Agenda item

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

1.1       With reference to paragraph 1 of the Minute of 10 May 2016, 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.  Under the Business section of the update it was reported that for the period 1 April 2016 to 31 August 2016 the Business Gateway team assisted 83 business start-ups, of which 5 had the potential to be high growth.  The advisers had delivered 31 start-up workshops and 21 Growth workshops with 299 attendees.  Officers continued to work with partners on the actions contained in the Hawick Action Plan which included identifying buildings for future development, a workshop with Tourism Businesses on 26 September, survey work and a focus group to discuss the future of the High Street.  This work had resulted in an announcement from the Scottish Government of significant capital investment.

1.2       In terms of Tourism and Events, the “runaway seat” campaign ran from the 2 – 8 August, involving a train seat being placed at secret locations around Edinburgh, Midlothian and the Borders. Using Social media and through the website, people were asked to help find it, and if they did so, upload a picture on Twitter using the #RunawaySeat which entered them into a prize draw.  A partnership of Midlothian and Scottish Borders tourism groups had successfully secured funding to deliver a two year business to business project between both areas.  The project would  start on 1 November, would  have a dedicated PM and Tourism business advisor and would deliver: (a) a travel trade development programme; (b) joint packaging and ticketing for the Railway; (c) World Host Training for businesses in both area; (d) digital tourism training; (e) digital apps; and (f) fam trips, market research and benchmarking.  There had been a good response to the Scottish Borders Tourism Cycling Strategy consultation.  A final version of this would be brought to the Executive Committee at the beginning of November.

1.3       In terms of funding, the LEADER Local Action Group met in July 2016 and approved grant funding of £74,739 to three projects, with total project values of £145,859.  Two approvals were for community groups, the third was grant funding for a rural business and a fourth community group application was rejected by the panel.  Applications for Round 2 closed on 31 August and five project applications for funding would be considered by the Local Action Group at its meeting in October.  The first round of applications to the Forth Fisheries Local Action Group for grant finance from the European Maritime Fisheries Fund would be considered at the Group’s meeting in October 2016.  The Scottish Government had confirmed funding for the Scotland’s Employer Recruitment Incentive (SERI) Scheme in 2016/17.  The Scheme was relaunched on 1 April, targeting young people with multiple barriers to employment.  Barnardo’s Works had been contracted to deliver this scheme, eight places were allocated and five places had been filled to date.

1.4       During the discussions which took place it was noted that some of the directional cycling route signs were faded and Members were advised that signage improvement would be included in the cycling tourism strategy, which aimed to pull together all the different elements which cycling had to offer.  It was confirmed that the Business Gateway workshops operated on a peripatetic basis which was why they were held in Galashiels and Eyemouth this time, with workshops due to take place in other towns in future.  The local business loan fund was being replaced by the Business Loans Scotland fund, although there had been a slight delay in that coming on stream.  The shopfront improvements scheme in Galashiels had now finished and the Galashiels Town Centre Co-ordinator was also coming to an end.  It was confirmed that there was a commitment from Transport Scotland to run steam trains to the Borders and while the Council could try to influence further charter trains coming to the Borders, it could not control the routes used by the individual charter companies.  It was reported that at a meeting of the Cultural Forum held the previous evening, the Forum was still asking for a meeting with railway operators regarding the promotion of arts and crafts in the area and the Corporate Transformation and Services Director advised he would instruct an Officer to take this forward.

DECISION

NOTED the update.