Agenda item

The Chairs of both the York Economic Development Partnership and the York Environment Partnership will be in attendance at the meeting to discuss their ongoing work. They will also be discussing how this scrutiny committee might help the Local Strategic Partnership and work with it in the year ahead. There are no papers attached with this item.

Members received a verbal report from two of the Chairs of the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) in relation to their work.

The first report was from the Chair of the York Economic Development Partnership (YEDP).

The report detailed how the Partnership was established to be an interface between the private sector and the Local Authority. The Partnership’s function was to share economic intelligence about future developments between all partners. In this role it was perceived that the Partnership was a forerunner for the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), but it was unclear as to what its situation, role and function would be following the creation of the LEPs.

The Chair of the YEDP informed Members that a number of businesses were involved in the Partnership including many of the city’s big employers such as Nestlé and CPP. It was reported that the Federation of Small Businesses would also be approached to join the partnership.

Officers confirmed to Members that the YEDP would fulfil an ambassadorial role for all the partners involved.

It was reported that the Partnership had concerns about the lack of a current Local Development Framework (LDF) published plan. This was due to the confusion that could be caused amongst developers in understanding which developments were permitted in the city.  In addition, there were concerns that although there were high skill levels in the city, these were not being retained.

The second report was from the Chair of the York Environment Partnership Board (YEBP). Additional information on the Board was tabled to Members, and this information was attached to the agenda and republished online after the meeting.

Members were informed that the YEBP had a wide ranging agenda, and that four sub groups were created to deal with this. It was reported that groups represented on the Board included two Executive Members from City of York Council, York Civic Trust, Natural England and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust.

It was reported that representatives from the Environment Agency (EA) and the Department for Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) had originally been represented on the Board, but that they did not have any current representation due to a lack of capacity. It was noted that the issue of Climate Change promoted dialogue across the subgroups, where most of the Board’s work took place. This allowed for both a regional and national focus through the expertise of different partners. One aspect of the work that had taken place in the subgroups was the launch of a Greener Business website.

Members asked questions about the York Tree Strategy and if expertise from the Forestry Commission had been accessed. They felt that the Council should have an influencing role on the composition of the Strategy.

In relation to a question about carbon modelling, Officers responded that work that had been carried out on this by a specialist group which was working to a 20% reduction in carbon usage by 2020. It was noted that this target had been approved by Council in 2009.

Members thanked both of the Chairs for their informative reports.