Minutes:
Canterbury – 26 February 2010
1) Members expressed their thanks to Canterbury City Council for the organisation of an excellent, full visit and the welcome the KCC party was given.
2) In discussion, Members made the following comments on what they had seen and heard in Canterbury and Herne Bay:-
a) Canterbury has obviously had much money spent on it, while Herne Bay has not, although Members were reassured that projects in Canterbury had received good cross-party support, and that investors were expressing confidence in Herne Bay;
b) Canterbury is a vibrant city, and its 30 – 40,000 student population brought life and economic benefits to the city, plus inevitably a few social problems;
c) the elements of education, skills, employment and regeneration came together well in Canterbury, but there was always scope to strengthen the links between these elements in Canterbury and in other towns;
d) local passion was evident, and character and tradition are everything in making a place successful;
e) one negative in Canterbury was in relation to the new Innovation Centre at the University of Canterbury, as the number of jobs generated were low when set to the financial investment;
f) another Member said the Innovation Centre seemed to be covering its costs, and had been selective about the businesses it had included. It is a fertile place for growth, is well placed and a worthwhile enterprise;
g) this was an excellent visit, but it is important to remember that regeneration is a long term task, and there is a long way to go;
h) Canterbury has much for other towns to envy – its Cathedral, Universities and private schools which attract money and cultural tourism. With all those advantages, it should be impressive;
i) Herne Bay will come good, like Whitstable, if it is marketed properly;
j) it had taken years to gain agreement to the development of Herne Bay, but the confidence was now there, and it was attracting investment; and
k) the Canterbury bypass had not been built with a view to the future, and new housing being built needs infrastructure to support it.
3) Mr Lynes referred to the East Kent Spatial Development Company which existed to administrate Government funding, and which he used to chair. It had had some involvement in the Innovation Centre, and he agreed that it was important to get the right balance between having enough tenants and the right tenants. Occupancy how exceed expectations and offered a good support network for growing businesses, although he would not wish to see it drain business and energy from other places.
Dartford – 12 March 2010, am
4) Members expressed their thanks to Mr Kite and his team at Dartford Borough Council for their organisation of an excellent pre-briefing pack and full tour.
5) In discussion, Members made the following comments on what they had seen and heard around Dartford:-
a) it was important to continue with and finish Kent Thameside as an exemplar project, as 70% of the funding was in place;
b) The Bridge project was a good example of a Total Place project, and Members supported having more of this sort of initiative;
c) Leigh College of Technology was very impressive and a great success, having 10 times more applicants than it had places, excellent technology teaching, a good, disciplined work ethic and good teacher-pupil relationships; and
d) Members were keen to see how projects at Eastern Quarry would be moved on, and how Dartford Central would develop in the future.
Gravesham – 12 March 2010, pm
6) Members expressed their thanks to Mr Snelling and his team at Gravesham Borough Council for their welcome and a very useful afternoon.
7) In discussion, Members made the following comments on what they had seen and heard around Gravesham:-
a) the Riverside project was ambitious in aiming to attract cruise liners, but concern was expressed that success in this field might be a threat to Dover;
b) Gravesend town centre worked well in terms of layout and pedestrian links, and this and its history gave it great potential to attract business and cultural tourism. Gravesend’s Sikh Temple was very impressive and was ethe biggest in Europe;
c) one Member expressed the view that the programme of visits would not give Members a balanced view of the reality of each area and would show them just the good parts without the challenges and problem areas; and
d) other Members disagreed and said iit was important to give praise where it was due. Pre-visit briefing information provided by each host council set out negatives as well as positives, so Members were aware of the negatives and were prepared in advance to ask questions about them during the tour.
Collating Conclusions
8) Members’ attention was drawn to the potential outcomes of the year-long programme of visits and how the information gathered at visits, as well as given in pre-visit briefings, could be collated, compared and used. It was suggested that a special meeting of REDPOSC could be set reserved at the end of the programme of visits to examine where and how far KCC and DC priorities were aligned.
Future Visits
9) Miss Grayell announced that the next two visits were as follows:-
Friday 30 April 2010, afternoon – visit to Ashford, and
Tuesday 25 May 2010, afternoon – visit to Sevenoaks,
and that, as dates for summer visits had been very hard to find, it was likely that some dates would have to be used at the start of the school holidays, and several visits fitted into the autumn to complete the programme.