Agenda and minutes

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Members were asked to declare, at this point in the meeting, any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests or any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interest that they might have in respect of the business on the agenda. None were declared.

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It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Councils Public Participation Scheme.

This report provides an update on the progress to date with implementation of the York Economic Strategy, 12 months after adoption. It shall also provide the Committee an opportunity to scrutinise the draft York Tourism Strategy, prior to a report to the Council’s Executive in January 2024.

The Committee were joined by Brendan Paddison from the York Tourism Advisory Board.

Officers introduced the report and provided two clarifications to the report, that the York Economic Strategy was adopted in November 2022 not 2023 and that in paragraph 11 of the report that the task and finish group would start meeting in 2024 not 2023. They outlined that the Economic Strategy aimed to raise living standards and productivity in York. It was noted that there had been positive progress under the strategy but that it was still only in year one of the 10 year strategy.

The Committee discussed the content of the Economic Strategy and were informed that the four key sectors the Council was seeking to grow were rail, tech and creative, bio-economy, and business/professional services. It was also confirmed that the Council were developing a sector development plan for each of these. The Committee enquired about whether the Council had focused on other cities economic strategy and recommended that officers look to develop some case studies to help demonstrate delivery impact.

Members asked about the current state of the good business charter and it was confirmed that workshop events with businesses were arranged for January 2024 to raise awareness of the charter and address issues business’ might have in joining.

Members enquired about how its interventions in York’s economy could be measured. Officers noted that it could be hard to show direct impact, but with an ambitious strategy the plan was to focus on a prioritised delivery plan and delivering activities which can contribute to positive macro-economic changes. It was noted that York’s economy had been performing well during and post the pandemic comparatively to other cities.

The Committee discussed how the strategy could help improve productivity in York and enquired as to how GPA was calculated for those who live in York but work elsewhere. Officers confirmed that they would need to check this.

Mr Paddison introduced the draft Tourism Strategy which would be a relaunch from the original strategy in 2020. He confirmed that the strategy was one for the city not just the Council or Make it York and its six key themes were informed through extensive consultation work.

Members considered the draft Tourism Strategy and recommended that the advisory board seek to set more detailed targets within the strategy. Officers noted this and agreed it would be raised with the advisory board and Make it York.

The Committee recommended that the strategy should have a focus on promoting and developing York as a destination for disabled tourists. They noted the opportunity of the purple pound and suggested improvements should be paired with this in accessible transport and infrastructure, work could also be done with hotels to promote infrastructure improvements such as ceiling hoist rooms. It was also confirmed that the advisory board currently did not have any disability representation, but was seeking to widen the representation of the board.

Members discussed the role of the night time economy in York and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Members are asked to consider the Committee’s work plan for the 2023/24 municipal year.

The Committee considered its program of work for 2023/24. It was confirmed that currently York Central would remain within the remit of Corporate Services, Climate Change and Scrutiny Management Committee as a major project and that the master developer would be invited to attend that Committee. Members discussed the prospect of undertaking task and finish group work and the chair agreed to write to Committee members regarding this ahead of Committee members bringing forward proposals.

Resolved:

                         i.         Noted the Committee work plan for 2023/24;

                        ii.         That the chair would write to Committee members regarding bringing forward task and finish group proposals.

Reason:     To ensure the Committee maintained a program of work.