across the County at this point in time.

To get to this comparatively strong position the council and its partners had planned and brought forward sites across the county over the last 10 years.  These included building on the huge success of Newton Aycliffe Business Park with Forrest Park; the Enterprise Zone at Hawthorn, now Jade; Integra 61 at Bowburn; and the Genesis site in Consett to name but a few.

Schemes could take a long time to come forward but the council was keen to ensure there was a good supply of available employment land in appropriate locations across the county.  The Council’s approach and success could be evidenced by the concerted approach to NetPark in Sedgefield over many years which now saw the regions only science park as an internationally recognised location for science and technology companies.  It was the only science park in the UK with two Catapults: and 6 Centres of Excellence.  As the buildings were 100% full, infrastructure works were on site for Phase 3 and a further building, NETPark Explorer, had been funded and constructed.

The Durhamgate scheme was being delivered by the private sector and itl was hopeful that significant jobs would be delivered at this employment location in coming years.  The development had safeguarded jobs at Black and Decker and recently announced the very positive news about Learning Curve’s expansion as well as provide infrastructure for future employment on this and adjacent sites in Spennymoor.

In order to see the county’s economy grow the Council needed to maximise all of its assets and ensure a spread of investment across the county to create opportunities for local people.  Aykley Heads was the next addition to the county’s portfolio.  It added to the County’s offer, and that of the North East by providing a campus business park in the centre of a historic city, accessible by all modes of transport.

In terms of Aykley Heads, as was set out in the recent Cabinet report, the location and quality of the site was felt by all who have looked at it to present an excellent and indeed once in a generation opportunity for the county.  The Council recognised that opportunities to provide employment prospects to retain talented young people were central to the future of the whole county, but the site was an obvious location to help drive the county’s economy upwards and bring interest and momentum to other sites across the county.

A recent survey of employment opportunities since 2009 had shown that where land and premises were available significant growth was achieved.  Available floorspace in the east of the county had enabled companies to move into readily available premises and supported approximately 47% of all company growth in the county over the last 9-10 years.  This point demonstrated how important having the right infrastructure in place could be in terms of anchoring growth in the county.

The Council’s approach to date had delivered some notable successes, for example 1400 jobs with Hitachi Rail Europe and 150 jobs at Compound Photonics both in Newton Aycliffe, 400 jobs with Atom Bank in Durham city, potentially 1200 jobs at ResQ and 200 jobs at Great Annual Savings, both in Seaham along with 350 jobs with Bristol Laboratories in Peterlee.

Through Finance Durham, the council’s £20m equity investment fund managed by Maven Capital Partners, the Council had also added another major distinguishing factor that it hopes would make Durham an attractive location for companies to locate and grow.  The recent decision to invest £650,000 in Consett-based biomass energy plant SDS Limited would allow SDS to purchase additional machinery to improve efficiency and develop their commercial markets.

When taken together, these initiatives meant that the County could compete for investment in all business sectors, manufacturing, logistics, science and technology and office, across the North.  This grew the County’s economy and provided the best chance for residents and particularly young people, to find good jobs and to stay in Durham.

Councillor A Hopgood asked the following question relating to the Cabinet report Item 1, Aykley Heads Strategic Employment Site:

Given the current traffic issues around the access to the proposed HQ site and the ongoing unaddressed issues on the Aykley Heads site.  How can we be confident that the required infrastructure will be in place to accommodate the increased number in these locations?

Councillor C Marshall, Portfolio Holder for Economic Regeneration thanked Councillor Hopgood for her question and provided the following response:

The Aykley Heads site was attractive in terms of accessibility with easy access to the railway station, public transport and park and ride.  However, it was recognised that in the longer term and in order to enable the full development of the site, there would be wider highway improvements required.  The costs for this were built into the Cabinet report presented last month.  The planning application would have a full traffic impact assessment and this would consider required infrastructure at the various points through the 20 year development and enable scrutiny of the process.

In terms of The Sands site, peak time congestion in any vibrant, healthy and successful city centre was inevitable.  The additional traffic generated as a result of the new Headquarters was relatively low in comparison to the current traffic flows and in the worst case scenario was expected to increase delays on Providence Row from approximately 40 to 44 seconds and as such the spare capacity in the existing network was sufficient to cope.

In addition, with new ways of working, it was expected that the working day would be more flexible and better accessibility meant people would have greater choice in terms of their journey to work.

Councillor M Wilkes asked the following question relating to the Cabinet report Item 3, Capital funding for Bowburn school:

What funding is going to be made available for other capital works in the coming year following the completion of the school survey reports?

Councillor O Gunn, Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People’s Services thanked Councillor Wilkes for his question and provided the following response:

All Local Authorities across the country were given an annual grant from the Department for Education to address the most urgent condition issues in their schools.  The grant allocations for each Local Authority had not yet been announced for 2018/19.

The condition surveys that were being carried out in each maintained school in County Durham would be completed by August 2018.  Once these were completed the Council would have up to date information on the condition of all schools and would be able to prioritise the schools in the most urgent need of capital investment.  Once the Department for Education allocations were announced the Council would be in a better position to say what level of investment would be made in to its schools.

The Council itself had a capital bidding process where all services across the Council were given the opportunity to submit bids for capital funding on an annual basis, so additional funding to top up the Department for Education grant could be bid for by the relevant service area.