Agenda item

Presentation on recent Economic Development progress by the Chief Officer Economic Development. (Briefing note attached.)

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS

CHAIRMAN

Councillor Bell chaired the meeting for consideration of the Economic Development business. He thanked Members for agreeing to re-schedule the start of the meeting to allow for a very constructive event which had taken place in Hawick that morning to discuss the situation in the town following the closure of Hawick Knitwear and other matters.  He also thanked the Corporate Transformation and Services Director and Chief Officer Economic Development for organising the event which was attended by the Scottish Government Minister for Business Energy and Tourism and involved 30 businesses.  This was followed by an equally useful meeting at Abbotsford involving the Minister and the Scottish Borders Tourism Partnership.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

4.1       With reference to paragraph 4 of the Minute of 3 November 2015, there had been circulated copies of a briefing note providing an update on recent Economic Development activities. The Chief Officer Economic Development, Mr Bryan McGrath, referred to the paper and highlighted the main points. Members asked for further information about the 7stanes Community Interest Company (CIC), which would cease trading on 31 March 2016.  The Chairman gave assurance that 7stanes remained a powerful brand.  He explained that once Leader funding had come to an end the organisation had been unable to generate sufficient funding from other sources to make it viable in the long term.  The Company would be wound up in a phased manner with any remaining funds being distributed to other charitable organisations dealing with biking.  Future promotion of the 7stanes trails would be managed by Forest Enterprise Scotland (FES) who had the resources and expertise to provide full marketing support to the project.  Under the Business section of the update it was reported that Scotland’s Employer Recruitment Incentive (SERI) Scheme had been put on hold by the Scottish Government.  However the Chairman had been advised that Scottish Government would be re-launching a refined form of the scheme with a sharper focus.

4.2       The report that the Scottish Borders was the pilot area for the launch of ‘Pub is The Hub’ in Scotland was welcomed.  The ‘Pub is the Hub’ organisation had worked with over 500 rural licensees in England and Wales, helping them to diversify their businesses through offering a range of additional services including retail shops, lunch clubs, library services and post offices.  The Scottish Government announced a £30,000 grants fund to support publicans’ investment in diversification projects, the initial projects being in Ettrick and Yarrow, Tweedsmuir and Newcastleton.  With regard to the economic impacts (EI) of events during 2015, reported in the update, the Chief Officer Economic Development was asked how these were evaluated and whether any economic disadvantage was taken into account e.g. financial loss suffered by businesses as a consequence of road closures to support an event.  Mr McGrath advised that there was some refinement in the way economic impact was measured and that there was an attempt to capture other economic effects in each evaluation. 

4.3       In further discussion, Members expressed concern about the effect on the Borders economy of the significant delay in initial payments from Scottish Government to farmers under the new Basic Payment Scheme, which had been promised in December 2015.  Due to sensitive cash flow issues in the agricultural sector this was having a serious effect, not just on farmers, but on other businesses along the supply chain.  In view of the importance of the agricultural industry in the Scottish Borders it was agreed that the Council should support the efforts of the National Farmers Union, in this regard, and express its concern in a letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment about this unsatisfactory situation. With regard to the new Scottish Borders, East Lothian and Fife Fisheries Local Action Group, which was the decision-making body for European Maritime Fisheries Fund local development applications, it was agreed that a letter be sent from the Leader to the Cabinet Secretary to express concern at the delay in the announcement on the value of funding allocated to Fisheries Local Action Groups in Scotland.

DECISION

(a)        NOTED the update.

(b)       AGREED that letters be sent from the Leader to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment to express the Council’s concern in relation to:-

(i)         the delay in initial payments to farmers under the Basic Payment Scheme; and

(ii)        the delay in the announcement of the value of funding allocated to Fisheries Local Action Groups.