Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Dobbs and Shaheed.  Councillor Sandford was acting as nominated substitute for Councillor Shaheed.

At this point Members must declare whether they have an interest, whether personal or prejudicial, in any of the items on the agenda. Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

No declarations of interest were made.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 January 2011 were approved as a true and accurate record.

To scrutinise the draft Local Area Assessment (LEA) for Peterborough during its consultation phase.

The Scrutiny Commission for Rural Communities received a report which presented the first draft of Peterborough’s Local Economic Assessment (LEA), which had been prepared by Opportunity Peterborough (OP).  The report was presented for discussion and to receive any comments into the ongoing consultation process.

In presenting the item, the Director of Economic Development explained that:

• The LEA had been required by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act (2009) however since the election, the coalition government had withdrawn the guidance on local economic assessments.  Whilst there were no proposals to provide any new guidance, advice from government was that local areas could still chose to produce a LEA.
• Locally the view had been taken that understanding the economic state of the district was essential for planning ahead for the city’s economic growth.  The LEA was currently in draft form and was based on information and data that OP were able to access.  There was not a lot of data available at ward level and rural Cambridgeshire and Leicestershire were in a similar situation.  It was hoped that by working with the Scrutiny Commission for Rural Communities, a way to fill these gaps to create a more dynamic LEA could be found.
• The LEA was not about housing or planning, was but about the economy and finding improvements to tackle worklessness.  This involved working with other departments within the authority.
• The LEA was also about identifying linkages, Peterborough’s relationships with satellite towns, and Peterborough’s strengths and weaknesses as an economic centre.

The Business Intelligence Officer explained that the data for the LEA had come from various sources, but acknowledged that there was a lag with the data, for example some of it was out of date until data from the 2011 census became available.  OP had been meeting regularly with the former East of England Development Agency regarding best practice in LEA development, and had reviewed LEAs from around the country to see what worked.  The LEA had been tailored to Peterborough and the working group was still identifying partners.

The key sections of the LEA included Business and Enterprise, People and Communities, Skills, Worklessness Assessment and Sustainable Economic Growth.  Other authorities had determined that these sections worked well and also reflected issues that had been highlighted by the recession. The Worklessness Assessment was originally a separate document but was now included in the LEA.  The LEA was intended to be a starting point and it was hoped that it would be made more comprehensive as time passed.

The Director of Economic Development explained that officers were still meeting with stakeholders, with a view to a final version of the LEA being available in April 2011.  The Director of Economic Development acknowledged that the document was very long, and that work was being done to simplify it whilst ensuring it remained relevant to Peterborough.

During discussion, the following points were raised:

• Councillor Sanford asked why rural areas did not receive a high profile, with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

It was noted that the work programme for the forthcoming year would be developed at its meeting in June 2011.

The latest version of the Forward Plan, showing details of the key decisions that the Leader of the Council believed the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would be making over the next four months, was received.

No items on the forward plan were identified as areas for scrutiny.

The date of the next meeting is to be confirmed at the Annual Council Meeting which is scheduled to be held on 16 May 2011.

The Chairman advised that the next meeting would be confirmed at the Annual Council Meeting, which was scheduled to be held on 16 May 2011.