Minutes:
Alicia Munday, LBB Interim Assistant Director of Culture and Regeneration attended the meeting to provide an update on the draft Economic Development Strategy.
The Local Authority’s Regeneration Strategy had been adopted in 2020 and set out the importance of the local economy. The timing of the draft Economic Development Strategy was beneficial as it would provide support to the economy and assist in its recovery following the pandemic.
The LBB Interim Assistant Director of Culture and Regeneration informed Members that there were several reasons why an Economic Development Strategy was needed:
- The Borough’s population was growing, and Bromley also had one of the largest older populations in London. This put pressure on health and social care services and there was a lower active workforce compared to other London boroughs.
- There were several advancements in technology taking place and the team had been supporting the roll out of the Digital Infrastructure Work Plan to ensure that the Borough had optimum connectivity.
- The Borough had always had a strong retail offer, with Bromley’s main high street being in the top 50 high streets in the country. However, this retail offer was likely to change at a much faster pace than previously imagined.
- Consideration should also be given to whether the right skills and expertise were being developed for future generations to ensure that residents had the best opportunities to be employed, or retrain and diversify.
- The Borough also needed to make every effort to ensure that land was zoned for employment uses, sufficient to accommodate the premises which we hoped would be needed.
The core purposes of the Strategy were to ensure that Bromley was “open for business” – ready to promote growth; be innovative; allocate the right resources; and support recovery.
The LBB Interim Assistant Director of Culture and Regeneration noted that pre-pandemic, the local economy had been in a strong position – typically seeing a 5% annual growth in GDP, 78% employment rate (7th highest in outer London boroughs), and low unemployment rate (3.7% - 2nd lowest in outer London boroughs). The intention was to return to this position as soon as possible and maintain these benchmarks. With this in mind, the Strategy was seen as facilitating and supporting the local economy to recover and grow through seven key aspirations – Education and Skills; Employment Spaces; Thriving and Investing; High Streets for the Future; Connectivity and Mobility; Promoting Tourism and Culture; and A Green Economy. Overarching these was what they wanted Bromley to be – a Borough where businesses thrived; new businesses wanted to invest; and residents had good skills and benefitted from high levels of investment and employment.
Education and Skills
- Extending and enhancing services in the Borough’s libraries, so they became information and learning hubs of the future.
- Promoting the lifelong learning offer, from good rated schools to a vibrant Further Education and active adult education offer that responded to the changing needs in skills, qualifications, and experience.
- Improving the relationship with Jobcentre Plus and the DWP to ensure that opportunities were promoted for people to contribute to the economy wherever possible. This could include the appointment of liaison officers to assist young people and connect people with the right businesses.
- The local economy would be an inclusive economy, promoting schemes to support businesses to be disability confident as employers and supporting care leavers.
Employment Spaces
- Implementing the economic policies set out in the Local Plan to prevent loss of employment space was a key target.
- Developing supplementary planning documents for Bromley and Orpington to provide guidance to help inform planning applications, and support and facilitate adaptive working spaces that better reflected the new ways of working. Outer London boroughs were considered to be well placed to boost the local economy due to the number of people expected to remain working from home.
Thriving and Investing
- Developing an online portal of advice and services relating to employment and business opportunities.
- The first business lounges, located in libraries, would be launched to assist start-up businesses during the coming months.
- Promoting new enterprises.
- Working with BIDs to support and enhance town centres.
- Creating a productive place for new businesses and positive networking opportunities.
- Ensuring that the Borough’s high streets were well prepared for the changes in consumer behaviour that had been accelerated as a result of the pandemic. Whilst the current focus was heavily on the safe reopening of the high streets, the team was also working with developers to ensure that high streets had a place in the future that was about living, working and entertaining, as much as it was about consumption.
- Work was being undertaken with developers in relation to Orpington to bring about substantial changes, including a new leisure offer, improved public realm, residential offer, community facilities and a new retail offer that would be both vibrant and versatile.
- Work was also being undertaken with the GLA on the ‘High Streets for All’ mission. A further update regarding this programme could be provided at a future meeting of the Partnership.
(ACTION: LBB Interim Assistant Director of Culture and Regeneration)
Connectivity and Mobility
- For Bromley to be a well-connected borough, both physically and digitally, and ensuring that the transport infrastructure adequately supported the projected growth. The Borough was ideally located – just minutes from the M25, and a short train ride into central London, which was an attractive offer for businesses. This reflected the economic opportunities, and a prosperous Borough served everyone well to develop an inclusive economy.
- Championing and leveraging an improved Digital Infrastructure.
Tourism and Culture
- It was widely recognised that a rich cultural offer attracted tourism and had a positive impact on the local economy. The Churchill Theatre alone was credited with attracting circa £4m per year of additional spend into the local economy through associated hospitality offers.
- Work was undertaken with, and support provided to, a number of cultural venues – either through the provision of facilities as a landlord, or through supporting regeneration programmes such as annual open house events.
- The Local Authority managed a popular film service contract, that over recent years had seen films including the Freddie Mercury story, and highly regarded advertisements such as the John Lewis advert being filmed in the Borough. A high-profile documentary recording was currently being hosted and they wished to further grow and develop Bromley’s film service to raise the cultural profile of the Borough.
- Promoting historic and cultural assets, including the Roman Villa, Crystal Palace Park and the Crystal Palace Subway.
A Green Economy
- Ensuring that Capital Schemes were designed to promote a green economy – using modular methods of construction to mitigate the impact on the environment and, wherever possible, sourcing resources from the local area.
- The use of eco-friendly designs, sustainability, promoting green wall spaces and new buildings that reduced energy consumption.
The LBB Interim Assistant Director of Culture and Regeneration highlighted that there was an ambitious timescale for adopting the Strategy, with the aim for the Strategy to adopted by July 2021, and engagement had been taking place over recent weeks. Members of the Partnership were asked to submit any comments, suggestions, or feedback by Friday 14th May 2021.
The Chairman thanked the LBB Interim Assistant Director of Culture and Regeneration for her presentation and congratulated the team for their work on the Strategy. It was noted that sport in the Borough should also be referenced in the document, as this was an important part of the economy.
In response to a question from Councillor Benington, the LBB Interim Assistant Director of Culture and Regeneration confirmed that the Strategy had been shared with London South East Colleges and input had been received from the LBB Director of Education. The document had also been shared with Adult Education as they would be offering opportunities for people to retrain and upskill. The Local Authority had the links and support mechanisms in place with partners which aligned to the Strategy.
Lee Thomas, Fairlight Group noted his admiration of the work being undertaken at London Biggin Hill Airport in terms of the “macro picture”. The new hangar, education facilities and hotel were schemes that had taken several years to establish but would benefit the whole community.
Christopher Evans, Community Links Bromley highlighted that the green element of the Strategy was welcomed. However, it was noted that it currently sat as a standalone aspiration whereas it was considered that this should in fact underpin and crosscut the whole approach of the Strategy. It was further noted that the impact of the pandemic had been uneven, particularly with young people having been adversely affected, and therefore an equalities aspect may also need to be incorporated within the Strategy.
RESOLVED that the Draft Economic Development Strategy Update be noted.