The report of the Interim Strategic Director of Place (Document “O”) provides an overview of the Bradford District Economic Recovery plan that has been developed by the Bradford District Economic Recovery Board.

The recovery plan assesses the impacts of the COVID pandemic on Bradford District’s local economy and sets out the actions we need to take now and over the next two years to accelerate our recovery from Covid-19.

Recommended –

(1)          that the Regeneration and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee would like to thank Professor Zahir Irani and the Economic Recovery Board members for their valuable contribution to this crucial area of work.

(2)          The Committee note and comment on the approach to Economic Recovery outlined in this report and the accompanying Bradford District Economic Recovery Plan.

(Jason Longhurst – 01274 434748)

The report of the Interim Strategic Director, Place (Document “O”) was presented by Professor Irani from the University of Bradford to the Committee to provide an overview of the Bradford District Economic Recovery Plan.  The Economic Recovery Board developed the plan and consisted of members from the University of Bradford, public and business community as well as education and voluntary sectors.

The aim of the plan was to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the

District’s economy and included the actions needed to be taken from now and over the following two years to accelerate economic recovery.

The pandemic has been both a health and economic emergency with some sections of the community being affected disproportionately.  The Council has played a critical role in providing grant funding to businesses and the plan needed to be implemented alongside the existing economic strategy to address the economic challenges facing the District.

The plan was presented to the meeting of the Council Executive on 5 January 2021 and among the resolutions made at the meeting, was that the Economic Partnership took a lead role in taking the recovery plan forward to inform and support the District’s approach to economic recovery.

Members had the opportunity to ask questions, the details and responses for which are as below:

·         What were the key outcomes and how would the economy improve at ground level?

·      Professor Irani stated that it would be at the operational level, e.g. issuing grant funding with tangible opportunities for investment.  In terms of strategy, it was a long term project and much depended on getting funds.  It would also be transformational.  For example, making Bradford a Learning District with skills development to attract new industries or to create new ones.  Local procurement which would support Bradford businesses.  Access to work, access to opportunity by upskilling and moving people into better skilled industries and to create and support new and emerging sectors.

·         The Chair asked what was new and what was different this time from this report. 

·      In response, Professor Irani stated that there would be new opportunities to take advantage of and the final recommendations from the report reflect the actions that the Board wished to see implemented and supported.  The aspiration was to reduce carbon emissions and support services to support this ambition.  He also stated that the Council should show a positive example and lead on this in its procurement.  To procure locally and environmentally friendly products and services.  The business support mechanism, which had been led by Barclay’s was already in place with resources deployed but not effectively enough and these had not been communicated as well as they could have been.

·         One Member stated that the connectivity in the report brought loose ends together and was pleased with the work carried out over the 5 months.

·      Professor Irani also stated that John Allan, Vice President of the CBI was impressed with the aspiration of the plan which had been shared with his colleagues on the National COVID Economic Commission.

·         A Member stated that the plan was a significant document and might be challenging for the man in the street to access and understand it fully.  He asked what influence was there on appointing the Board who would then be tasked to implement the completed plan and on the input on writing terms of reference.  He also stated that now the report had been written, it needed to be put into action and not just put away and forgotten.

·      Professor Irani stated that the report would need to be re-drafted for the ‘lay person’ and that the terms of reference would be picked up by The Bradford Economic Partnership Board.  The Chief Executive of the Council was already working on formation of the Board and a Chair was being sought.  Some work could be started straight away with key performance indicators and performance management would be the key to success.   The type of work that could be carried out would depend on funding.

·         One Member stated that they were concerned that the actions in the report would not be taken forward and could be diluted by the new Board but as the report lacked targets.

·      Professor Irani stated that it should be the job of the new Board to set tangible targets and should be subject to normal governance methods.

·         One Member stated that it was a fantastic report but the local economy in Bradford West was night time focussed and would need to be built upon as these were relied upon.  Resilience needed to be built in, with school leavers not able to secure predictable grades – this needed to be built into the strategy.  The plan needed a lot of ‘buy in’.  There was nothing in the report about the up and coming ‘silos’ of people

·      In response, it was stated the aim was to try and give people the opportunity to move out of the fast food industry as there was a high number of unemployed young people, above the national average in addition to underachievement within the BAME communities.

·         A Member stated that the report was very detailed and aspirational and represented an opportunity to re-set the economy and re-skill the workforce but wanted to know where the necessary funding would come from.

·      In response, it was advised that the Local Authority had directed funding to facilitate the plan being strategically embedded and that there were various pots of money available such as from the imminent devolution and as we know what our priorities are within our 5 year strategy, we could apply to central Government as our ambitions were aligned.  The Interim Strategy Director, Place further stated that the proposal had strength of purpose and put Bradford ahead of other areas and needed to be applied across sectors, not discounting the private sector.  The District was good at partnering across both private and public organisations and could build and shape our economy as we came out of COVID.  New growth proposals were needed but we could apply for funding as part of devolution and from central government because of this plan.

·         A Member stated that young people were moving out of the area to find work and asked how new businesses could be attracted to the District, how could Ward Councillors engage constituents and also asked where funding would come from.

·      In response, Officers advised that there were 4 sources of funding: Local Authority, Devolution funds, private sector funding and central Government funding.

·         One Member stated that there was an opportunity to re-set and it was appropriate to be bold but felt that further education had been neglected and this could lead to massive opportunities being missed.  ‘People needed to be taken on a journey to achieve a green and health economy’ and expectations needed to be shifted

·      In response, Professor Irani agreed and stated that the region needed to be committed to support an Institute of Technology which would be led by colleges.

·         The Chair stated that the Committee was very supportive and hoped the new Board would move the proposal forward.

Resolved –

(1)  That the Regeneration and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee thanks Professor Zahir Irani and the Economic Board Members for this crucial area of work.

(2)  The Committee considered and commented on the approach to the Economic Recovery and the accompanying Bradford District Economic Recovery Plan.

Action – Strategic Director, Place.