Agenda item

Further to Minute No. 45 of the meeting of the Improving Places Select Commission held on 14th January, 2015, consideration was given to a presentation from the Economic Development Manager and the Senior Economic Development Officer, concerning the establishment of the Rotherham Growth Plan.

The presentation and subsequent discussion highlighted the following issues:-

-          Rotherham’s overall economic performance compares favourably with other local authority areas within the Sheffield City Region, but there is a gap to national performance which needs to be addressed;

-          Rotherham pupils’ educational performance at GCSE level is good, but becomes worse at the further and higher levels of education;

-          the Growth Plan will help in attracting more businesses with growth potential to the area; in turn, there will be more jobs created, accessible to local residents;

-          the increased gross value added;

-          it was noted that the Advanced Manufacturing Park, at Waverley, requires high-level skills for specific jobs; jobs across the whole Borough area will be available to suit a wide range of skills, making them accessible to all residents;

-          as part of the restructuring of the Local Strategic Partnership, the Local Economy Board will become the Business Growth Board; this process will include an open invitation for people who wish to apply to sit on the Board;

-          a total net jobs growth of 9,125 is expected over the lifetime of the project, which is spread over a range of sectors and includes decreases in medium-low technology, manufacturing and public administration;

-          the vision of the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District for research and development-led enhancement of the Lower Don Valley, including major improvement to transport links within both the Rotherham town centre and the Sheffield city centre; this process would include the potential delivery of the Waverley Link Road;

-          the Growth Plan’s themes - grow existing and develop new businesses; skills for employment and progression; inclusion, well-being and employment; employment land and business premises; housing; the Rotherham town centre and other district centres within the Borough area; transport;

-          there will be a focus on education and schools, to ensure a suitably skilled and enterprising future workforce for the Borough area;

-          transformational projects for the Borough, identified in the Economic Growth Plan – higher education campus in the Rotherham town centre; development of the HS2 high speed railway and proposed interchange/station at Meadowhall; development of the Rotherham town centre, including the Forge Island site and the markets complex; proposals for a major leisure development at the Pithouse West site near to the Rother Valley Country Park;

-          the importance of the higher education campus in improving attainment levels for Rotherham students at NVQ Level 4 and above;

-          the development at Waverley will create income for the Council through increased business rates, plus the New Homes Bonus for any residential development;

-          an update on the progress of the development of the Growth Hub was requested; (information will be provided for Members of this Select Commission);

-          issues arising from the public consultation process which took place during the early months of 2015 : the Economic Growth Plan must have a vision unique to Rotherham, which will come out of the current consultation roadshows; some concern has been raised about sites for major developments, which had been removed from the Economic Growth Plan, subject to the outcome of the Local Plan consultation and approval; further development and monitoring of the Growth Plan’s targets and outputs will be carried out by sub-groups of the new Business Growth Board of the Local Strategic Partnership;

-          whether job losses within the Rotherham Borough area (eg: Tata Steel) might result in land becoming available for the development of light industries; (there will be discussions with the Company);

-          the Economic Growth Plan is to be submitted to the Council meeting to be held on 16th September, 2015, for final approval;

-          the importance of tourism as a means of generating income for the Rotherham Borough area was acknowledged, as was the recent establishment of a Tourism Forum with the Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce; it was suggested that the Government-appointed Commissioners to the Council may wish to review the Council’s involvement in local tourism issues;

-          the comparative development of the Wath-Manvers area, from the late 1980s onwards was praised, although the consequent impact of the additional traffic was also highlighted; the need for improved transport links in this area was also discussed.

Resolved:- (1) That the contents of the presentation be noted.

(2) That progress reports about the Rotherham Growth Plan be submitted annually to meetings of the Improving Places Select Commission.