Agenda item

A presentation was delivered by Fergus Murray covering the Rural Growth Deal, Strategic Transport Review and digital connectivity

Rural Growth Deal - The original proposition for funding was £178.5m for 16 projects, the amount awarded was £50m (£25m each from UK and Scottish governments) therefore it is not possible to deliver on all projects and alternative sources of funding will be required. The strategic outline  business cases are being prepared where noted, and will be sent to government to comment on, covering for example, housing, tourism, skills and aquaculture. The proposed governance structure for the delivery of the deal and next steps were also covered. Slides can be forwarded if required. Pippa noted that there is concern that without additional funding to this we will be unable to also meet the requirements of the Islands Plan, this may present a need for more funding lobbying.

STPR2 – Progress to date includes the completion of regional workshops and interviews. Transport connectivity has been noted as a priority from local residents and this will be looked at in STPR2, alongside the Rural Growth Deal. The case for change report covers the area transport requirements for the next 10 years so it is vital that it addresses current and future transport investment needs.  Poor transport connectivity has also been pointed to as a key factor in population decline in the area. The case for change needs to be very strong, Morag asked for partners to take a key role in influencing and feeding into this. Rona noted that the CPP have fed into the consultation and attends the meetings.  Fergus said that at the public consultation stage it is vital that we clearly voice what the needs of the area are for transport to create a robust submission to government. Aileen noted that there is a risk that the work required on the Rest and be Thankful may swamp the needs of the areas other roads. Pippa advised that attendance at public meetings with Transport Scotland has been poor and we need to encourage attendance at these to underline the importance of this matter to the community.

Digital connectivity – A national investment programme (R100) has broken Scotland into 3 areas  (North, Central, South). The South area has been awarded to a contractor, however there is a delay in the process to progress in the other areas.  Fergus advised that 4G mobile coverage has improved in the area due to new mast installations, however, there are still gaps in service. OFCOM noted coverage in Argyll & Bute can vary from 20 – 70% dependant on provider. Fergus is pushing for investment into how we can take this forward in Argyll & Bute. Rural gigabit Connectivity programme – the council have put a business case together for a £15m investment to push fibre into the most remote areas of Argyll & Bute and they are working with BT to progress this.

Kirsteen expressed concerns that the messages from the area seem to present that there are no jobs in the area. John noted we may want to develop a central source of local information for people moving to the area covering jobs / schools / housing etc. Morag noted this is covered in ABPlace2b as a starting point and agreed Outcome 1 and 2 could look at a CPP strategy for that.

ACTION - Morag and Fergus look at what initiatives are currently underway for “talent attraction and retention” and feed back to the management committee on how best to create an approach to this. 

Morag pointed to some Outcome 1 and 2 priority activities, for example the redundancies from the challenges in Kintyre, and has put together a Kintyre Action Plan. She asked partners to have awareness of what is going on around this and support the existing business base in this area.

ACTION - Partners to forward any information they have on this action plan and engage to increase partner engagement e.g. attending job fairs. Morag to speak to Samantha regarding getting the plan out to partners.

Argyll & Bute Social Enterprise Strategy Presentation was given by David Gourlay from Hall Aitken. Hall Aitken are an independent consultant who, tasked by the TSI, developed the Social Enterprise Strategy document. He explained how they looked at current challenges, best practice and completed online surveys and key stakeholder interviews as part of this work. Many social enterprises in the area are small (annual turnover <£50k pa) and therefore struggle to bid to diversify into growth areas (food, drink, tourism, aquaculture, health and social care). They also looked at how to support social enterprises to focus resources, increase digital activity and collaborate to win contracts by “Building, Developing, Connecting”.

Andrew has concerns regarding how “merging” will work with enterprises spread over such a widely dispersed geographical area. David noted that in Lincolnshire, there was a number of organisations delivering similar support. Each one had their own managers and support staff. Hall Aitken worked with them to successfully secure the service delivery, moving to central management with locally delivered services. This decreased overheads dramatically whilst retaining local level support. This may be an option that some enterprises in this area could consider.

Pippa highlighted the volunteer fatigue in social enterprise, and asked if Hall Aitken had picked up on any areas where we can prioritise activity to get the most value out of it - do not want to spread resources too thin, where can we really add value? David noted that there are opportunities for the Outcome 1 group to look at mapping of support available, and suggested where priority interventions are that can help to achieve the outcomes in that strategy i.e. what activities are social enterprises involved in, which have the biggest impact, what interventions help achieve the vision for market growth etc. He noted that while they have not yet looked at specific areas, they are happy to do that.

John asked if, as a CPP, is this what we need to do and how can we make best use of existing skills for what we need to achieve. Are the priorities already noted in the Outcome Improvement Plan need to provide the basis for the engagement with Social Enterprises to support / achieve those aims? Alison noted that Social Enterprise arises from a local need, and that this co-productive role needs to be supported. Alison had concerns about the proposals for grant funding for social enterprise in the presentation, as budgets are ever shrinking.

Fergus asked if they have looked at new sources of funding for social enterprises, to get away from reliance on public sector grants and a change of strategy for funding. David said they do work on increasing investment readiness and self-financing for raising investment in projects.

ACTION - Outcome 1 to development an approach for engagement with social enterprise further.