Issue - meetings

To approve the draft Business Strategy, to form the basis for consultations.

RESOLVED:

(a)         That, subject to the amendment of the objectives in the Strategy, as set out in the minute, the draft Strategy for Business, attached as Appendix 1 to Report Item 4 to the Cabinet; be approved to form the basis for consultation with the New Forest Business Partnership and other relevant partners; prior to it being reviewed by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel in the light of the responses received.

(b)         That a progress report be submitted to the Cabinet in about 6 months’ time.

The Cabinet welcomed and considered a draft strategy to guide the Council’s activities to meet the corporate priority of “Helping Local Business Grow”.  It was opportune to review the Strategy as organisations such as the EM3 Local Enterprise Partnership were also reviewing their strategies, and preparation of the Council’s own local plan, setting the background for achieving prosperity over the next 20 years, was progressing. The draft Strategy was attached as Appendix 1 to the report.

It was important that the Council had a clear strategy in place to allow advantage to be taken of the opportunities that were available for promoting economic and business success and to ensure that the right policy responses were in place for planning, transport, housing and skills.

In addition to the objectives set out in the draft Strategy, Members considered that the improvement of business productivity should be widened to include the maximisation of export opportunities; and that there should be an additional objective of improving the earnings of those people at the lower end of the pay scales.

It was also noted that access to high speed broadband was essential for the growth of small businesses and this was an issue that could usefully be addressed in the developing review of the Local Plan.

Members asked that a progress report be submitted to the Cabinet in about 6 months’ time.

RESOLVED:

(a)        That, subject to the amendment of the objectives in the Strategy, as set out above, the draft Strategy for Business, attached as Appendix 1 to Report Item 4 to the Cabinet; be approved to form the basis for consultation with the New Forest Business Partnership and other relevant partners; prior to it being reviewed by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel in the light of the responses received; and

(b)        That a progress report be submitted to the Cabinet in about 6 months’ time.