Minutes:
Context:
The Committee received a presentation from the Chief Officer for Enterprise and Head of Economy and Enterprise on Future Monmouthshire.
Key Issues:
The presentation provided a ‘how to’ for sustainable and resilient communities’ outlining;
· Delivery-focussed foresight programme, beginning today.
· Keeps our county (and therefore, council) ‘going’ and ‘growing’
· Identifies shifts and changes needed in Monmouthshire & positions our council as the key enabler in bringing them about.
· Puts WFG at heart of what we do – guiding policy and practice.
· Clarity about REAL problems ‘we’ are trying to solve.
· Embeds ‘budget’ process as day-job but in a purpose-led way.
· Demand-side management.
· Art of possible & engages creative communities of commitment.
And the reasons for doing it;
Time of austerity, growing demand & expectations – the way we respond will affect 900,000 plus people.
· Business as usual & burning platforms not compatible.
· £, demography, localism, WFG, inequality & Brexit
· Relevance, legitimacy and viability
· Nationally/ regionally/ locally more effective public services vital to growing GVA
· Last 4 yrs. budget – reduction & income generation to ‘keep it all going’
· Are we sometimes missing the bigger questions:
v People led or service led? Refer or take responsibility?
v Narrow focus or consequences social failure?
v Standardised or customised offer?
v Relationships with communities and partners?
v Financial risk and economic development?
Member Scrutiny:
A member suggested that the way to keep young people in the county was to stop building executive housing which was better suited to retirees and to build more two bedroom houses which would be more financially viable.
It was also suggested that Monmouthshire would benefit from more high tech business developments which would create the correct type of jobs giving young people the incentive to stay local. At present there are a lot of minimum wage and retail jobs which pay poorly. Low wages make it impossible for young people to afford property in Monmouthshire.
A member congratulated the Chief Officer and her team on the presentation and commented that the main priority was to change the mind-set and attitude of people. He asked that the presentation was played to all members of staff as it sets out all of the scenarios of a very complicated subject in a format which is easy to understand.
In respect to innovation, with Monmouth being predominately a tourism county, it was asked how we could improve that image. At present we have no provisional for training or supporting young people in tourism related careers.
Future Monmouth was endorsed by a member who stressed how important it was that people were on board with the message and asked how this will be effectively implemented and do we have the resources to do it now and in the long term.
A member commented that as a Council we should be concentrating on our services rather than the entrepreneurial aspect as we need to address the County’s social problems with particular focus waste services, leisure services on the needs of the elderly.
A Member of the committee spoke in favour of being proactive in terms of anticipating the impact the housing market will have on local people and advised that we have a responsibly to protect the work class people of this county. The RICS have predicted that rents will increase by 25% in the next five years and within his ward there are council houses which have been sold on and now estate agents are facilitating property developers. This leaves people at the mercy of the market and even in the wealthiest areas of the county 10% of people use food banks. The member spoke of the need for council houses to attempt to repair the broken housing market.
In respect to the Council’s role in the future of the county a member agreed that the Council had a large part to play in shaping services. With the development of two new secondary schools it was felt to be the perfect time to look at developing pupils and help them in terms of understanding careers available to them. A suggestion was made to take pupils out of schools and into work environments to open their minds to new opportunities, developments and challenges.
The Chair raised the knowledge and experience members can add to the process with their invaluable local knowledge and diverse backgrounds. It was agreed that engaging the members would be a priority going forward.
A member commented on the importance of supporting local businesses during the procurement process and that taking the lowest price was not always the wisest option.
The use of consultants was questioned, as the cost appeared to be substantial. A member spoke of the combined knowledge of the councillors being put to better use and as members thinking what is best for the county rather than their political party.
The Chair raised the question of national government legislating in areas that affect us and asked how we can best horizon scan and influence decisions made at a government level.
The importance of stakeholder engagement and the importance of bringing delivery partners along with was raised. It was acknowledged that none of this work will be done in isolation and there are options for community and business partnerships to be involved with members playing a pivotal part in liaising with stakeholders.
A member commented that invention can be done in two ways, to enable or compete. An example was given of some recent planning decisions which was felt to have kept businesses out rather than enable businesses to come into Monmouth.
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Committee’s Conclusion:
It was felt that there was a lot of interest in this item and it would be useful to have an informal workshop, not in a scrutiny setting to allow for idea generation and for members to be a sounding board for officers. It was also felt that using tools such as survey monkey would be useful to gauge the level of interest prior to the workshop.
It was felt, without being critical that the some of the message was not new but an ethos anyway and although there may be a change in mind-set, many members are already engaged in this work. The priority is now to give this new impetus and think about what members can expect to see next.
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