M Crearie, Director of Development & Housing Services; S Roberts, Communications Manager (Chief Executive’s); A Morrison, Head of Regeneration, R Cooper, Economic Development Manager and V Howie, Finance Business Partner (all Development & Housing Services); and A McNaughton, Senior Committee Services Officer (Finance & Resources).

There was submitted a report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to the Paisley Abbey and Abbey Drain project.

The report explained the historic and architectural significance of both Paisley Abbey and the Abbey Drain and their importance to heritage-led regeneration of Paisley town centre. The launch, in 2014, of the Paisley Heritage Regeneration Strategy which recognised that the Abbey had potential to further develop its international visitor attraction had prompted the Abbey and the Presbytery of Greenock & Paisley to revisit their earlier plans to establish a new visitor centre, build an extension to the 4^th Cloister and open the Abbey Drain (Council-owned).  The Abbey had approached the Council to consider a collaborative regeneration project.  The Abbey would seek to secure funding to deliver the projects and it was assumed, that at this stage, the Council would not contribute to the capital cost.

The report advised that in order to understand the joint potential of these projects, a re-scoping exercise should be carried out to define the wider project vision and ambition.  It was proposed that existing approved budgets and arrangements via the Paisley Town Centre Heritage Regeneration Strategic Adviser commission (awarded to SLR Consulting) be used to define the project by reviewing and re-scoping the project elements; prepare a fresh Outline Business Case and delivery strategy; and support the development of a Heritage Lottery Fund Stage 1 funding application.

Councillor Glen, seconded by Councillor Hood, moved (a) that the approach of supporting the Abbey with resources from the Council’s Regeneration Team and established consultancy arrangements to define the project, prepare an Outline Business Case and develop a Stage 1 funding application for submission to the Heritage Lottery Fund, be approved; and (b) that it be noted that the associated spend could be met from approved budgets.

Councillor Andy Doig, seconded by Councillor Nicolson, moved as an amendment that the recommendations in the report include paragraph 2.1(iii) expand the Abbey Drain project to include the Wallace connection both with the Abbey and with Elderslie and also incorporate the connections between the Abbey and the Collegiate Church of Lochwinnoch to promote a comprehensive vision for tourists of early medieval Renfrewshire with the aim of maximising jobs and expanding the local heritage tourism sector.

On the roll being called, the following members voted for the amendment:  Councillors Cameron, Andy Doig, K MacLaren and Nicolson.

The following members voted for the motion:  Councillors Caldwell, Glen, Provost Hall, and Councillors Harte, Holmes, Hood, McCartin, Mullin and J Sharkey.

4 members having voted for the amendment and 9 members having voted for the motion, the motion was accordingly declared carried.

DECIDED:    

(a) That the approach of supporting the Abbey with resources from the Council’s Regeneration Team and established consultancy arrangements to define the project, prepare an Outline Business Case and develop a Stage 1 funding application for submission to the Heritage Lottery Fund, be approved; and

There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to commencement of the meeting.

There was submitted a joint revenue budget monitoring report by the Directors of Finance & Resources and Development & Housing Services for the period 1 April 2015 to 4 March 2016.

DECIDED:    

(a)  That the report be noted; and

(b)  That net budget realignments of £99,000 related to additional resources released by the Scottish Government in relation to the Youth Employment Strategy be noted.

There was submitted a capital budget monitoring report by the Director of Finance & Resources for the period 1 April 2015 to 4 March 2016.

DECIDED:  That the report be noted.

There was submitted an update report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to the establishment of a community-focused economic development team consisting of three Economic Development Officers, in both new and existing roles, working together to increase the amount of funding and support available to third sector organisations in Renfrewshire.

Councillor Glen, seconded by Councillor Hood, moved (a) that the recent formation of the Community Economic Development Team be noted; and (b) that it be agreed that further reports be submitted to this Board to update on progress.

Councillor Nicolson, seconded by Councillor Andy Doig, moved as an amendment that the recommendations in the report include paragraph 2.3 that a specific remit of the Community Economic Development Team be to alleviate the causes of rural poverty in Renfrewshire by working with other initiatives such as the LEADER programme and to utilise appropriate funding, for example the ‘Tackling Poverty Action Fund’ for that aim; and paragraph 2.4 that the next report to this Board specify the increased amount of funding targets that the team were working to achieve in relation to the expended costs and provide details of workload and expected outcomes for the period 2015-2017 in supporting third sector organisations in Renfrewshire.

On the roll being called, the following members voted for the amendment:  Councillors Cameron, Andy Doig, K MacLaren and Nicolson.

The following members voted for the motion:  Councillors Caldwell, Glen, Provost Hall, Councillors Harte, Holmes, Hood, McCartin, Mullin and J Sharkey.

4 members having voted for the amendment and 9 members having voted for the motion, the motion was accordingly declared carried.

DECIDED:

(a)  That the recent formation of the Community Economic Development Team be noted; and

(b)  That it be agreed that further reports be submitted to this Board to update on progress.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to the new Invest in Renfrewshire Recruitment Incentive Programme that commenced on 16 May 2016 and was anticipated to run until 30 June 2018.

The report explained the aims, funding structure and delivery model of the new programme and intimated that the Director of Development & Housing Services had accepted an offer of grant for a maximum of £94,500 to support 21 places in Renfrewshire from the Scotland’s Employer Recruitment Incentive (SERI) delivered by Skills Development Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government.  The report advised the changes to the SERI programme now on offer, including a reduction in the number of supported places available throughout Scotland and a sharper emphasis on the use of SERI funding to delivery outcomes for young people with the greatest barrier to employment.

DECIDED:

(a)  That the action of the Director of Development & Housing Services to accept the offer of grant from Skills Development Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government for the new SERI programme in the period April 2016 to January 2017 be homologated;

(b)  That the changes to the new SERI programme be noted; and

(c)  That the new Invest in Renfrewshire Recruitment Incentive Programme, incorporating SERI, from May 2016 be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to progress made to deliver the Service Improvement Plan over the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016.

The report summarised the main achievements of Development & Housing Services over the year to 31 March 2016 and included, at Appendix 1 to the report, an action plan that monitored progress to date and identified areas where significant advances had been made and actions that had been reviewed or delayed.  A range of performance indicators measuring annual progress to deliver key tasks was set out in a scorecard that formed Appendix 2 to the report.

It was proposed that an update report on the Tourism Strategy be submitted to the next meeting of this Board.  This was agreed.

DECIDED:

(a) That performance indicators and progress made to deliver the Development & Housing Services Service Improvement Plan 2015/18 over the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016 be noted;  and

(b) That it be agreed that an update report on the Tourism Strategy be submitted to the next meeting of this Board.

There was submitted an update report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to progress to deliver the Invest in Renfrewshire – Retail Improvement Scheme (RIS) and seeking agreement to allocate £200,000 to continue the RIS during 2016/17.

The report explained that RIS allowed owners and occupiers of small business properties in established retail areas throughout Renfrewshire to apply for assistance of up to £10,000 (or 80%) of the cost of shop front/front elevation improvements.  Appendices 1 and 2 to the report provided details of the properties that had received support.

Councillor Glen, seconded by Councillor Hood, moved (a) that an allocation of £200,000 from Invest in Renfrewshire funding to continue the Retail Improvement Scheme during 2016/17 be approved; and (b) that the successful delivery of the Retail Improvement Scheme during 2015/16 be noted.

Councillor K MacLaren, seconded by Councillor Andy Doig, moved as an amendment that “£200,000” be deleted from paragraph 2.1(i) and “£500,000” be inserted.

On the roll being called, the following members voted for the amendment:  Councillors Cameron, Andy Doig, McCartin, K MacLaren and Nicolson.

The following members voted for the motion:  Councillors Caldwell, Glen, Provost Hall, and Councillors Harte, Holmes, Hood, Mullin and J Sharkey.

5 members having voted for the amendment and 8 members having voted for the motion, the motion was accordingly declared carried.

DECIDED:

(a) That an allocation of £200,000 from Invest in Renfrewshire funding to continue the Retail Improvement Scheme during 2016/17 be approved; and

(b) That the successful delivery of the Retail Improvement Scheme during 2015/16 be noted.

There was submitted an update report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to Social Enterprises in Renfrewshire.

The report outlined progress made to deliver the Social Enterprise Small Grants Fund during the period April 2015 to April 2016 and advised that more flexibility should be built into the fund by increasing the size of the maximum grant from £5,000 to £10,000 and increasing the annual income maximum from £500,000 to £1 million.  It was envisaged that the majority of grant applications would continue to be for £5,000 or less.  An appendix to the report summarised the awards made from March 2015 to April 2016.

The report advised that a new pilot Community Traineeship Programme had been introduced providing, per trainee, 26 weeks of training within a social enterprise and/or third sector organisation in Renfrewshire.

The report also explained the aims of the Big Issue Invest Scotland Corporate Social Venturing Fund and intimated that the Council had been invited to invest up to £50,000 in the Fund to be committed exclusively to Renfrewshire social enterprises.

DECIDED:

(a) That the continued success of the Social Enterprise Small Grants Fund, with 15 awards made to date to the value of £97,422 be noted;

(b) That the introduction of more flexibility into the Small Grants Fund by amending the existing eligibility criteria to (i) increase the maximum value of the grant from £5,000 to £10,000; and (ii) increase the maximum annual income for applicant organisations from £500,000 to £1 million to enable more mature social enterprises to access the fund thereby achieving wider economic benefit, be approved;

(c) That authority be delegated to the Director of Development & Housing Services to enter into further discussions and negotiations with Big Issue Invest relative to the potential investment by the Council of up to £50,000 in the Scotland Corporate Social Venturing Fund; and

There was submitted an update report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to labour market statistics for Renfrewshire as at 31 January 2016 and providing comparisons, where data was available, with Scottish and UK labour markets.  The Renfrewshire Economic Development Newsletter, dated April 2016, was attached to the report and highlighted that the method of reporting unemployment statistics had been changed nationally to incorporate new experimental Universal Credit figures.

The report indicated that Renfrewshire’s overall Claimant Count (experimental) figure for March 2016 was 2.6% with 2,940 people claiming Job Seekers Allowance.  This represented a higher increase that anticipated but still represented a fall from 2.9% at the same time last year. 

As at November 2014, 605 new businesses had set up in Renfrewshire (610 in 2013) and 465 businesses (445 in 2013) had de-registered (although not necessarily ceasing to trade).  This represented a -0.8% reduction in the number of business births in Renfrewshire which compared well with the Scottish average of -1.4%.  The 4.5% increase in business death rates in Renfrewshire was slightly under the Scottish average of 4.7%.

DECIDED:

(a)  That the change nationally in reporting to provide new experimental statistics incorporating Universal Credit figures be noted; and

(b)  That the most recent business birth and death rates and Renfrewshire’s relative position against the Scottish average be noted.