Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member: Economy, Housing, Transport & Infrastructure presented the report of the Director: Prosperity and Investment. The report set out the achievements of the Telford Land Deal, which delivered local jobs and created growth in the Borough.

The Council entered into a 10 year land deal with Homes England in April 2015. The Deal had now been in place for 5 years and had seen the development of:

·         24 new commercial sites

·         14 sites for residential development delivering 753 new homes

·         Enabled 1389 new jobs.

·         Cumulatively had brought forward 23 hectares of brownfield land for development

·         Delivered gross sales income of £31.4m

·         Attracted private sector investment of over £254m.

·         The developments would generate business rates of c £2.5m and council tax of c £0.94m.

Cabinet Members praised the Land Deal as a success story, bringing jobs and homes into the Borough.

The Leader of the Conservative Group stated that, due to the economic uncertainties around Brexit and the pandemic, the Council should tread cautiously to ensure the units were not a liability. It was noted that there was a significant level of demand for units and that a mix of units were being brought forward.

RESOLVED that the outcomes achieved since the Land Deal commenced as set out in section 4 of the report be noted

The Cabinet Member: Neighbourhood, Commercial Services and Regeneration presented the report of the Director: Prosperity and Investment. The report outlined the achievements of the Council’s Growth Fund investments, supporting economic growth.

The fund supported a range of developments, including Southwater and companies at Hortonwood West and T54. Cumulatively, the Fund had delivered a gross return of 7.2%, 4.6% after borrowing, with over 50% linked to long term lettings of up to 15 years. The Fund was supporting the delivery of employment space at Ni-Park in Newport.

RESOLVED that:

a)    The outcomes of the Growth Fund investments to date as set out in section 4 of this report be noted

b)   the allocation of £9.65m from the Growth Fund and Regeneration and Investment Fund to support the developments set out at paragraph 6.0 of the report be noted and authority be delegated to the Director: Prosperity & Investment, in consultation with the Director: Finance & HR and the Cabinet Member: Council Finance & Governance, to consider business cases through the Fund