Agenda item

Consider report by Director of Resilient Communities. (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Director of Resilient Communities which provided Elected Members with an update on the current economic development landscape affecting the Scottish Borders.  The report identified the major policies and strategies that were driving economic development.  The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) was a central pillar of the UK Government’s Levelling Up policy agenda.  The Scottish Borders had been allocated funding of £4,442,628 for UKSPF and a further £927,345 for Multiply, which was concerned with improving numeracy for employability purposes.  It was anticipated that the investment plans for that funding would be agreed by the UK Government in October.  The Levelling Up Fund (LUF) was established by the UK Government during the 2020 Spending Review and prioritised regeneration and growth.  The UK Government issued a Prospectus for a Second Round of bids to the LUF as part of the Chancellor of the Exchequers Spring Statement.  Scottish Borders Council had submitted three funding applications to the LUF for that round, which consisted of applications for its two parliamentary constituencies, each for approximately £20m, and also a Scottish Borders transport bid.  The Scottish Government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (March 2022) was a 10 year strategy which contained priorities and actions towards a wellbeing economy. Within the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal, the Scottish Borders would benefit from £64m of Government investment in ten programmes and projects.  The initial group of projects that had reached Full Business Case stage would be reporting on progress to the Council in the autumn and winter of 2022/23.  The Regional Prosperity Framework (RPF) would build on the ambitions of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland Region Deal.  A ‘Regional Prosperity Delivery Framework’ which took the previously identified nine ‘Big Moves’ and translated those into a Delivery Framework of eight Delivery Programmes supported by a number of specific projects had been developed.  The Regional Economic Strategy (RES) for the South of Scotland of 2021 was a ten-year strategy that sought to maximise economic opportunities in the South of Scotland, which took account of the area’s key challenges.  The six priority themes identified in the RES provided the ambition and intent for the South of Scotland RES Delivery Plan 2022-2025, which comprised actions by South of Scotland Regional Economic Partnership partner organisations, including Scottish Borders Council, and others, based on priorities identified under each theme.  The Director, Resilient Communities welcomed Mr Garry Clark of the Federation of Small Businesses to the first Economic Development themed meeting of the Executive Committee of the new administration and expressed hope that future meetings would be attended by the new representative from the Borders Chambers of Commerce.  The Chief Officer – Economic Development, Ms Samantha Smith presented the report and, in response to comments from Members, explained that work was ongoing to help address the cost of business crisis faced by businesses across the region.  Ms Smith highlighted that further discussions on supporting businesses would be addressed specifically later in the meeting.  Members thanked Officers for their thorough update. 

DECISION

AGREED to:-

(a)        note the information that was provided regarding the current economic development landscape affecting the Scottish Borders; and

(b)       support those projects within the Scottish Borders that had been developed from the various policies and strategy, and also note where future progress on the projects was to be reported to Council.