Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Cllr Jasbinder Dehar.

There were no declarations of interest.

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record]

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 September 2023 were approved as a true and correct record.

[Director of Regeneration alongside Finance team to deliver update to Panel]

The Director of Regeneration discussed the draft budget for 2024/2025.  It was reported back in March 2023, that the Council was faced with a forecast budget deficit of £16.4 million in 2024-2025 rising to £23.1 million over the medium term to 2025-2026.  Work had been on going to reduce the deficit with an update to Cabinet which occurred on the 18 October 2023. The budget deficit reported to Cabinet in October was in the region of £2.6 million. In addition, the budget included efficiency targets which were held corporately at £6.2 million 2023-2024, £2 million of that had been allocated on a recurrent basis. Further efficiency targets of £2.6 million are built into the budget for 2024-2025, taking the overall efficiency target yet to be identified in 2024-2025 to £6.8 million.

He reported that the projected budget deficit budget was rising to over £20 million for 2025-2026. Work would continue to be undertaken to bring forward proposals to set a balanced budget for 2024-2025. The information being presented was a draft budget, subject to change. 

He went on to discuss the uncertainties which were around included future funding, inflationary pressures, demand for services and anticipated pay awards for staff.  

The Director of Regeneration then went onto give an overview of the performance and explained that of the 6 indicators, 3 showed improvement/ sustained performance, 2 showed a decrease in performance and 1 had no update in status.

Number of jobs being safeguarded by city investment had decreased. Business survival rates were high the first year, but lower after 3 years. After increases in the unemployment claimant count through end of 2022-2023, the claimant count for working age residents was stable as of 2023-2024.  The number of apprentices and graduates placed within the Council had doubled across the past 15 months.  Areas of risk related to Adult Education as there had been no growth in grant funding, but the challenge remained to deliver outputs whilst absorbing inflationary pressures to cost. There was risk that inflation could impact on city’s capital scheme projects, and further risk to increasing the City’s events to attract external visitors. Strategic risks registered relevant to the Panel were – High unemployment, city centres (Council led development projects), City Learning Quarter, business support.

The Leader of the Council stated that it was a challenging time for local government across the country. He felt these times brought out the best and the worst, he said it was important the Council dealt with deficits in the short term but said that the Government needed to intervene with all Councils, financially.  He said the Council needed to prioritise the most vulnerable within society, and he felt that the City of Wolverhampton Council did that well.

A Member of the Panel wanted to know how much money the City of Wolverhampton Council had not received from the Conservative government since it came to power in 2010. He referenced business survival rates, where the data showed that businesses in the City of Wolverhampton  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

[Report to be presented to the Panel]

The Head of Policy and Strategy stated that they aimed to support the development of sustainable communities, enable an inclusive low carbon transport network, and secure the potential of the City and the town centre. They had a challenge of a lack of available land for future developments. To improve productivity in the area they planned to help businesses and organisations increase productivity, in particular Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with targeted support, to collaborate with businesses and the University to foster a creative ecosystem, and maximise the investment potential of the City. A Steady increase in skills in the City had occurred over the previous 10 years, to further improve the local populations ability to gain work, they were going to carry out a holistic life approach to education and skills development, try to improve health and well being to remove barriers to employment, and grow community wealth through the Wolverhampton Pound scheme.

The Head of Policy and Strategy remarked they were in the process of developing a new economic performance framework and were working with the Black Country Economic Intelligence Unit to this end.  They had done mapping and data gathering to enable them in the future to deliver a support framework for businesses which would be easy to obtain. Signposting businesses to the right support for them would be the Council’s primary role in the future. The Head of Policy and Strategy then set out the strategy framework key business growth priorities:

·       Business support and finance

·       Leadership and management

·       Workforce development

·       Technology and innovation

·       Green business support

·       Internationalisation

She confirmed they would be bringing a more formal overview of the Business Growth Plan at the next Economy and Growth Scrutiny Panel.

A Panel member stated he felt what was missing from the growth strategy for the City was from the private sector, he stated that he did not feel the Council should rely solely on public works and grant funding. He said i54 was an anomaly to this, he said the i9 was not fully let.  He wanted evidence that showed private businesses were looking to Wolverhampton to invest in and grow the economy. He said he welcomed the devolution deal from the West Midlands Combined Authority but that the City needed more private investment. He criticised the Council’s business support, he said in his opinion they had sent out the wrong message with how they had handled the traders on Victoria Street. He also cited the report from the Wolverhampton Business forum as another example of where he felt the Council was failing. He said these actions sent out the wrong message to businesses at a crucial time when the City needed private investment. He felt the presentation and associated documents did not represent this and wanted the Head of Policy and Strategy to take note of his comment.

The Leader of the Council replied that it was a difficult time in the country, economically, and because of this investors and businesses were more likely to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

[An update to the Panel to be given on progress]

The Director of Regeneration gave some brief background on the history of the former Heath Town Baths building. The Chief Operating Officer stated they were providing a brief update as requested by the Panel at a previous Economy and Growth Scrutiny Panel.  He informed the Panel that a meeting had taken place with Gaddu Associates (GA) on the 16^th October 2023 where further information was requested.

The Director of Regeneration stated that Gaddu Associates were requested to accept the inclusion of an overage agreement to the lease terms that would allow the Council to receive an Overage Payment which would reflect future uplift of land value arising from a change of use/variation to the planning consented scheme. They were asked to provide detail of work specifications, phased/condensed delivery plan including key milestones, updated delivery costs and programme.   They had also been asked to provide guarantee/evidence of source of funding that demonstrated Gaddu Associate’s ability to finance the scheme in absence of HLF grant funding and provide evidence/track record of delivering similar schemes successfully.

The Director of Regenertation stated that on the 9^th November 2023 the Council had requested Gaddu Associates to have submitted by the 17^th November 2023. Gaddu Associates submitted the information on the 21^st November 2023.  They had submitted further information on the day of the Economy and Growth Scrutiny Panel (29^th November 2023) which was being looked at and worked through.

The Chief Operating Officer stated that the Council was ensuring it was doing its due diligence as a Cabinet member had asked them to do, to ensure compliance with the Councils legal obligations, especially value for money for the tax payer. He said there was a strong push from the Leader of the Council to bring the site back into productive use. This was why they had requested the information. He said the key was not the deadline of the 17^th November, but in fact the quality of the information provided. Officers were now working on the information to provide a recommendation to the Leader of the Council.

The Chair noted the update.