Meeting documents

Cabinet
Tuesday, 7 March 2006

CA070306-14

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ITEM CA14

CABINET - 7 MARCH 2006

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR OXFORDSHIRE

Report by Director for Environment & Economy

Introduction

  1. The Oxfordshire Economic Partnership (OEP) has prepared a draft Economic Development Strategy for Oxfordshire 2006 - 2016 (EDSO) for comment. The purpose of this report is to set out a summary of the main points in the draft document and seek agreement on a suitable response. The EDSO consultation follows the recent consultation on the Regional Economic Strategy, which was the subject of a report to Cabinet on 7 February 2006. In drafting the EDSO specific attention was paid to the need to ensure that it was "aligned" with the draft Regional Economic Strategy (RES).
  2. The intention of the OEP is to redraft the strategy on the basis of comments received and it will be launched in mid-May 2006.
  3. Summary of Main Points of the EDSO

  4. The EDSO has been developed by the OEP with input from Oxfordshire County Council officers as a strategy that will guide the work of all members of the partnership over the next 10 years.
  5. The four main aims of the EDSO are:

    • To improve the competitiveness of Oxfordshire's economy to achieve a GVA per capita that ranks among the top ten sub-regions in Europe
    • To encourage a positive environment for businesses throughout the County
    • That the workforce in Oxfordshire will have the skills and flexibility to sustain a world class economy.
    • To improve Oxfordshire's infrastructure and environment

  1. Monitoring and implementation underpin the EDSO aims; gaining knowledge from and disseminating key information on the economy which will further inform policy and projects in this area. Please see Annex 1 for more information on key issues addressed in the EDSO.
  2. Officer Comments

    Context of EDSO

  3. The aims and objectives of EDSO are aligned with the strategic priorities agreed by the Cabinet for inclusion in the Council’s medium term corporate plan, and particularly with the first:
  4. "To help the economy grow as fast as possible with a real choice of access to jobs, homes, leisure and services and in a way that does not prejudice the future of our environment"

  5. We feel that the EDSO is an invaluable reference document of all the initiatives related to economic development in the county. As such it provides a shared framework within which the partnership members can work. However, there is a need for some restructuring of the document and greater clarity in terms of the overall strategy, key objectives and actions.
  6. In particular the national, regional and local policy context is missing and is crucial in order to increase understanding and acceptance of the strategy by partners and businesses. There needs to be a clearer link to other strategies and plans such as the emerging RES and South East Plan which provide the framework for the development of a strategy for Oxfordshire; for example the Central Oxfordshire sub-regional elements of the South East plan are not mentioned. The EDSO should not be proposing another strategic view of land use when this aspect is a matter for continuing debate through the South East Plan.
  7. There needs to be a clearer position statement that helps with the branding of Oxfordshire. At present there is a statement from Institute for Public Policy Research about the goal for the South East but there is not a clear statement of what is wanted for Oxfordshire. Such a statement would help in taking forward the partnership and EDSO.
  8. The strategy should say some thing clear about the regulations that govern the working relations between the statutory and business sectors. Ideally we should have a joined up regulation regime so that there is not unnecessary duplication between the regulations of public sector agencies – county, districts, environment agency etc
  9. The voluntary and community sector is not mentioned and is an important area that should be added under any objectives for increasing enterprise.
  10. In order to gauge whether the previous EDSO was successful a strategic review should be undertaken and links to good practice from other economic strategies should be included so that we can learn and build upon other successes in this area.
  11. The evidence base used for the draft new EDSO is not extensive and in most cases is in need of updating to the latest statistics. There appears to be a discrepancy between some of the data cited in the EDSO and in the RES, for example over the amount invested in infrastructure per capita.
  12. A monitoring plan should be put in place for the new strategy to continually improve its relevance and performance.
  13. Housing Numbers

  14. One strategic action in the draft EDSO asserts the need for more housing to support the economy. OEP have based this objective on SEEDA research and the RES objective proposing greater numbers of housing than the South East Plan proposes. Further to this objective, the draft EDSO includes also as a next step to "demonstrate evidence for the economic need for housing development. The Council has strongly opposed the amount of housing proposed in the RES. This point has been fed back to the OEP and we have gained their agreement in advance to remove the housing numbers from the EDSO.
  15. Transport

  16. In the introduction to the Environment, it would be helpful to have a paragraph stressing the economic value of having a high quality built and natural environment, e.g. for tourism and attracting (and retaining) high value added business.
  17. Under Investment in Transport Infrastructure, it would be better to say "less is invested in Oxfordshire per capita …" as the current wording could be interpreted as the County Council being "responsible" for lower investment levels.
  18. OCC partnership working with major employers in Headington, particularly with the Health Trusts and the bus operators should be included in the section about Transport Successes. Something like "Currently jointly implementing an agreed strategy on transport and travel, closely linked to the major plans for further development in the Headington area. This includes a comprehensive approach to parking provision and management, development of Park & Ride and dedicated infrastructure for public transport."
  19. The text on the Local Transport Plan can be expanded to include "… a new 5 year plan covering the 2006-2011 period, including:

    • A strategic vision and objectives for Transport in the County
    • How Transport contributes to wider objectives, such as Economic Development
    • A Central Oxfordshire Transport Area, which closely mirrors the central Oxfordshire sub-Region, picking up the key trips within the biggest areas of economic activity and future growth, in particular travel into Oxford and in the Grove/Wantage, Didcot and Harwell area
    • A detailed programme of schemes and measures for the LTP period
    • A series of key indicators, targets and outcomes closely linked to programme delivery and management"

  1. Finally under 5.2, in the penultimate paragraph we suggest a few changes in wording so that it reads "… Didcot; the same is true of developments of national and international significance on the Chilton-Harwell campus. [new para]. ... by road. This will require strategic investment in this corridor to make an impact and the Government’s new Transport Innovation Fund Productivity strand may be an opportunity to secure funding for this"
  2. The EDSO does not address the need for a coordinated approach to meeting statutory responsibilities in the area of disaster planning as covered by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.
  3. Delivery of the EDSO

  4. Partners involved in the Local Area Agreement’s Economic Development and Enterprise block are a key part of realising the EDSO aims. Strong partnerships have been developed through the Local Area Agreement process to deliver both stretch and non stretch projects with examples such as the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership, Street Scene, Rural Strategy, Youth Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Employers and the Area Programme.
  5. Despite this the EDSO does not specify who will be accountable for its ultimate delivery. This needs to be clarified in order to assure that the good intentions of the strategy are translated into effective action.
  6. A summary of the key points and links to where objectives can be found needs to be included so that people can go to the section they are interested in directly.
  7. Conclusions

  8. The EDSO provides a useful introduction to economic development issues in Oxfordshire. It does need to reflect more the wider strategic context provided by the RES and South East Plan. It needs to include more strategic, evidence based objectives with a commitment to deliver the aims for Oxfordshire. The Council is working closely on the redrafting of the strategy offering evidence, data and knowledge in the process.
  9. RECOMMENDATION

  10. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to approve the comments in this report as the Cabinet’s response to the draft Economic Development Strategy for Oxfordshire.

RICHARD DUDDING
Director for Economy & Environment

Bvackground papers: Draft Economic Development Strategy for Oxfordshire (Oxfordshire Economic Partnership)

Contact Officer: Jasmine Pandher, Economic Development Officer, Tel: 01865 815539

March 2006

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