Decision details

Decision – That the oral report of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economy and Skills giving an update on “Staffordshire Means Back to Business” activity including the following matters be noted:

·       The Council’s commitment to support Staffordshire’s local business community and to continue to make representations through our MPs to encourage government to seek a fair and growth-based approach to business rates to support jobs and investment. 

·       The claimant count, which saw a further increase of 335 claimants over the last month, with the total number of claimants in the county now standing at 14,640. The main contribution to the overall increase in claimants this month came from those aged 25-49 years of age with this group seeing an increase of 225 claimants.

·       How the Council was continuing to play a key role in the delivery of local plans across Staffordshire. These plans were vital in supporting sustainable economic growth in Staffordshire, not least through allocating land that will ultimately lead to the creation of new homes and jobs. 

·       The economic growth programme through which the Council, working with partners, continued to support and directly deliver sites such as the Chatterley Valley enterprise zone, Redhill and i54. 

·       The Council’s intention to contribute to a piece of work to further consider the need and potential location for large scale strategic employment sites across the West Midlands region. 

Innovation activity within the county had increased substantially in recent years and particularly within our universities.  Work was already ongoing on a number of further innovation projects within the county, including as part of the Hydrogen Technologies Valley proposal.  Working with our district and borough partners through the Leaders Board, the Council was also beginning to consider further projects that could drive innovation activity across the county.