APPENDIX 1

   ISLE OF WIGHT ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES

QUARTERLY REPORT JANUARY – MARCH 2004

 

SUMMARY

 

AIF

 

The AIF sub-group of the Partnership has been established and has the role of overseeing the development and delivery of the AIF Action Plan.

 

A draft Action Plan has been produced and circulated for comment.  The next steps are to incorporate the LSP theme priorities into the area regeneration plans for the Medina Valley, Ryde and the rural areas.

 

Work is also being carried out to clearly establish the links between the LSP and the AIF sub-group and there is a meeting of the LSP to discuss this on 4 March 2004. 

 

The AIF Action Plan is a working document and part of the remit will be to support the LSP to establish an Island vision and methods to deliver that vision through a number of mechanisms including the AIF.

 

Work is currently being carried out to produce the SEEDA Performance Plan to set out how SEEDA funding will be used over the next year and also to indicate levels of funding required for future years.  This has to be submitted to SEEDA by the second half of February 2004. 

 

 

ENTERPRISE & INVESTMENT

 

 Cowes Waterfront:

 

The Cowes Waterfront partnership of SEEDA, IoW Economic Partnership and the IoW Council are reviewing ‘Expressions of Interest’ in the master-planning of the former GKN North Works. From some 80 submissions, a shortlist of 4 will be drawn up by the Partners; these will be reviewed at our meeting on 15th March. It is intended that the ‘masterplan’ will define actual development requirements and lead to a submission for Outline Planning Approval. We anticipate that the plan will be available early in the 4th quarter of 2004.

 

Cowes Waterfront has announced its first tenant. Offshore Challenges, Mark Turner’s & Ellen MacArthur’s racing team, have moved into part of the office complex adjoining the Columbine shed. This was achieved against stiff competition form a number of places in France who were all keen to become the ‘home’ of Ellen’s race team. By assisting their re-location, we have safeguarded employment on the Island of approx 30 people, ensured we ‘share in their success’ and have started the regeneration process for East Cowes.

 

Cowes Waterfront attended the London Boat Show, at its new venue in London’s Docklands. With record attendances the show has proved a massive success for the various Cowes companies that attended. The stand hosted a number of events, including B&Q’s champagne reception after the live launch of Ellen MacArthur’s new yacht in Sydney, the launch of Skandia’s new youth sailing academy and our own ‘Team Cowes’ event with Nick Maloney and Sam Davies. The stand also attracted the attention of Princess Anne during her visit to the show. In all this has created great awareness of what Cowes and the Isle of Wight have to offer.

 

Plans are now being drawn up to promote the Cowes Waterfront initiative at a number of events including MIPIM and Cowes Week.

 

Inward Investment:

 

Island Call has now employed 32 people in their office in Ryde and has reported a great start to their operations on the Island with 3 new contracts, reaffirming their decision to re-locate to the Isle of Wight.

 

Other projects are still being worked up.

 

Innovation Centre:

 

We can report another new tenant this quarter with Rouse Ltd moving into the Centre during November, employing 8 people.

 

IW Branding Strategy:

 

On 21st January the Full Council passed a resolution for the Partnership to continue to develop a new branding strategy for the Isle of Wight to be adopted by all the key Island agencies. The next action is for the Partnership to work up funding bids into a number of schemes to take the initiative forward. The support of the following agencies has been invaluable in creating what I believe will be seen as an historic achievement in joint working for the benefit of the Isle of Wight.

 

IoW Council                                             IoW Tourism

Wight Leisure                                          IoW Health Authority

IoW Chamber of Commerce                 Cowes Yachting

Wightlink                                                  Red Funnel

Skandia                                                    SEEDA

 

Broadband:

 

The Isle of Wight Partnership is leading on the development of a Broadband Strategy for the Island. Working with SEEDA we intend to deliver an ‘invitation to tender’ by the end of March 2004. This will encourage the private sector to deliver a backbone network to the Island. We have instigated a programme whereby the main public sector users’ work together to develop an ‘ideal’ network solution for each of their own needs, this includes, the Council, the Education Authority and the Health Authority.

 

The Island will be the first in the Country to use the newly appointed Regional Aggregation Boards. These are central government bodies aimed at providing a joined up approach to the procurement of broadband requirements. This means that each public body will not only be able to purchase at a lower level but will also develop a more efficient solution to their needs whilst, to some extent, being able to ‘future proof’ their requirements.

 

This is a high profile project for the Island with the DTI, the NHS, SEEDA and the other Regional Aggregation Boards looking to see how we perform.

 

Financial Report

 

The financial forecasts made by IWEP for the 9 months of the financial year remain on target and the figures have been communicated to the corporate finance department of the IWC.

PSA Targets

 

Target 3– Jobs Created & Companies Supported

 

Both targets are being overachieved at present aided by a certain amount of buoyancy in the local and national economies.

 

The Enterprise and Investment team operates four programmes to support local companies and create jobs.

 

 

Each programme deals with businesses in a different way, with the central strategy of concentrating limited local resource and assistance on target companies with strong future growth prospects.

 

This strategy has paid considerable dividend in the past two years and we urge the Executive to continue to support the Partnership in these efforts. Additionally, future support for local job creation through the developing Cowes Waterfront project will also be essential, especially as a central strand of the AIF.

 

With 140 new local jobs being created over the past 3 quarters, dynamic businesses on the Island are doing well.  Support for these companies has been mainly through Inward Investment and Enterprise Hub activities.  The Innovation Centre continues to act as a effective focal point for our smaller prospects.  In the next quarter the first jobs will be created under the Cowes Waterfront project, by one of our leading inward investors.

 

In addition, the same company has created a number of jobs with rolling 12 month contracts which have not been counted against the target as yet.  This will only occur once those individuals have worked continuously for 13 months.  Given this more than 140 new jobs have been created, just not counted yet.

 

You may have noted that the figures have changed quarter on quarter, mainly increasing.  This is accounted for by the fact that the inward investment team records different clients’ performance at different points throughout the year. So for example we may record a company’s performance only in the last quarter and then add previous quarters’ performances at that point.

 

 

Target 11 – Over 50s Employment (see Appendix 2)

 

The delivery of this target has focused on a number of related approaches as follows:-

 

  1. We have established an agreement with Jobcentre Plus for them to act as a source of suitable 50+ candidates for special training initiatives and as a tracking mechanism for 50+ candidates whom we have assisted via other initiatives.

 

  1. We have set up special training courses in partnership with B&Q aimed at improving skill confidence and motivation, to improve employability. Candidates – normally 10 per course to allow for optimum individual attention - are referred via the Jobcentre for a course of training and skills related to tools; work attitudes; confidence building and customer care skills. We are getting the first positive outcomes being recorded.

 

Evaluation has been excellent and so, in addition to 3 more planned B&Q sessions, we are using this course as a model for similar planned courses with other employers. Major employers have been contacted to progress this approach.

 

  1. We have set up a monitoring and reporting system for projects being funded by IWEP in which we have made a significant intervention concerned with skills & training; confidence building; assisting with recruitment, and/or improved access to transport. This will highlight relevant candidates for referral to Jobcentre Plus for this initiative.  We have identified 10 such projects at this juncture and are working with Project Managers to screen out the names of the 50+ candidates from the many attendees on their projects; and there will be other such projects coming on line in the year ahead.

 

  1. We are currently developing new pilot projects to influence and encourage (via small start-up grants) self-employment for suitable candidates.

 

  1. We are working with Chamber of Commerce and others to influence Employers’ attitudes to the recruitment of candidates from the 50+ cohort. A Code of Practice has been developed and plans are well advanced for a seminar-style event in April/May to launch the Code and to seek commitment to its adoption, from employers.

 

  1. A Steering Group led by IWEP and comprising:-

 

IWEP                                      IW Learning Partnership

IW College                             VT Careers Management Southern

Community Solutions            RCC

IWC                                         Job Centre Plus

Link2Learn

 

has been established to develop mechanisms to link Adult Guidance and Learning and Skills Development for the 50+ age group, and then to provide the service to match their skills to job opportunities. The group had identified a funding stream through ESF to take forward some of their ideas.  This will provide much greater resources and enable us to have a greater impact on 50+ employment than just the delivery of the PSA target.

 

We worked in partnership with a similar group in Berkshire on our initial bid but the process stalled due to a change of bid criteria. However, the money is still available and we are continuing to work with our partners to progress a bid.

 

The steering group are also looking at other ways to progress their ideas, such that even if the bid fails we are confident of meeting this PSA target.

 

  1. We are also continuing to look at innovative approaches that have been used elsewhere to see if we can adapt them for use on the island. We have looked at an under 40 self-employment initiative in Wales to evaluate its cost versus benefit figures and to see if/how it might be adapted for a 50+ age group on the island. We have worked with Portsmouth’s “Under the Hill” project to see if it can be adopted for use on the Island.

 

We are confident that this framework that we have established with Jobcentre Plus and the various initiatives we are progressing will enable us to deliver the PSA target that has been set. It was always anticipated that it would take time to establish the framework and for the outcomes to start filtering through. There are outcomes that can now be reported at the end of quarter 4 of this first year.

 

 

Regeneration Programmes

 

1.  Quarterly returns for SRBVI, V, RDP and MTI containing financial profiles of spend, outputs and key indicators for Quarter 3 (October – December 2003) were completed and sent to SEEDA at the end of January 2004.   All programmes have met with targets and profiles set in the delivery plans.

 

Quarterly returns for Leader+ have also been sent to GOSE and have met targets and profiles set.

 

SRBV

 

2.  This programme was a five year programme (1999-2004) and is due for completion at the end of March 2004.

 

3.  The total grant was £1,500,000 to be allocated to social inclusion projects and the grant for this final year was £106K which was fully committed at the beginning of April 1st 2003.

 

4.  Activity in the current year has been the completion of a number of social inclusion projects started in previous years.  Details of outputs and outcomes will be included with the Q4 report.  Projects supported include Wootton Help Centre, Brading Community, Wight 2B Heard, Support Work for Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation, and Training for Disabled.

 

            SRBVI

 

5.  Focus for the 2003/2004 financial year has been the development of the Ryde Public Realm Strategy.  Progress to date:

 

·        The draft strategy is completed and has been agreed by all – graphics work is now being completed.  This will be done by the end of March 2004.

 

Ÿ         There is agreement that the strategy forms a conservation and design manual for works in Ryde.

 

Ÿ         Demonstration work has been developed.  A key example is 39 Union Street – the old TSB bank.  Other examples include railings on Ryde Esplanade, seating and shelters and other Union Street properties.

 

Ÿ         A bid for Townscape Heritage funding (from Heritage Lottery Fund) was submitted and has been approved for a Stage 1 pass.  Once a Development Plan has been submitted (by the end of October 2004) a Stage 2 pass should be approved allowing the draw down of £750,000 for building restoration, preservation and conservation in the inner core of Ryde.

 

Ÿ         Mott MacDonald’s have completed the traffic modelling exercise.  The model is now being used to consider alternative ways to route traffic around Ryde.

 

Ÿ         A bid for works within the public realm has been developed.  This draws together the following elements:

 

i     Plans for the esplanade, town centre and gateways into Ryde.

ii    Planning for the interchange development, including funding for a dedicated project manager.

iii   The development planning for the Townscape Heritage Scheme.

 

Ÿ         At this stage a strapline/slogan competition is being run to establish a marketing slogan for Ryde to be used on the gateways signage welcoming visitors and locals to Ryde.

 

6.  Partnership development work in Ryde still remains high on the agenda.  In the last year over 3000   local people have accessed the work developed and delivered through the Ryde Development Trust offices.  The working groups to consider Business Development, Learning and Training, Physical Regeneration and Community Health and Social Issues are stronger than ever.

 

7.  Carnival and festival development have grown in the last year.  It is estimated that the arts engagement and involvement work to date (since 2001) has involved over 5000 local people and been ‘experienced’ by over 250,000.  This year an economic impact assessment of the carnival and festival parades was completed.  This showed that over £750,000 was directly spent.  With multiplier effects, over £1.5 million was attracted to the economy.

 

8.  In respect to other projects highlights included:

 

Ÿ   Island Build – the target of 50 people in employment within the construction industry was achieved.  A further bid for ESF funding was approved and the project will develop over the next two years.

 

Ÿ   Detailed consultation within the Oakfield area (the most deprived ward) has commenced.  The aim is to work with all partners to develop a Local Improvement Plan.

 

Ÿ   Family support and family learning have provided a means by which to support the Ryde Federation of Community Schools in addressing the transition issues between Primary-Middle-High schools.

 

Rural Development Programme

 

9.  This is the final year of this programme which has supported activities in the rural areas for the last 10 or more years.  The programme was heavily committed and overcommitted from April 1st 2003.  We have always been encouraged to over commit on this programme as there have always been regional under-spends that we have been asked to take up.  In 2002/03 we were able to access an extra £650K over the offer for the year of £400K. 

 

10. This year it was indicated in October 2003 that there was an extra allocation of £400K, but due to overspend of a budget area in SEEDA, all budget under-spends across the organisation were clawed back and we were informed in December that there would be no extra monies.

 

11.  We have managed to move projects into other relevant programmes and there is now sufficient monies to meet all outstanding commitments.  There is a need to bring a co-ordinated approach to Rural Development funding under the AIF process.  This is being progressed through talks with IWC, RCC and LSP. 

 

12.  Examples of projects supported this year have been environmental enhancements in Cowes and Pan Estate, Green Island Awards, the Credit Union, Outreach Support for Older Persons, Rural Deposit Guarantee Scheme, Rural Outreach, Business Mentoring, Tourism Product Audit, Training and Crime Prevention Initiatives, Wight Wheels and a number of sports developments.

 

Market Towns Initiatives (to end of January 2004)

 

13.  A team approach has been taken to deliver the MTI programmes.  The team draws together members of the development team from the IWEP and the Community Link workers.

 

14.  There is now a co-ordinated approach to project development and partnership development across Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor.  However, there is a need to establish a strategic group to ensure that activities in Sandown and Shanklin fit with the Bay Area Strategy and that there is a lead for this activity.  This is being raised with senior managers of IWC. 

 

15.  A great deal of work with the town partnerships has taken place to ensure they remain strategic in focus and seek to develop partnerships with all agencies.  The role of the town partnerships needs to be clear within the overall strategic framework for the area.

 

16.  Delivery Plans for 2003/2004 have been re-written and have been approved by SEEDA.

 

17.  Draft Delivery Plans for the 2004/2005 periods have been submitted to SEEDA for comment.

 

18.  The agreement for staffing costs with the Countryside Agency is being reviewed and a development plan for subsequent work across the 2004/2005 period has been agreed in principal.  The details of the agreement are being finalised and the agreement will be in place before the end of the current financial year.

 

19.  The establishment of linkages between Ryde-Sandown-Shanklin-Ventnor, particularly considering the transport issues, are underway.

 

20.  Sandown

 

Projects delivered so far include:

 

Ÿ   Refurbishment and re-opening of Sandown Railway Station buffet/information facilities.

Ÿ   Development of the Sandown Bay Regeneration Strategy.

 

Projects in development include:

 

Ÿ   Xtreme Sport Facility – linked to the Sandown Bay Regeneration Strategy.

Ÿ   Public Realm Enhancements – within town and also on Culver Parade.

 

The focus for the 2004/2005 period will be:

 

Ÿ   Development of linkages between Sandown Community Partnership and Shanklin Community Partnership.  The aim is to draw together the partnership and the town councils to consider how to collectively take forward the Sandown Bay Regeneration Strategy with the Isle of Wight Council and the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership.

Ÿ   Development of projects that take the Sandown Bay Regeneration Strategy forward.

 

21.  Shanklin

 

Projects delivered so far include:

 

Ÿ   Refurbishment and re-opening of Shanklin Railway Station.

Ÿ   Public Realm Enhancement Works on Shanklin Esplanade.

Ÿ   Development of the Sandown Bay Regeneration Strategy.

 

Projects in development include:

 

Ÿ   Xtreme Sport Facility – linked to the Sandown Bay Regeneration Strategy, with Sandown Community Partnership.

Ÿ   Public Realm Enhancements – within the town.

 

The focus for the 2004/2005 period will be:

 

Ÿ   Development of linkages between Shanklin Community Partnership and Sandown Community Partnership.  The aim is to draw together the partnership and the town councils to consider how to collectively take forward the Sandown Bay Regeneration Strategy with the Isle of Wight Council and the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership.

Ÿ         Development of projects that take the Sandown Bay Regeneration Strategy forward.

 

22.  Ventnor

 

Projects delivered so far include:

 

Ÿ         Development of plans for an all weather sports facility.

Ÿ         Refurbishment of other community/sports facilities – Ventnor Tennis Club, St Margaret’s Hall, the Winter Gardens.

Ÿ         Establishment of the Ventnor Neighbourhood Learning Programme.

 

Projects in development include:

 

Ÿ         Public Realm Enhancements – within the town.

Ÿ         Consideration of the transport links between Shanklin Station and Ventnor.

 

The focus for the 2004/2005 period will be:

 

         Development of public realm works, linking the town with the esplanade.

       

Development of linkages between Shanklin Community Partnership and Sandown Community   Partnership to consider how to collectively take forward the issue of transport isolation with the Isle of Wight Council and the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership.

Consolidation of partnership working across Ventnor – the aim is to consider how to establish sustainable local mechanisms to take the MTI work forward.

 

23. Brading / Wootton / Cowes

 

Although there is no programme funding for these towns, the Community Link workers have continued to support the development of projects as a result of the Healthcheck and action planning processes.

 

Leader+ 2003

 

24.  Between January and December 2003 the Local Action Group met four times and the Management Group met on eight occasions.  Twenty-three projects were approved and contracted under the Main Grant programme, and a further forty under the Small Grants scheme.

 

25.  The Isle of Wight programme has had good publicity both on and off the Island.  We are happy with the level of applications, and have been pursuing projects that fulfil outputs where we have been under-performing.  Due to the high level of commitment for 2004 we have avoided over-promoting the programme to new applicants.

 

26.  Based on actual performance and commitment, we are currently over-achieving against most output targets.  However, the job creation targets planned for 2003/2004 were extremely challenging and we have requested that these are re-profiled across our programme to 2008.  In addition, we are working with local organisations to develop projects that will create jobs.  Sixteen jobs were created in 2003.

 

27.  Spend was to budget on Measurers 1, 5, 7 and 9 (admin and project costs).  Measure 2 (LAG capacity-building) has been underspend due to an overestimate on expenditure.  Measure 8 (transnational projects) is under spent but this will be corrected in 2004.  In all, we distributed £370,000 of funding to local projects.

 

28.  Expenditure for 2004 will be extremely tight as we are already overcommitted.  We are applying for approximately £0.5million of extra funding that may possibly exist due to many other areas under-performing for 2003.

 

29.  The Leader+ programme has just undergone a compliance audit by RDS commissioned by DEFRA.  The visit went very well and the report has made only minor recommendations.  The full report can be made available for the next meeting, if required. 

 

Healthy Living Programme

 

30.  The Island’s Healthy Living Programme (HLP) completed its second year of grant funding from the New Opportunities fund at the end of September 2003.

 

31.  The HLP submitted to NOF its annual report, together with an internal evaluation report for 15 of its projects at the end of November 2003.  Many of the project-level evaluations demonstrated significant and sustained benefits to the broader health and wellbeing of project participants.

 

32.  The reports have been well received by NOF who commented that they were better than most others they had received, and by Pat Dark, Senior Public Health Adviser in GOSE, who described the evaluation report as ‘excellent’.

 

33.  By the end of March the HLP will have spent around £790,000 of the £1million NOF grant.  NOF have been requested to release the remaining £210,000 over the next financial year (April 2004 – March 2005) rather than spreading it over the period until September 2006.

 

         It is proposed to:

 

Ÿ         Use the NOF funding to continue some existing projects; some prioritised by the Primary Care Trust and Social Services as supporting their objectives, and others which have also demonstrated positive health outcomes or have the potential to do so.

 

Ÿ         Develop a ‘healthy living hub’ based on the community building managed by the North Medina Community Development Trust (NMCDT) serving the North Medina.  This would link to the continuing HLP projects and pilot a more geographically focused approach for the HLP, with potentially a more concentrated impact.  This will not be funded by NOF.  NMCDT are seeking other sources of funding, including through the Cowes Waterfront Development within the Area Investment Framework.

 

35.  Confirmation has just been received from NOF that they have accepted our proposals.  It is very unusual to receive grant funding ‘up front’ in this way and is a reflection of the excellent work that the two officers, Debbie Sagar and Natasha Koerner, have carried out in the delivery of this programme.  Other Healthy Living Programmes have been delivered through the development of a physical centre and the sustainability has been looked at through the operation of the building and creating the revenue to sustain the programmes and their co-ordinators.

 

36.  The sustainability of the IW Healthy Living Programme will be very dependent upon the commitment of Health and Social Services to mainstream activity and the ability of the NMCDT to create an active hub in East Cowes.