Interview with Karen Franek, Principal Economic Development Officer

Karen Franek, Principal Economic Development Officer, presented her report on the Enterprise Hub. David Edwards, Director of Environment and Shared Services, was also present to answer questions in his role as project sponsor.

Miss Franek conveyed to the committee the need for an Enterprise Hub to support start up businesses in the borough. This had been identified previously; but had also been reinforced by the findings of research undertaken as part of the Economic Development Strategy.

Miss Franek outlined the history of the project so far:

·  Last year, Kent County Council (KCC) established a fund for flexible workspaces in Kent.

·  Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) made an application to this fund and was allocated £700,000. This was composed of a £200,000 grant and a £500,000 loan.

·  A Cabinet Member decision was taken to match fund the project with £700,000 of MBC funds.

·  Work began on a business case for the project, at the former Crown Post Office on King Street.

·  However, before the final bid was submitted KCC withdrew the £200,000 grant funding due to austerity measures. This threatened the viability of the project.

·  Following the shortfall, different options were explored by Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) on carrying the project forward. These included funding the shortfall and funding the whole project.

·  It was decided that if the project were to go ahead, it was important that it was backed by an asset in case of failure.

·  Development constraints, and the lack of availability of suitable freehold properties, meant that it would take at least 2 years for any asset to become available for setting up an Enterprise Hub.

·  However it was recognised that the borough could not wait that long due to the desperate need for start-up business support, so currently the focus was on what current council assets could be used to get the project off the ground.

Mr Edwards explained to the committee that due to the recent developments in the project, he had become the project sponsor. This was because he was involved in the future office accommodation project, and due to the difficulties in finding a suitable freehold property there was a lot of crossover between these two projects. One of the ideas that was being considered was a smaller hub located at Maidstone House or the Gateway.

The committee thanked Miss Franek and Mr Edwards for their presentation and proceeded to ask them the following questions:

·  Why, if there was such a need for start-up support, had the private sector not stepped in to provide it?

·  Were there any plans to involve a partner organisation that is currently working in the sector (an example was given of Basepoint), to deliver the Enterprise Hub?

·  What was the anticipated demand for the enterprise hub?

·  What were the trends on business deaths?

·  Was funding in place for all parts of the current report, or would new funds need to be found for this project?

·  Were the Gateway and Maidstone House the only potential sites for the hub,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42

Sam Bailey, Research and Performance Officer, introduced item 9 on the agenda: Twilight Economy Review Scoping Document.

In terms of possible site visits for the review, the committee suggested that the following were aspirational areas in terms of the twilight economy:

·  Croydon;

·  Ashford; and

·  Canterbury.

The committee asked Mr Bailey to carry out further research before the next meeting to identify suitable locations for site visits.

The committee agreed that they were satisfied with the following definition of the night time economy:

Economic activity that occurs in the town centre after ordinary shop and workplace closing times (around 5.30pm) but before the usual pub closing times (around 11.30 pm)

RESOLVED: That

a)  The definition for the ‘Twilight Economy’, set out in the report of the Research and Performance Officer, be agreed;

b)  Further suggestions for site visits for the Twilight Economy Review be brought to the committee for consideration at the meeting in September 2014; and

c)  The scoping document, set out in Appendix A to the report of the Research and Performance Officer, be endorsed.