Agenda and minutes

Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings to watch them in person at any of the venues across the County. Publicly accessible meetings held in County Hall will be webcast, which means they are available to be watched live or recorded on our website. Please see our webcasting notice here. The Committee may, in certain circumstances, resolve to hold part of the meeting in private. If this is the case, you will be required to leave the meeting.

Venue: Committee Room 'D' - The Henry Bolingbroke Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Andy Milroy  Tel: 01772 530354 Email:  andy.milroy@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome and Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

The Chairman, Edwin Booth, welcomed all to the meeting.  Director apologies for absence were presented from Councillor Simon Blackburn, Jim Carter, Mike Blackburn, Malcolm McVicar, Cliff Robson, Mike Tynan, Richard Evans, Councillor Stuart Hirst and Mark Smith.


Officer apologies were presented from Ian Young, Harry Catherall, Pam Smith and Jo Turton.

 

The Board noted and approved that David Holmes attend the meeting in an Observer capacity on behalf of Cliff Robson.

2.

Minutes of the meeting held on 16th June 2015 pdf icon PDF 101 KB

Minutes:

As this was a Special Board meeting to solely consider a new Enterprise Zone bid from Hillhouse, it was agreed to defer consideration of the minutes of the previous Board meeting to the next scheduled ordinary Board meeting to be held on 6th October 2015.

3.

Matters Arising

Minutes:

It was agreed that any matters arising from the previous Board meeting held on 16th June 2015 would be deferred, as per the minutes, for consideration at the next ordinary Board meeting to be held on 6th October 2015.

4.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 33 KB

Minutes:

None

5.

Enterprise Zones - New Government Bid Round pdf icon PDF 96 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Martin Kelly introduced a report and presentation regarding the new Government Bid Round with regard to the Enterprise Zones.  It was noted that the Government's summer budget for 2015 signalled the intention to invite a further competitive round of Enterprise Zone buds from Local Enterprise Partnerships.

 

At this stage, an EZ bid in support of Hillhouse International Business Park in Wyre has emerged as the only credible proposal that can be presented to Government by the deadline for new submissions on 18th September 2015 and that a presentation party had been invited to attend the Special Board meeting to present their proposal and answer any questions from the Board. 

 

Mr Kelly emphasised some of the key areas of the LEP's Strategic Economic Plan that the Board may wish to question the presenters on, and ensure the Board satisfies itself of the merits of the Hillhouse proposal.

 

At this point the Hillhouse presentation party were brought into the room.

 

The Hillhouse presentation party consisted of:

 

Mark O'Brien, Managing Director, NPL Energy

Graeme Collinge, Director, GENECON,

Rob Green, Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Economic Development Company

Michael Ryan, Wyre Borough Council

Councillor Peter Murphy, Wyre Borough Council

 

The presentation party gave a detailed overview of the Hillhouse EZ proposal which included potential economic growth, number of jobs projected to be created, investments already made by some of the large businesses that currently occupy the site and a 20 year projection of potential income.

 

The Board sought assurances to a number of queries including commitment of current site occupiers, number of potential jobs created, potential growth and appropriate claw back arrangements being put in place.

 

The Board thanked the Hillhouse presentation party for their attendance.

 

At this point the Hillhouse presentation party left the meeting.

 

The Board considered and deliberated the information received from the Hillhouse presentation party and raised a number of confidential conditions that they would wish be satisfied in order to support the proposal and delegated authority to the Director of Economic Development at Lancashire County Council to inform the presentation party of the Boards decision and the conditions that the Board wished to be satisfied.

 

Resolved:

 

The Board:

 

i.  Considered the merits of the Hillhouse EZ proposal and supporting business case;

ii.  Indicated that, subject to satisfactory responses to the suggested conditions that the Hillhouse EZ proposal is credible and competitive, in terms of delivering local and LEP objectives, and in meeting the Government's decision-making criteria and granted conditional Board approval to the HillHouse EZ proposal;

iii.  Delegated authority to the Director of Economic Development, Lancashire County Council to inform the Hillhouse presentation team of the Boards decision and the conditions that are required to be met, and;

iv.  Subject to the above, authorised the Chair and Vice Chair of the LEP, in conjunction with the Executive Committee, to confirm the LEP's final endorsement of the Hillhouse EZ application by the deadline of 18 September 2015.

6.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

David Taylor, Vice-Chairman, raised the issue of the "Northern Powerhouse" and how the LEP can align itself to play a major role in its development.  The Board agreed a more detailed and extensive discussion is required and needs to be planned into the work programme of future Board meetings.

 

Resolved:  The Board noted the update regarding "Northern Powerhouse".

7.

Date of Next Meeting

Tuesday 6th October 2015 – 6.00pm – Cabinet Room 'D' – The Henry Bolingbroke Room, County Hall, Preston.

Minutes:

It was noted that the next ordinary Board meeting was scheduled to be held on Tuesday 6th October 2015, 6pm in Cabinet Room 'D' – The Henry Bolingbroke Room, County Hall, Preston.