[Member of Cabinet to Brief the Panel verbally]
Minutes:
The Deputy Leader stated that he
had 10 priorities for the City’s Economy and believed it was
vital to help get the City through the cost of living crisis. Part
of this was to encourage more local jobs for local people, to work
with and encourage youth employment and to be climate conscious
with the targeting of skills and delivery of employment. Improving
the visitor economy to the City was also key so that more people
visited the City from the local area and further afield to bring
more commerce. He wanted the City to be a caring City, where
residents were looked after, he said work was being targeted at the
care sector, which would also contribute to employment in the area.
Support for communities was paramount, especially during the
cost-of-living crisis; Community Hubs were seen as essential for
this and were delivering services. Thriving families were key to
regenerate the population in the City and maintain its high youth
statistics. Healthier lives policies were being pursued to ensure
the biopolitical strength of the City. All of this was to be
unpinned by an efficient and inclusive local authority.
The Deputy Leader informed the Panel that as part of creating a
thriving local economy, they wanted the bring in a further 30,000
visitors with a predicted boost to local economy of £10
million. They wanted to invest in new jobs, in particular the
creative sector. For Visitor Economy, investment into the City
centre and local towns was being pursued as well as further
investment in the learning sector to help upskill local people.
Collaboration on the I54 site extension and in engaging businesses
had occurred between The City of Wolverhampton Council and South
Staffordshire Council.
The Director of Regeneration then opened a presentation (a copy of
which is attached to the signed minutes). He displayed and summarised a number of projects
which had been delivered: I9, Bilston Urban Village, National
Brownfield Institute, Transport Interchange, I54, I10, The Civic
Halls, Art Gallery. Over the 12 months previous to the Scrutiny
Panel meeting, 9 funding successes had been achieved, with a future
proposal for further funding from the West Midlands Combined
Authority. The Director of Regeneration informed the Panel that
over the previous 12 months, Wolverhampton Employer Support, had
supported 568 businesses which included start
up businesses and had opened up 2529 new job vacancies which
included 89 apprenticeships. He explained future priority projects
were: Horsely Fields, Green Innovation
Corridor, Canalside South, Brewers Yard, Interchange 8, Stream mill
and Sackworks, a Hotel, Commercial
District, City Centre West and St Georges. He covered the City
Investment Priorities for the future 12 months which were: City
Investment Strategy, Working arrangements with the West Midlands
Growth Company, Events and Marketing Plan, Business Week 2023,
IGNITE and WES, Wolverhampton Investment Prospectus, Global West
Midlands, Strategic Relationship Management.
A Councillor praised the comments made but said he would like
thinking to go beyond 12 months and be even more long term.
A member of the Panel queried the reported Hotel project, he
referred to the Birmingham Unite the Union headquarters building
which went a further £60 million over estimated budget and
wanted further oversight to ensure similar mistakes were not made
with the building of the Wolverhampton Hotel, via public
money.
The Deputy Leader replied
emphasising the importance of the Council working with its partners
to invite private investment into the Hotel business. He also
stressed the link with the West Midlands Combined Authority, as
much of the project funding came from that government body.
However, he stated that the work of the City of Wolverhampton
Council and its Officers were the reason why this money was
released as they had demonstrated they used the money
adequately.
The Director of Regeneration informed the Panel that they had done
a supply and demand analysis on the hotel sector, as well as
applying a lessons learned approach from previous projects. He said
that most Hotels outside of London required a public sector subsidy
and they had been liaising with other local authorities to see how
they had done such projects. They had also been approached by other
companies in the City to discuss Hotels which did not require
public sector subsidy which were of a lower end quality and
price.
The Vice Chair discussed the visitor economy and hotel market. He
wanted to know how they planned on working with partners to make
the Hotel more attractive to private investors.
The Director of Regeneration
answered that two approaches could be taken. The first was the
Hotel would be developed through the public sector and then a
franchise procured. The second was working with a private developer
where they would take on the risk and management of the building
instead. He stated that demand side,
there was a strong demand from the private sector for a suitable
hotel to accommodate visitors to some of the major employers in
Wolverhampton and that business was currently being lost to
Birmingham or Stafford. He also stated the University of
Wolverhampton also brought forwards the same demands. The Council was working with consultants to gather
further information on this before they moved forwards.
The Vice Chair asked which British based investors were the Council
speaking to for the project.
The Deputy Leader stated they would speak to anyone who wanted to
invest in the City.
The Director of Regeneration replied that most investment came from
the South East of the country, and that they would also like to get
more investment from the North West. He said a lot of the
investment came from internal investors but that they would also
like to work long term to attract more foreign investment.
Resolved: that the Regeneration team report back to the
Panel when the Visitor Economy is discussed with further details on
investments, subject to the commercially sensitive information
rules.
This was agreed by the Panel.
The paper was agreed and accepted by the Panel.