Issue - meetings

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise which provided progress on the work of the Business Development Team (BDT) within the Economy, Enterprise and Property Department. It was noted that the primary aim of the team was to encourage investment into the Borough and to support companies already based in the Borough to expand and grow.

The report also provided information on the positive measures the team was taking to support Halton’s businesses during the economic down turn. Members were advised of recent announcements regarding “employer facing” initiatives and set out proposals for how the team would respond to these announcements.  A summary of the announcements was appended to the report for information.

            The report set out the core activities of the BDT, the global economic context, conversions, the number of enquiries which were translated into actual investment projects, activities to generate more enquiries, activities to support recent business start-ups, the Business Improvement District (BID) programme, visitor economy, outputs and areas the BDT would focus upon in the coming year.

            RESOLVED: That

1)     the Board note the work of the BDT; and

2)     the Board acknowledge that a response to recent announcements will need to be built into departmental work priorities.