Agenda and draft minutes

The following apologies had been received

·         Sharon Summerfield – Rainbow Services

·         Chris Snow – Harlow Art Trust  (but has sent a sub – Erleen Anderson)

·         Yvonne Barnett – ARU  (but has sent a sub – Fiona Bodle)

·         Adam Bryan – SELEP

·         Cllr Lesley Wagland – ECC (but has sent a sub – Cllr Tom Cunningham)

·         Mark Doran -ECC (but has sent a sub – Lucy Wightman)

·         Robert Halfon – MP

·         Helen Tomlinson – Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

·         Naisha Polaine – HGGT

·         Michael Beard – UKHSA

Apologies were given for the delay in this meeting taking place which were due to external circumstances.

No conflicts of interest were declared.

The minutes from 29^th May 2022 were accepted as a true record of the last meeting. No matters were arising.

Jane Greer introduced the discussion on reviewing the Growth Board, highlighting the paper that was circulated to members of the Growth Board previously and the requirements for having a Growth Board that is fit for purpose linked to Government funding opportunities such as the Towns Fund.

Jane talked through the feedback that had been received from Growth Board partners which included:

• We aim to become a high performing economic partnership that delivers for Harlow residents, businesses and the UK Govt
• We need do we do and achieve more together
• Need to refresh out vision, story/narrative
• Define our priorities
• Organising for delivery –
  • Board needs Executive Officer Group 
  • Utilising officer expertise through task and finish / subgroups that report to the board
• Evidencing of outcomes achieved from our ask
• Create materials and tools to promote these ambitions with a coherent planned approach to lobbying
• Building a collective research and evidence base to underpin our work 

A series of Harlow statistics was also talked through that highlighted the challenges facing Harlow and therefore the importance of all partners working together to support the local economy.

The discussion focused on the need to develop a new shared, clear, inspirational and dynamic vision and narrative for the Growth Board that can support collective lobbying and funding bids as well as providing strategic alignment. It was highlighted that there is a need for community leadership, there is the potential to adopt a portfolio approach to the wide programme of activity and working at pace was key.

Agreed: It was agreed that a Working Group would be set up to review the vision and narrative of the Growth Board and to consider the appropriate structures for delivery with the aim that a proposal would be brought to the next Growth Board meeting on 9^th December 2022.

Volunteers to be involved in the Working Group were requested to put themselves forward.

9^th December 2022