Agenda item

Sally Blomfield, Divisional Leader for Planning and Economy introduced the report.  She reminded the Committee that the Economic Development Strategy (EDS), which had been approved by the Council last year, is a delivery tool of the Mid Sussex Corporate Plan objective to deliver sustainable economic growth and of the Mid Sussex District Plan. The EDS sets out a vision and delivery strategy until 2031.  The Strategy contains 65 actions with key measures to monitor progress framed around four key themes: Place, Premises, People and Promotion.    In line with best practice it had been agreed at Scrutiny Committee last year that an Annual Progress Report would be prepared: this is the first report.

The officer highlighted that there was a word missing in paragraph 10, “Significant progress has been made in the delivery of the project, and the six week public engagement exercise has now been completed”. 

A Member asked about the District Plan requirement regarding delivery of jobs and how this was monitored and about the success of town centres.  The officer noted that the District Plan Policy DP1 set out the requirement for 543 new jobs a year and that this would be achieved through a number of different mechanisms including allocating 25 hectares of employment land at Burgess Hill; allocating further employment sites through the Sites DPD; and ensuring effective use of existing employment land by allowing proposals for intensification and expansion..  She highlighted a number of recent permissions which indicated the successful delivery of this Policy including the allocation of 15 hectares, for The Hub, Burgess Hill, Handcross and the employment at Copthorne. The officer advised that the vitality and viability of town and village centres is measured by a range of indicators such as retail performance, vacancy rates and footfall. She noted that there is a profile on the Council’s website which provides base line data for the three town centres.  Judy Holmes, Assistant Chief Executive informed the Committee that the Government provided a formula to calculate the anticipated yield of jobs per square metre of commercial land.

In response to a Member’s question on freehold employment space and the predicted trend for online shopping, the Assistant Chief Executive noted that the Council could not require landowners to sell the freehold of their land for employment.  However, the Council could influence land owners and is currently working with Homes England regarding the future of their employment space at Burgess Hill.  She noted that the vitality of town centres was a national issue, and the Council needed to balance supporting businesses within the planning environment.  The Divisional Leader stated that town centres are not just retail centres, they also play an important role for social and recreational purposes.

A Member asked how the new hotel in Burgess Hill would tie into tourism within the District and if the Council had a dedicated Tourism Officer.  The Divisional Leader noted that although the Council did not have a Tourism Officer, the Regeneration and Economy Team have been tasked to deliver a tourism agenda.  The new hotel will complement the high end hotels within the District by providing accommodation for shorter term visitors such as people on business visits.

In response to a Member’s question the Assistant Chief Executive confirmed that a number of projects were planned to improve connectivity of the cycle network and pedestrian access to employment sites including The Hub, the town centre and railway station. 

The Chairman took Members to the recommendation which was agreed unanimously.

RESOLVED

The Committee noted the progress made in delivering the Economic Development Strategy set out in the report.