The Interim Strategic Director, Place will submit Document “B” which provides an overview of the Bradford District Economic Recovery plan that has been developed by the Bradford District Economic Recovery Board. The Economic Recovery Board is a partnership board, chaired by Professor Zahir Irani, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Bradford with membership from across the business community, public sector partners, education and voluntary sectors.

The recovery plan assesses the impacts of the COVID pandemic on Bradford District’s local economy and sets out the actions that need to be taken now and over the next two years to accelerate the recovery from Covid-19 by sustaining employment and boosting productivity whilst continuing to build a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient economy for the subsequent period.

Recommended-

That the Board notes the Executive recommendations below:

·         Executive would like to thank Professor Zahir Irani and the Economic Recovery Board members for their valuable contribution to this crucial area of work

·         Executive note the approach to Economic Recovery outlined in this report and the accompanying Bradford District Economic Recovery Plan.

·         Recommend that the Economic Partnership takes the lead in taking this plan forward and uses the plan to inform the District’s approach to economic recovery supported by other appropriate partnership boards including the Skills Partnership and the Sustainable Development Partnership.

·         That these plans are progressed for the whole District, working with the Keighley and Shipley Towns Fund Boards and other partnerships.

                                            (Jason Longhurst - 01274 434748)

(Philip Witcherley – 01274 431241)

(Mark Clayton – 01274 434558)

Resolved-

(1)  That the Board notes the Executive recommendations below:

·         thank Professor Zahir Irani and the Economic Recovery Board members for their valuable contribution to this crucial area of work

·         note the approach to Economic Recovery outlined in the report and the accompanying Bradford District Economic Recovery Plan

·         Recommend that the Economic Partnership takes the lead in taking this plan forward and uses the plan to inform the District’s approach to economic recovery supported by other appropriate partnership boards including the Skills Partnership and the Sustainable Development Partnership.

·         That these plans are progressed for the whole District, working with the Keighley and Shipley Towns Fund Boards and other partnerships.

(2)  That progress on the first element of the delivery of the Plan be reported to the Board in July 2021.

Action:  Interim Strategic Director, Place

                                            (Jason Longhurst - 01274 434748)

(Philip Witcherley – 01274 431241)

(Mark Clayton – 01274 434558)

The Interim Strategic Director, Place submitted Document “B” which provided an overview of the Bradford District Economic Recovery plan that had been developed by the Bradford District Economic Recovery Board which was a partnership board, chaired by Professor Zahir Irani, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Bradford with membership from across the business community, public sector partners, education and voluntary sectors.

The recovery plan assessed the impacts of the COVID pandemic on Bradford District’s local economy and set out the actions that needed to be taken now and over the next two years to accelerate recovery from Covid-19 by sustaining employment and boosting productivity whilst continuing to build a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient economy for the subsequent period.

Professor Irani joined the meeting and spoke to his paper, stressing the level of challenge the District faced from COVID, Brexit and climate change. He stated that COVID had caused a significant health and social care crisis as well as the deepest recession for 300 years. In terms of unemployment, he highlighted the disproportionate effects on younger people and people from BAME communities, both of which groups formed a large proportion of Bradford’s population.

He advised that a comparatively low proportion of the local population was qualified to NVQ level two or above and stressed the need to address that and to improve both digital and physical connectivity to increase chances for learning.

He also stressed the positive aspects of the report, especially that Bradford was fast gaining a good reputation as a place to start a business, which meant there were opportunities to be pursued as well as challenges to address. To do that, it would be vital to accelerate local recovery from the effects of the COVID pandemic. He considered that the Economic Strategy 2018-30 would be important in addressing the induced recession and that recovery would come in three phases, getting back to pre-COVID; building a better future and finally achieving a thriving and resilient local economy.

He took the Board through the approach set out in the report, which he explained was methodical,  budget driven and set against the West Yorkshire Economic Recovery Plan. It was also designed to address inequalities not to embed them. The opportunities identified in the report included having a young population, the green economy and culture.

He concluded by explaining the focus of the new Board and highlighting that it was already gaining plaudits for the high quality of its work.

The Chair thanked Professor Irani for his presentation and concurred that a successful economy was vital to the health of the population. She asked what the next steps should be and, in response, the Chief Executive of the Council highlighted that this was a strong platform for moving forward and that it would be positioned within the West Yorkshire plans for moving on. The Council had already approved investment in educational attainment, employment and skills and the good work on employment that had been going throughout the pandemic was highlighted. She  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30