Issue - meetings

The Portfolio Holder for Environment Development and Transformation introduced the report and thanked the Scrutiny Committee for their comments.  She noted that Crewkerne would be the next market town to benefit from a regeneration strategy and action plan. 

In response to questions from Members, the Lead Specialist – Economy and the Director for Strategy and Support Services confirmed:-

·         To successfully use the potential funding set aside to extend the broadband programme across the district, the money must be spent within EU funding rules and specialist advice was needed to achieve this.

·         In the last week, the Government had announced that all District Councils would receive £17,500 in 2018/19 and 2019/20 financial years (£35,000 in total), to assist with planning for and meeting local implications of Brexit.  Although the Council had no plans yet, a staff workshop would look at this.

·         There may be Government funding available at short notice for regeneration and economic development  schemes and so the team would work on having projects ready for this.  

During discussion, it was suggested that the Council work with landowners to plant trees to support and grow a local sustainable economy however, it was noted this was part of the Council Plan and could be achieved in discussion with the Streetscene team.

At the conclusion of the debate, it was noted that the proposed funding was part of the draft budget at Agenda item 13 and the recommendation was amended to reflect this. Members were content to confirm the amended recommendation.