Prior to the commencement of the meeting the Convener intimated that this meeting of the Board would be filmed for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council's internet site.

There was submitted a joint revenue and capital budget monitoring report by the Chief Executive, Director of Finance & Resources, and Chief Finance Officer Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership.

The report intimated that the projected revenue outturn as at 13 September 2024 for those services reporting to this Board was an overspend of £6.672 million and the projected capital outturn for the same period was a breakeven position against the revised budget for the year. Revenue and capital budget adjustments were detailed at sections 6 and 7 of the report respectively.

DECIDED:

(a) That the projected revenue outturn overspend of £6.672 million be noted;

(b) That the projected capital outturn breakeven position be noted;

(c) That budget adjustments detailed at sections 6.4 and 7.3 of the report be noted; and

(d) That the budget adjustments proposed at section 6.3 of the report be approved.

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Fairer Renfrewshire Sub-committee held on 13 November 2024, which forms the Appendix to this report.

DECIDED: That the Minute be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to progress made by the Council and its partners to progress the Fairer Renfrewshire programme.

The report provided a summary of the key issues reported to the meeting of the Fairer Renfrewshire Sub-committee held on 13 November 2024 including the cost of living and programme updates; a request for approval from this Policy Board in relation to funding allocations required; detailed priorities over the next three-month period, as set out in section 6 of the report; and provided an update for elected members on work being undertaken to commission a support service for people with a head injury in Renfrewshire, as set out in section 7 of the report.

DECIDED:

(a) That the content of the report and the work being undertaken to progress the Fairer Renfrewshire programme locally be noted;

(b) That an allocation of £50,000 of Fairer Renfrewshire funding, as grant funding to Active Communities to support the continuation of community development activity in Gallowhill following the publication of the Community Needs Assessment referred to in section 5 of the report be approved; and

(c) That the update in relation to the commissioning of a support service for people with a head injury and their families be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to progress on the Council Plan 2022/27. The Council Plan six-monthly progress update was appended to the report.

DECIDED:

(a) That the progress achieved against the strategic outcomes since June 2024, as summarised in Appendix 1 to the report, be noted; and

(b) That it be noted that progress reports would continue to be submitted to this Board every six months.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to progress achieved over the last six months since the approval of OneRen’s annual business plan priorities at the meeting of this Board held on 1 May 2024.

The report provided a summary of progress achieved, included performance information in relation to the first two quarters of 2024/25 and provided a summary of the operating context of the organisation as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

DECIDED: That the update on performance provided within the report, with additional information on activities delivered by One Ren attached at Appendix 1 to the report, be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to Scotland’s census data captured in March 2022.

The report provided a high-level summary and analysis of the census data collected at a Renfrewshire Council area level. Further work had been undertaken to analyse the data and this would be made available to elected members at a ward level. The census data had updated the Council's understanding of it's demography, particularly in relation to  changing population patterns and the diversity of local communities which would inform both service level and strategic programmes of work such as Fairer Renfrewshire.

DECIDED: That the update on the census results for Renfrewshire and the planned briefings at a ward level which would be made available to Elected Members be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the Paisley First Renewal Ballot.

The report detailed the ballot results in favour of the renewal of Paisley First for the five years commencing January 2025, that revisions to the operating agreement for the next term were ongoing and that it was proposed that the Head of Marketing & Communications replace the Head of Economy & Development as the Renfrewshire Council nominated Director on the Board of Paisley First from January 2025.

 

 

DECIDED:

(a) That the result of the renewal ballot for the Paisley First Business Improvement District be noted and that it also be noted that Paisley First was successful in getting approval for a third term as the business improvement district for Paisley Town Centre and that work was ongoing to conclude the required operating agreement between Paisley First and the Council; and

(b) That it be agreed that the Head of Marketing & Communications replace the Head of Economy & Development as the Renfrewshire Council nominated Director on the Board of Paisley First with effect from January 2025.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to a review of the Paisley brand.

The report advised that Paisley was part funded by Future Paisley until 2024 which had enabled place marketing activity and visitor campaigns. Findings of an independent valuation of Paisley brand activity and impact by Mypraxis LLP, commissioned in early 2024, were appended to the report.

DECIDED: That it be agreed that based on the evaluation and review findings, officers from marketing and communications would work with council colleagues and partners to explore six areas of activity and how these might be delivered in future:

1. To provide a Renfrewshire perspective, redevelop the Visit channel of Paisley.is to create visitrenfrewshire – a website to provide traditional visitor information on accommodation and attractions and information on getting to (and around) Renfrewshire. Marketing and Communications would lead work with Economy and Development to develop a plan for this transition. Due to the end of Future Paisley funding, management of the visitor site would require resource to be identified and future visitor campaigns would be required to be fully funded and resourced.

2. To provide specific focus on investor marketing, review and redesign the InvestRenfewshire website, managed by Economy and Development, to become the single online resource for information required by prospective investors and business relocators and the main call to action for inward investment marketing. Invest content currently contained within Paisley would be integrated with InvestRenfrewshire. The design of InvestRenfrewshire would align with the look and feel of Paisley.

3. Through Marketing and Communications, continue the drive to change perceptions of Paisley and support the culmination of a programme of significant regeneration and cultural investment, using Paisley as a campaigning tool within the council’s portfolio, to promote specific Paisley campaigns that had national profile.

4. Through Marketing and Communications and with place partners, establish a formal Renfrewshire marketing group which would have the remit to explore joint marketing opportunities and increase collaboration with place partners in Renfrewshire. This would create opportunities to identify funding for future campaigns and would provide access to new audience channels.

5. Through the Economy and Development service and with place partners, scope a new data ‘dashboard’ which would provide insight and intelligence across culture, tourism and leisure in Renfrewshire to supplement marketing information and provide data to help support business growth/product development as well as monitoring performance of the Tourism Action Plan.

6. Through the Events Service, undertake engagement on the Council’s future events
strategy to enable the development of a sustainable events programme that continued to contribute to Renfrewshire’s visitor offer.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative the the Future Paisley Cultural Regeneration Programme which covered the Council’s cultural regeneration programme from 2018 to April 2024.

The report presented a comprehensive analysis of culture being leveraged to enhance economic, social and community outcomes in Paisley and wider Renfrewshire. The Future Paisley Evaluation Report was appended to the report.

DECIDED:

(a) That the Future Paisley Evaluation Report and the recommendations made for transitioning to the sustainable delivery of cultural strategy be noted;

(b) That it be noted that officers would develop recommendations further, with partners, and integrate culture with service design and delivery where appropriate;

(c) That it be agreed that the remit of Future Paisley Partnership Board would be reviewed, and a report would come back to a future meeting of this Board on the potential for a future partnership to drive cultural regeneration in Renfrewshire; and

(d) That it be noted that a report would be brought back to a meeting of this Board in early 2025 to outline plans for future cultural sector funding support, following engagement with the sector.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure relative to the allocation of £0.8 million to improve artificial playing surfaces across Renfrewshire which had been approved at the Council meeting on February 2024.

The report outlined the grant criteria for funding to be awarded, the governance around the allocation of the fund and the proposed launch of the fund.

DECIDED:

(a) That the grant funding criteria set out in section 4 of the report be approved; and

(b) That it be noted that a further report would be submitted to a future meeting of this Board outlining any proposed projects that would be eligible for grant funding.