Agenda item

Council Strategy 2016-2025: T10 Programme Overviews

A presentation will be made on the work being carried out, as part of the overall Council Strategy for the period 2016 - 2025, in relation to three of the Teignbridge Ten super-projects. These are ten connected areas of work, which will each have a widespread impact on the economy, community wellbeing, and the environment.

 

Neil Blaney, Donna Best and Fergus Pate will present the work of three of the programmes: Going to Town, Investing in Prosperity and Moving up a Gear.

Minutes:

Three presentations were made on the work being carried out, as part of the overall Council Strategy for the period 2016 - 2025, in relation to two of the Teignbridge Ten super-projects. These are ten connected areas of work, which will each have a widespread impact on the economy, community wellbeing, and the environment.

 

Neil Blaney - Economy Manager, Donna Best – Estates Manager, and Fergus Pate – Principal Delivery Officer will present the work of three of the programmes: Going to Town, Investing in Prosperity, and Moving up a Gear.

 

Going to Town: Neil Blaney - Economy Manager

 

The Council Strategy identifies the important role town centres play in providing social, cultural and economic experiences and services to the residents of Teignbridge.

 

The Going to Town programme is focused on how the Council can support the town centres across Teignbridge, with the outcomes sought including:

·      Creating new and expanded businesses, leading to more jobs;

·      Improved local environment;

·      Increased access to essential shopping and other services; and,

·      Bring more visitors to the towns.

 

To deliver those outcomes 7 actions were set out, including:

·      Regeneration and improvement schemes;

·      Running and improving Newton Abbot market;

·      Town centre health checks;

·      Supporting town centre management;

·      Positive application of our regulatory powers;

·      Accessibility and town centre living; and,

·      Supporting quality evening cultural and leisure opportunities.

 

While this project is focused on town centres, there is significant crossover of projects, outcomes and actions with the Investing In Prosperity programme.

 

The biggest progress made over the past three years has been embedding the philosophy and commitments of the Council Strategy into the way we work, ensuring decisions and actions always cross reference back to the strategy. This is an important point to make as it is not a measurable change as such, but an essential cultural shift.

 

There are a number of projects that have been developed over the last three years to deliver on the commitments made under the ‘Going to Town’ project.

 

Physical regeneration and other improvements

·      Newton Abbot: Market Walk purchase and shop front improvements; Market Hall/Alexandra Theatre refurbishment; Summer Nights; Markets Code of Practice being drafted, temporary coach parking, character hunts and walkabout characters. The footfall has increased on these days; and Heritage posts as part of Coastal Communities Team bid.

·      Teignmouth: Brunswick Street Local Development Order; Pavilions Teignmouth has been completed; and officer support has been given to the Taste of the Teign festival.

·      Bovey Tracey: Land for Town Hall project.

 

 Other completed District wide projects included:

 

·      We have met with 5 Town Councils (Ashburton, Bovey Tracey, Chudleigh, Buckfastleigh and Moretonhampstead) to look at the potential for creating a shared Town Centre Manager post. Bovey Tracey and Ashburton Town Councils are interested in taking this further.

·      Regular forums with the chairs of the local chambers of commerce or equivalent.

·      Visit South Devon promoting town centres. Between June 2016 and May 2018 there were a total of 390k views of town centre pages.

·      We have invested in the England’s Coast, and England’s Seafood Coast projects, aimed at the European Market they seek to work with businesses on the coast that have bookable activities, focusing them into one place which can form part of a package of activities for visitors.

·      Economic Development Plan completed and being used as the working plan for the team.

·      Business Charter has been completed and promoted to businesses.

·      Proactive approach to Small Business Rate Relief take up.

 

Future projects include:

Newton Abbot, Teignmouth & Dawlish: Soft market testing for the provision of free town centre Wi-Fi.

Newton Abbot: Future stages of town centre improvements and regeneration

Teignmouth: Brunswick Street development coming forward.

 

Projects need time to develop, and some may not be properly realised until the end of the plan period (or later). Business cases need to be developed and this can take time. To make sure town centre projects are sustainable the Council rely increasingly on local level momentum and buy-in to push the social and cultural improvements within towns.

 

Investing in Prosperity: Donna Best – Estates and Development Manager

 

The Council Strategy highlights the importance of investing in Prosperity, to support the growth of jobs and wealth in the district.   The Council’s role is about good planning, promoting the benefits of our area working closely with partners and businesses and, to direct investment of Council money.

 

Progress highlighted over the last 3 years included the following against the actions identified in the Council Strategy:-

 

1)  Promptly grant planning applications, licences and other regulatory decisions which help create and protect jobs

 

The Council works hard to meet targets for dealing with planning applications within target timescales of 8 weeks for minor planning applications and 13 weeks for major planning applications.  At the end of Q2 2018/2019, performance was well ahead of government targets in this respect. 

 

A Business Charter has been adopted, as part of the Economic Development Plan, which sets out the Council’s commitment to businesses and what they can expect from this.

 

2)     Invest our own money into new commercial and industrial estates and buildings

Ongoing discussions have been held with landowners in relation to the development of land identified for employment and where intervention by the Council may be appropriate.

 

Key initiatives undertaken by the Council to bring new employment opportunities and retention of business include:

·           Acquisition of land, Forde Road, Newton Abbot

·           Acquisition of land and buildings, Minerva Way, Newton Abbot

·           Acquisition of Market Walk Shopping Centre, Newton Abbot

·           Creation of LDO Framework & marketing of Brunswick Street, Teignmouth

 

In addition, on-going discussions with stakeholders to bring forward development of Council owned property at:

·           Land adjacent Silverhills, Decoy, Newton Abbot

·           Land at Forches Cross, Staplehill Road, Newton Abbot

 

3)  Give commercial advice and support to entrepreneurs already in business or thinking of starting up

Businesses in Teignbridge are able to access free advice from the Growth Hub service run on behalf of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership. Since the service started in March 2016, 443 Teignbridge based businesses have interacted with the Growth Hub.

The Economic Development team continues to support businesses seeking to grow, through assistance with finding new sites, accessing funding and making connections with others who can help.

 

Pre-application advice on planning matters is available to all and is currently provided to micro businesses for free.

 

4)  Work with greater Exeter councils to bring businesses into the area

The Councils in the Greater Exeter area to work closely on projects and opportunities, in line with the Shared Economic Strategy. The Economic Development officers from each authority meet monthly to develop the objectives of the Strategy, including data and intelligence gathering of the local markets and economy, access to business advice and economic input into the emerging Greater Exeter Strategic Plan.

 

5)  Work with local businesses to ensure that educators and trainers provide excellent, flexible and up to date courses which properly equip leaners of all ages

The Economic Development team work to link businesses with the South Devon University Technical College, South Devon College and Exeter College. The team also meet with contacts within those organisations to discuss opportunities available, and continues to develop relations with the secondary schools within the district, to create links and identify opportunities for future projects.

In the schools, the predominant engagement is with Business Studies and Design & Technology departments. All schools have been offered the opportunity to take a market stall at Newton Abbot Market where there is an element of their projects that require selling or testing a product.  We are developing new relationships with officers and academics at the University of Exeter in an effort to create 'Innovation Networks'. TDC will use these networks to sign-post businesses and academics to one another when new opportunities arise for collaboration, testing new innovations and getting new technologies to market.

6)  Ensure that our Local Plan and other service reviews continue to prioritise economic development

The Economic Development officers from the Greater Exeter area are continuing to jointly feed into the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan process. East Devon are the nominated lead on behalf of the Economic Development teams and are fully engaged with the drafting of policies and appraisal of options.

At the Teignbridge level, there are on-going internal discussions between the Local Plan and Economic Development team to ensure that policies and allocations in the Local Plan enable the delivery of economic development.

7)  Grasp all reasonable opportunities to improve the area’s economic base, including making bids for funding service expansions and new projects

In 2017/18 around £12.2m was secured through funding bids for growth across Teignbridge. This has included through the LEADER programme (Greater Dartmoor Local Enterprise Action Fund and the South Devon Coastal Local Action Group), the Housing Infrastructure Fund, the Land Release Fund and the Local Government Association Housing Adviser Programme.

In some instances, developer contributions are now collected in lieu of the development of land allocated for employment use.  In excess of £600,000 has been secured o date which can be used by the Council in due course to bring forward schemes that create jobs.

 

8)     Scrutinise the delivery of the ‘Connecting Devon and Somerset’ broadband programme and it’s targets for coverage across

The background to this programme is that there are approximately 67,800 premises (homes or businesses) in Teignbridge, of which around 62,600 have either been delivered or planned for superfast broadband. This leaves around 5,200 premises still without access to superfast broadband.

Gigaclear, responsible for the roll out of the superfast broadband, have recently (Oct 2018) announced significant delays in delivery.  Gigaclear are now preparing a revised rollout programme.  Matthew Barrow from DCC will be presenting an update to members in January (2019).

 

Moving up a Gear: Fergus Pate – Principal Delivery Officer

 

The Council works with partners to help deliver key transport infrastructure to improve its strategic development plans.  The Council’s capital programme is used to invest in transport provision which boosts economic performance, healthy transport choices and sustainable access.

Teignbridge isn’t a transport body, it does not have the statutory duties of DCC, and it does not operate services. However it is a stakeholder and can influence through the following:

-            Strategies and a Local Plan that closely overlap with the duties of such partners.

-            Responsibility for planning decisions and associated transport outcomes.

-            Capital programme funding (including CIL collected from developers) and is in a position to make decisions about allocating those resources to transport projects.

Actions

The highlights are:

Improving the A382

-       A382 CPO inquiry is scheduled for 5 – 8 February

-       Delivery of the first phase from Forches Cross to Newton Abbot is funded but this funding needs to have been spent by spring 2021.  That programme is on course but may involve improvements to the stretch of Exeter Rd between Whitehill Cross and Churchills roundabout in the first instance, with JMII to follow as soon as possible. 

-       The planning application for the A382/383 link is due this winter, which will be around the same time as the planning application for housing led development at Houghton Barton.

Bus improvements and park and ride services

-       An updated scheme for an A30 park and ride is not anticipated soon but examination of the Ide neighbourhood plan recognised some potential at 'Round Field'.

-       Houghton Barton Park and change is expected to come forward alongside future development proposals at Forches Cross.

-       Opportunities for a bus only route between Ashburton Road and Newton Abbot town centre are being investigated.

 

 

 

Supporting new railway stations

 

-       Devon’s bid to Network Rail's industry risk fund for support Marsh Barton Station didn’t succeed. 

-       They are in the process identifying lower cost options and convening Network Rail and DfT to find a way forward.

-       The Heath Rail Link group has agreed a lease of the Heathfield Line with Network Rail.  Officers are ready to provide support where they are able.

-       There is no identified budget for an Exminster Station feasibility study. However, communications were continuing with the Government, Devon County Council and Network Rail, and a funding bid was being put together.

 

Encourage a cycling revolution

 

-       Progress is being made towards delivery of the Ogwell / town centre cycle route with the estates team and National Trust.  This would pass by Bradley Manor and into Bakers Park before joining the existing River Lemon cycle path into town.

-       The Hele Park to town centre phase of the Newton Abbot east west cycle route project is on track

-       The coastal communities bid for the next stage of the Teign Estuary trail between Dawlish and Holcombe has not been successful.  It was vastly oversubscribed and decisions were made, in part, based on where funding has previously been awarded. Teignbridge has benefited from quite a lot.

-       There has been some Teignmouth to Kingsteignton Teign Estuary Trail progress and some encouragement from the Big Lottery fund to make a bid.  There is significant support for this scheme, every time planning consultation is undertaken.

 

Development supported by sustainable transport

 

-  The Council consulted on the draft masterplan for Wolborough at the end of the summer

-  Some detailed work has been undertaken on the best ways to achieve sustainable connections to the town centre and other facilities.

-  Comments have addressed matters like the future treatment of local roads and the importance of providing the infrastructure for early bus services through the site and to the wider area.

-  Revisions to the consultation document will be reported to Planning Committee in December.