New Anglia Board Meeting Minutes (Confirmed)

27^th February 2019

Present:

David Ellesmere (DE)

Ipswich Borough Council

Doug Field (DF)

East of England Coop

Matthew Hicks (MH)

Suffolk County Council

Steve Oliver (SO)

MLM Group

Andrew Proctor (AP)

Norfolk County Council

Johnathan Reynolds (JR)

Nautilus

David Richardson (DR)

UEA

Lindsey Rix (LR)

Aviva

Sandy Ruddock (SR)

Scarlett & Mustard

Nikos Savvas (NS)

West Suffolk College

Alan Waters (AW)

Norwich City Council

Jeanette Wheeler (JW)

Birketts

Attendees

Sarah Hamilton (SH)

NUA - for Item 3

Fiona Wright (FR)

CMS - For Items 6 and 7

Neil Prentice (NP)

Jacob Bailey - For Items 6 and 7

Roj Whitelock (RoW)

Jacob Bailey - For Items 6 and 7

Shan Lloyd (SL)

BEIS

Sue Roper (SuR)

Suffolk County Council

Vince Muspratt

Norfolk County Council

Julian Munson (JM)

New Anglia LEP - For Items 6 and 7

Lisa Roberts (LiR)

New Anglia LEP - For Item 8

Chris Starkie (CS)

New Anglia LEP

Lesley van Dijk (LvD)

New Anglia LEP - For Items 6 and 7

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW)

New Anglia LEP

Helen Wilton (HW)

New Anglia LEP

Actions from the meeting: (27.2.19)

Minutes of the last meeting 30^th January 2019

To issue the Diversity Policy to Board Members for comment.

Place Branding

Investigate the retention of the agency for ad hoc work on the brand.

LvD

To provide the Board with an update at the March Board meeting

LvD

Any Other Business

The report on civic universities to the circulated to board members

Welcome from the Chair

Doug Field (DF) welcomed everyone to the meeting including Sarah Hamilton (SH) from NUA and

thanked the University for hosting the board meeting.

Apologies

Apologies were received from William Nunn, John Griffiths, Dominic Keen and Tim Whitley

Welcome from NUA

(SH) provided the Board with an overview of the 175 history of the Norwich University of the Arts

including the achievements of some of its graduates explaining that 2500 students are currently

studying for a wide range of degrees and post graduate qualifications.

The Ideas Factory, partly funded by the LEP, has now seen its first businesses moving through and

has helped create 91 jobs to date.

Declarations of Interest

Full declarations of interest can be found at http://www.newanglia.co.uk/about-us/the-board.

None

Minutes of the last meeting 30^th January 2019

The minutes were accepted as a true record of the meeting held on 30^th January 2019.

Matters arising & actions

LEP Board Diversity Champion - To submit comments on the LEP’s Diversity Policy to DE

It was agreed that the Diversity Policy would be issued to Board Members for comment.

Amendments to Terms of Reference - To consider the voting rights of deputies at sub-

committees.

Mills and Reeve have raised the issue of deputisation at Board meetings and a potential

clash with Company Law therefore this issue is being investigated further.

Place Branding - Phase 1: Brand Narrative, Values and Visual Identity

Steve Oliver (SO) introduced the presentation on Place Branding which had been compiled

by CMS and Jacob Bailey.

Fiona Wright (FW) from CMS reviewed the work carried out to date since the tender was

awarded in late August advising that 46 telephone interviews had been carried out with a

range of business leaders and board members. Interviews had also been held at MIPIM

and an online questionnaire had been used to collate views. A brand workshop was carried

out in November to pull together the results of the investigations and a steering group was

then created to distil the findings and produce the brand narrative.

Neil Prentice (NP) reviewed the approach taken to the new brand which was to position

Norfolk and Suffolk as offering a new approach and differentiating them from other regional

brands with an emotive angle rather that keeping to the purely factual.

Roj Whitelock (RoW) presented the brand narrative which was compiled as a result of the

findings of the investigations. The team had produced a personification of Norfolk and

Suffolk and identified its values as being bright, courageous, flexible and balanced. These

were distilled in into the brand proposition of “We are Open to You”.

A video was presented to the Board presenting brand imagery and how it can be used.

RoW explained to the Board how the logo had been developed and the imagery which it

represents highlighting balance, modernity, the space to innovate and flourish, opportunity

and energy.

The meeting was presented with examples of how the logo can be used in advertising and

publications.

NP noted that, by identifying Norfolk and Suffolk in this particular way, it repositioned the

other brands in the market and set out the New Anglia counties as offering a completely

different proposition.

SO thanked the team for their presentation and for the hard work in bringing the brand to

this stage. This was endorsed by Sandy Ruddock (SR) and Jeanette Wheeler (JW).

DF asked how the brand could be protected. NP advised that they will investigate which

elements can be protected and placed under copywrite.

Andrew Proctor (AP) raised concerns that the brand could be viewed as softer than other

regional brands which could impact its appeal to businesses also noting that other more

traditional regional brands had been very successful.

NP felt that it was difficult to beat the other brands by doing the same as them and so the

new brand looked to include clear messages to businesses while differentiating Norfolk and

Suffolk from the pack.

The meeting discussed what message the brand sent to businesses looking to relocate to

the area. RoW stated that work was still at very high level and the next step would be to

drill down and produce the key messages which would appeal to businesses.

The Board discussed the use of colour in the branding with some board members asking if

the colours could be stronger in order to make more of an impact. JW reiterated that the

brand development was a collaborative approach and that everyone would hold subjective

opinions on such elements and the experience of the agencies who developed it were

needed as a steer.

It was noted that the use of the brand had to be carefully implemented in order to consider

sensitivities in key areas and that, while the initial brand was a holistic approach covering

the whole of the two counties, the importance of cities would not be lost going forwards.

Overall the Board was highly supportive of the work carried out to date and expressed an

interest in finding out the next stages of development.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the presentation

• To approve the umbrella brand as presented

Place Branding - Phase 1 & 2: Branding, Delivery and Timeline

Julian Munson (JM) thanked SO, SR and JW for their involvement in the development of the

brand.

He also confirmed that the Department for International Trade had been involved in the work

carried out so far and were supporting of the new brand.

DF asked for details of the next stage of the process for the Board.

Lesley van Dijk asked for approval to move on to the next stage of stakeholder engagement

leading to the launch of the brand and the web site in July.

JW asked what work needed to be done to produce the key messages and how would this

would be funded and progressed.

LvD proposed setting up a working group to include some Board members to manage this

work.

DF asked for a report back including the brand toolkit and timescales

It was agreed that the Board would receive an update at the March Board.

SO asked if the agency could be retained for continuity purposes on an ad hoc basis.

CS agreed that this would be logical given their involvement in the work and would review

the contract accordingly.

ACTION: Investigate the retention of the agency for ad hoc work on the brand.

LvD

Chris Starkie (CS) confirmed that Norwich were developing a city brand and would ensure

that this brand tied in with that and others.

Johnathan Reynolds (JR) noted the importance of planning the transition from the use of

The East brand into the new brand

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

• To approve the timeline and implementation plan outlined in the report

• To receive an update at the March Board meeting

LvD

Local Industrial Strategy

Lisa Roberts (LiR) presented the paper on the Local Industrial Strategy (LIS) and reiterated

that this would not replace the Economic Strategy and would provide another layer of detail

focusing on the key deliverables within Norfolk and Suffolk.

Work is underway developing an evidence base which would have a qualitative basis

The meeting was advised that a workshop is being held on 5^th March which will include key

partners in the collaborative approach to the production of the strategy.

LiR advised that, subject to approval, LEPs had been granted £200,000 to implement the

LIS and asked the Board for approval to allocate £55,000 of the £200,000 from the 2019/20

budget to tender to consultants for the development of the LIS.

JW asked whether this data had already been gathered as part of the part work carried out

to produce the Economic Strategy.

LiR advised that data was now required at a more detailed level with a focus on productivity

which did not currently exist.

CS advised that work would be done in house where possible with support from local

authority colleagues but that funding was being provided by Government with the

expectation that external support could be brought in as required.

Alan Waters (AW) noted that the LEP needs to ensure it takes account of the wider

implications that could come from its interventions in particular when looking at the Artificial

Intelligence Grand Challenge.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

• To approve the allocation of £55,000 to secure external support for the development of

the LIS

Norfolk and Suffolk All Energy Industry Council

CS updated the Board on the work being carried out to strengthen key sectors which was

starting with the energy sector.

An initial meeting in December agreed the formation of the Norfolk and Suffolk All Energy

Council to work to highlight the sector and a brochure has been produced which has been

well received and has already been presented to the Energy Minister.

CS was pleased to confirm that the LEP had submitted a bid to host the launch of the

Offshore Sector Wind Sector Deal and he had been advised today what this bid had been

successful and the launch would take place in Lowestoft or Gt Yarmouth on March 7^th.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

• To support the establishment of the Norfolk and Suffolk All Energy Industry Council

Brexit

CS updated the meeting on the ongoing work of the LEP to support businesses with Brexit.

The meeting discussed the challenges facing businesses and the problems caused by the

uncertainty as to whether to prepare for scenarios with no deal or any particular deal.

It was noted that some companies have yet to take any action assuming that there will be no

impact upon them.

The Board agreed:

• To note the contents of the report

Private Sector Board Appointments

DF thanked David Ellesmere (DE) and Lindsey Rix (LR) for their work interviewing the

Board candidates.

DE reviewed the process carried out and proposed the two nominations of Claire Cullens

and Peter Joyner to the Board.

The Board agreed:

• To the appointment of Claire Cullens and Peter Joyner as private sector board members

Chief Executive’s Report

CS presented the paper to the Board and asked for questions from the Board.

Capital Growth Programme Call - CS advised that 27 applications had been received and

extensive work has been carried out by the LEP Team with 17 going on to the Investment

Appraisal Committee (IAC) for consideration.

David Richardson (DR) asked for an update on the Innovative Projects Fund. CS advised

that 21 bids have been received for the 500k fund and approvals will be carried out by the

IAC. Discussions are ongoing with local authorities as to whether this can be increased in

the future using pooled business rates.

CS advised that an announcement was being made today by BEIS on additional funding for

towns and those projects which had not been successful in the recent funding calls would be

considered in light of this.

A paper will be presented to the March LEP Board.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

February Programme Performance Reports

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW) reviewed the February reports and dashboards.

It was highlighted to the Board that the Norwich Area Transportation Strategy project had a

significant underspend but a meeting had been held which would catch up the spending the

next financial year. It was highlighted RAG ratings referred to progress in the previous

quarter.

The Board was informed that indicators had been added allowing progress to be tracked

against targets.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the reports

Finance Report

RW reviewed the finance report and advised the Board that the 2019/20 budget will be

presented at the March meeting.

An Audit & Risk Committee was held in February where the new Auditors had presented

their audit plan which was approved.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

Board Forward Plan

CS reviewed the Forward Plan and advised that the March meeting will include the 2019/20

budget, the European Structural Strategy Plan and the LEP Delivery Plan, which will consist

of a single draft plan for both Government and the Board.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the plan

Any Other Business

DR advised that a report had been produced on civic universities and how they can engage

in local communities. One point made was that there was no strategy for such involvement

and DR noted that funding was available. It was agreed that the report would be issued to

Board members.

ACTION: Report on civic universities to the circulated to board members - HW

AW informed the Board that work has been completed on the flexible labour markets which

has gone to cabinet and would be of interest to the LEP Board.

It was agreed that this would be added to the Forward Plan.

Next meeting:

Date and time of next meeting:

10.00am - 12.30pm, 27^th March 2019

Venue: Birketts Solicitors, Providence House, 141-145 Princes St, Ipswich IP1 1QJ