Issue - meetings

Councillor Oliver Donachie, the Cabinet Member for Economy and Place, on behalf the Leader of the Council and himself, and the Head of Strategic Growth, submitted a joint report setting out key elements of Swindon Borough Council’s recent engagement with key strategic partners, Swindon & Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (SWLEP) and the Great Western Powerhouse.

Councillor Donachie introduced the joint report and thanked the Council’s staff and the LEP for their prompt response to the Ministry for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to accelerate the approval timetable. Councillor Donachie drew Cabinet’s attention to the cyber-capital opportunities and the business-led multi-campus federation of higher education provision, and the Council’s growth priorities, as set out in the body of the report.

The Deputy Leader of the Council and Vice-Chair of Cabinet added to the discussion by briefing Cabinet on the benefits that could come to the Borough from its participation both in England’s Economic Heartland, which will have a statutory role, and the informal Great Western Powerhouse, which had been formed to take advantage of possible future central government funding opportunities.

Councillor Dale Heenan asked a question about how the Local Industrial Strategy would respond to the current economic challenges such as Brexit and the closure of Honda. Councillor Donachie and the Head of Strategic Growth responded at the meeting.

Resolved:

1)   That the principles and high-level content of the Local Industrial Strategy be endorsed and any further recommendations made to ensure that Swindon’s priorities are reflected in the document.

2)   That the Leader of the Council, as a Director of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership Board, be invited to convey Cabinet’s desire that the Local Industrial Strategy be adopted in accordance with recommendation 1.

The reasons for the decision and alternative options are as set out in the report to the meeting.