Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Andrew Cox and David Warnes – London South East Colleges and Robert Sargent – Acorn Commercial.

Councillor Vanessa Allen and Kate Miller, The Glades apologised for having to leave the meeting early due to other commitments.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11^th October 2016 were agreed, and signed as a correct record. There were no matters arising.

Ms Lai Wah Co, Deputy Agent for Greater London, Bank of England gave a presentation providing an overview of the UK and London economy in terms of recent trends and possible future threats and opportunities for the region.

A copy of the presentation can be found in Appendix 1 attached to the minutes. The areas covered included key economic indicators, prospects for UK GDP growth as forecast in November 2016, and inflation and uncertainty for the UK relating to Brexit.

The attached graph, highlighting economic survey measures of activity, employment and new business, showed that there was not much difference between the London and UK variants. All measures had slowed in the summer of 2016, but had bounced back sharply in the second half of the year. It was felt that this had been largely due to some transactions in the economy not being committed to, both in the run up to and immediately after the EU referendum, including house buying and financial services.

Following the outcome of the Brexit Referendum there had been shock, nervousness and panic which caused survey measures of activity and confidence to plummet. These had contributed to the Bank of England’s gloomy economic forecast in August, and its loosening of monetary policy at that time (a cut in the official interest rate, further quantitative easing and a new lending scheme) to reduce the risk of a mild recession.

The ILO unemployment rate showed that London’s unemployment rate was at a historic low of 5.5%. The UK level was also at its lowest since 2005, against comparable data since 1992.

Although UK CPI inflation had been below the Government’s 2.0% target over the last couple of years, the recent rise had been driven by goods inflation.

The UK’s exchange rate had started to depreciate over a year ago and that had accelerated following the Brexit Referendum. Sterling had fallen nearly 20% against the US dollar and by around 10% against the Euro since the vote. This had already started to feed through to inflation and it was anticipated that more prices would start to reflect that it was more expensive to import goods. It was noted, however, that the sterling depreciation would also make the UK more competitive as exports would become cheaper.

Forecasts were uncertain, but it was expected that growth would slow sharply over the next year or so. It was also expected that CPI inflation would rise sharply over the coming year, to just under 3%. There was a marked slowing in the growth of the London and UK economies expected this year, of around just under a percentage point, in part as business investment was likely to be more restrained. It was noted that more was likely to be known about the shape of the UK’s future potential trading arrangements and how they might affect economic growth once Article 50 was invoked by the end of March 2017.

A discussion took place regarding confidence in the UK’s ability to negotiate successful terms  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Mr Levent Kerimol, Principal Regeneration Officer, Greater London Authority gave a presentation relating to workspace and the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) approach to developing more appropriate workspace across London.

A copy of the presentation can be found in Appendix 2 attached to the minutes. The GLA were concerned as there had historically been a surplus of industrial land across London, but this was now dwindling. Developers of mixed use developments were finding that the non-residential elements were not working, and felt that planning needed to be more specific.

The GLA were working with the London Enterprise Panel to provide incubator and artist workspace, both of which had seen growth over the last few years. Work had been carried out to map available workspace online which was live and updatable. They had worked to get space providers together and advertise borough owned space; funded fit outs and attempted to buy buildings if they did not have planning protections.

Research had been carried out on the value of workspace where they had attempted to pinpoint the economic and social value of setting up and working in a flexible workspace, including monitoring the additional benefits they could provide and measuring their outcomes.

A discussion took place regarding the designation of industrial land within the Local Plan. The London Borough of Bromley was trying to protect its industrial land and felt that a ‘one size fits all’ policy was not appropriate. Mr Kerimol noted that some boroughs should be designating more industrial areas, and that local pride was needed to communicate that they were something to be proud of. A project had taken place in Tottenham to emphasis this, with storytelling by businesses of how they served London.

The Chairman thanked Ms Co and Mr Kerimol for their interesting presentations.

Mr Virgil Rappa, LBB Town Centre Development Project Planner attended to provide an update on Town Centre Development across the Borough. Progress was continuing across the sites that made up the Bromley Town Centre Area Action Plan.

The Council had undertaken a procurement exercise to select a preferred development partner to deliver a residential-led scheme as part of the next phase of development on Opportunity Site G: West of the High Street. Bids were received on 21^st October 2016, with final submissions being made in November 2016. An award of tender report would be submitted to the meeting of the Council’s Executive on 8^th February 2017, providing an officer recommendation for the preferred development partner.

The Draft Local Plan had included a revised policy for former Opportunity Site A: Bromley North Station. The Council was continuing to engage with the Greater London Authority (GLA), residents and businesses, other site owners, Network Rail and developers Prime Place to generate an appropriate development on the site. It was expected that a planning application would be submitted in spring 2017 for the first phase of the project on Sherman Road.

Further public realm improvements were proposed for Bromley Town Centre and plans to take these forward would be presented to the Council’s Executive on 8^th February 2017. (Subsequent to this meeting, this report was deferred to the March meeting of the Council’s Executive.) The ground plane designs had been completed and included new paving, lighting, seating, raised planters and the installation of two free flowing canopy structures. There would be three phases of implementation, the first of which would take place between March and December 2017, to obtain planning permission for the relocation of the market. The second phase would take place between January and August 2018 and see the installation of the new market. The third and final phase would take place between September and November 2018, during which the scheme would reach completion.

At the meeting of the Council’s Executive on 18^th November 2016 the overall scheme design and budget for the Beckenham Town Centre Public Realm Improvements had been agreed. Options for the programme of works were presented to the Beckenham Town Centre Working Group at their meeting on 27^th October 2016, and work was due to start in February 2017. A two day consultation event would take place on the 20^th and 21^st January 2017 for the community to view the final scheme designs, with a separate event for the business community to discuss the scheme being held on 25^th January 2017.

The draft detailed design had been issued for the Orpington Walnuts Shopping Centre Public Realm Scheme. The programme for delivery was being finalised by contractors FM Conway, and would take into consideration the launch of the initial phases of the Berkeley Homes development. It was expected that the final designs and costs would be agreed by the end of January 2017, with preliminary work staring in February 2017. Improvement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5a

Ms Mary Manuel, LBB Head of Planning Strategy and Projects attended to provide an update on the draft Local Plan. The Partnership was advised that the fourth stage of the consultation process had now been undertaken. This had allowed people to comment on legal compliance, soundness of the process and whether they felt that the Council had met its duty to co-operate.

This stage of the consultation had closed on 31^st December 2016, and officers were currently working through the responses before putting them to Members. If Members considered that changes were required to be made, there could be the need for further consultation. It was currently planned for the draft Local Plan to be submitted to the Secretary of State in spring 2017.

RESOLVED that the update on the Local Plan be noted.

Mr Martin Pinnell, LBB Head of Town Centre Management and Business Support, gave an update on Business Improvement Districts and Business Support in Quarter 3, 2016/17.

Two further BIDs were planned for Beckenham and Penge town centres following a feasibility study which had indicated that they could be successful. Specialist BID consultants, Central Management Solutions were now in place and revisiting the feasibility study in order to strengthen the baseline data. Full consultation with businesses would take place in spring 2017, with the proposals going to ballot in October or November 2017.

The Council continues to maintain the relationships with the two BIDs already established in Orpington and Bromley. The Orpington 1^st BID Company intended to apply for a renewal which was due in March 2018. A postal ballot of businesses paying the levy would take place in the month leading up to 2^nd November 2016 for approval to continue. They were currently talking to a consultant to organise the logistics of the work to be undertaken.

It is proposed that Bromley Market would be relocated to Market Square, and would allow a refocus of the market to be high quality and provide a higher level of food retail and service. It was planned that some semi-permanent kiosks would be installed and these could potentially open during the evenings. These proposals would be put to the meeting of the Council’s Executive on 8^th February 2017. (Subsequent to this meeting, this report was deferred to the March meeting of the Council’s Executive.)

As part of the New Homes Bonus, LBB’s contractors were providing ongoing one to one support for retail and catering businesses in Penge. Subject to final agreement on the lease, a pop up shop was due to open by February 2017. Work had also taken place with Penge traders to establish a town centre website to showcase their businesses, www.PengeSE20.co.uk.

With regards to other business support, the Bromley Business Guide 2017 had now been published and copies were distributed to the members of the Partnership. Members were advised that if they required further copies, they could be obtained by contacting Martin Pinnell or visiting www.itslocalbromley.co.uk which listed approximately 3,500 businesses based within the borough.

Planned business support events included two Successful Mums taster sessions on 23^rd January 2017, a marketing workshop on 23^rd February 2017 and a joint event in March with Metro Bank and the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

RESOLVED that the recent work around the Business Improvement Districts and Business Support in the 3^rd Quarter of 2016/17 be noted.

Updates are provided in the relevant sub sections.

Ms Katy Woolcott, London Biggin Hill Airport provided an update on developments at London Biggin Hill Airport following its identification as a Strategic Outer London Development Centre in the London Plan, and as part of the LoCATE (London Centre for Aviation Technology and Enterprise) project which brought together a cluster of modern aviation-related businesses at and around London Biggin Hill Airport to support continued economic development in the area.

London Biggin Hill Airport was currently ahead of budget and fully occupied and building work was continuing on a new hangar. Noise monitors were in place at both ends of the runway and logging noise levels. It was hoped that the airport’s new operating hours would be implemented from the beginning of May 2017.

Talks were currently taking place with a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) operator that were looking to take 400,000 sq. ft. of space at the airport, and potentially increasing this over the next few years. A pre-application would be submitted shortly for the on-site hotel which was desperately needed for crew, pilots and engineers, who currently had to travel ten miles out for accommodation.

The airport’s tenants, Bombardier, currently had full order books, and expected to be fully operational by the middle of 2018. Plans for the on-site Academy were currently in discussion with the land owners, and a valuation of the site would be carried out shortly.

Mr Mike Lewis, Michael Rogers LLP advised members that the level of enquiries received in 2016 had been the same as 2015. There had not been a drop in enquiries following the Brexit Referendum vote in June 2016, there had in fact been a marginal increase. It was noted that there had been a loss of office space, with Bromley only having 5% of their built stock available compared to 10% previously. This reduction was partly due to lack of development and the loss of existing space to residential development.

Rents had increased due to there being greater demand. Commercial rents had only increased over the last five to ten years and rental growth was still needed. Current rates were at £25 per sq. ft., compared to £17-£18 per sq. ft. eighteen months ago.

Mr Colin Maclean, Community Links Bromley informed the Partnership that a Corporate Social Responsibility Expo had taken place on 10^th November 2016. From the initial evaluation it was felt that the previous two events held had been more successful. This event had not received as much response from businesses, although those that had engaged had been very good. A further evaluation of the feedback would be provided at the next meeting of the Partnership.

Ms Kate Miller, The Glades was not present for this agenda item but provided a written update to the Partnership as follows:

•  On 15^th December 2016, intu Properties had sold the shopping centre to Alaska Permanent Fund with the London Borough of Bromley retaining their 15% stake.

•  On 16^th December 2016, the centre rebranding had started to switch the name back to The Glades, and this work was continuing.

•  2016 had finished strongly for the centre. After a tougher start to the year footfall ended at +0.6% with the new restaurants performing very strongly. Gift card sales were +5% compared to last year, with Average Transaction Value increasing by +8%.

•  Recent new tenants, Molton Brown and Bobbi Brown, had good sales in December. Other new tenants included Watch Lab and Lola’s Cupcakes.

•  The centre’s busiest day was Thursday 22^nd December 2016 with over 116,000 customers through the doors.

•  The centre had paid for additional police support on the busiest days, but there had been no significant security issues.

Mr David Warnes and Mr Andrew Cox, London South East Colleges were not present at the meeting but provided a written update to the Partnership as follows:

•  SHaW Futures Academy

The Bromley Educational Trust was launching a public consultation on the education provision for a proposed new specialist secondary school in Bromley - the first of its kind in London. The Science, Health and Wellbeing (SHaW) Futures Academy would offer 11-19 year olds an innovative blend of academic and technical education in a brand new building with industry-standard facilities.

•  The new BR6 Bakehouse

London South East Colleges’ new BR6 Bakehouse, based in Orpington, was now in its final stages of construction. It would open its doors for the very first time in spring 2017. This student-led business would service staff, students and the public with freshly baked cakes, bread and pastries; coffees, teas and a selection of fine wines.

Mr Lee Thomas, Fairlight Group reported that the serviced offices were currently full. Demand was strong and more space was needed for development, particularly sites in central Bromley for building office space.

Ms Liz Waghorn, Jobcentre Plus advised that the number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA), including those claiming Universal Credit, had held steady at 2,606. Claimants in the 18-24 year old category had dropped, but the number of claimants in the 50+ category remained high. It had been announced that there would be a focus on disability and mental health, for which further updates would be provided at future meetings.

Ms Melanie Ross, Barclays Bank PLC informed the Partnership that the Bromley Community Fund would be hosting a quiz night at Bromley Football Club on 9^th February 2017. Members were advised that they could contact Ms Ross at melanie.ross@barclays.com for further information.

Ms Frances Forrest, Your Bromley BID Company advised members that their quarterly networking session would be taking place on 24^th January 2017  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6d

Members of the Partnership considered the forward rolling work programme for the Bromley Economic Partnership for 2016/17.

In considering the next meeting of the Partnership, the Chairman asked for members to send any suggestions for future agenda items to Martin Pinnell, LBB Head of Town Centre Management and Business Support.

No other business was brought to the meeting.

4.00pm, Tuesday 11^th April 2017

4.00pm, Tuesday 11^th April 2017