Agenda item

To receive an update from Councillor Colin Dougan on his work during 2019/20 in his capacity as Portfolio Holder for Business and Transformation.

The Committee received a report summarising the work of the Council which was encompassed by the Business and Transformation Portfolio. 

The Portfolio covered a number of areas including: building control, Camberley Theatre, car parking, communications and marketing, corporate property, data protection and freedom of information, economic development and ICT and digital services.

It was reported that the restrictions arising from the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted significantly on the Theatre’s revenue which between 17^th March 2020 and 17^th August 2020 had seen a year on year fall in gross sales of 98% with sales falling from £342,614.40 in 2019 to £7,040.50 in 2020.

Revenue from the town centre car parks, which had seen parking fees suspended during the spring and summer had fallen by approximately 85% when compared to the same period in 2019. However approximately 70% of this lost income would be recoverable under the Government’s Sales, Fees and Charges Reimbursement Scheme.  During the first and second lockdowns income from the car parks had been almost back to their usual levels and it was expected that income from car parking would recover fully once restrictions were lifted.

Initial figures of 11,000 job losses in the Borough over the past year had been queried with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) as being exceptionally high and they were subsequently reduced to 4,000 job losses.  Although this was still a significant reduction in job numbers the fall was attributed to a small number of job losses across a number of companies rather than large number of job losses from a small number of companies.  Over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic to date, there had been a 300% increase in the number of Universal Credit claims being made within the Borough and analysis of these had found that 48% of new claims were being made by those who had been self-employed.

The Council had repurposed the Kevin Cantlon Fund to provide funding for a number of measures to support those who were self-employed and small businesses.  Officers were working with the DWP and Job Centre Plus to develop a Youth Hub in the Borough which would deliver careers support, interview advice and job application support to 18-24 year olds in the Borough who had found themselves out of work or education.  The first tier of the Government’s tiered system of grants to support businesses through the pandemic had now been established in the Borough and officers were waiting for guidance on the tier 2 and 3 support packages before these were rolled out.

The Committee commended the Council’s newsletter Heathscene.  It was acknowledged that it was difficult to ascertain the size of the publication’s impact however there was anecdotal evidence to support that it was valued for example the number of enquiries about the meals at home service increased significantly following the publication of an article about the service.  Furthermore, it was stressed that Heathscene enabled the Council to communicate key messages to those residents who did not use social media.

The Committee commended the quality of the Council’s social media output which had improved in both quality and quantity in recent years.

Other areas of note included:

·         The emerging Local Plan would set out how the Council proposed to encourage new technologies including fibre broadband into the Borough.

·         It was clarified that the Eli Lily site had been sold to an organisation that was projected to bring approximately 650 jobs into the borough.

·         Reports that a number of the TiksPac stands were currently empty would be followed up.

The Committee noted the update.