Confidential

New Anglia Board Meeting Minutes (Confirmed)

24^th February 2021

Present:

Kathy Atkinson (KA)

Kettle Foods

Sam Chapman-Allen (SC)

Breckland Council

Claire Cullens (CC)

Norfolk Community Foundation

David Ellesmere (DE)

Ipswich Borough Council

C-J Green (CJG)

Brave Goose

John Griffiths (JG)

West Suffolk Council

Matthew Hicks (MH)

Suffolk County Council

Pete Joyner (PJ)

Shorthose Russell

Dominic Keen (DK)

Britbots

Helen Langton (HL)

University of Suffolk

Steve Oliver (SO)

MLM Group

Corrienne Peasgood (CP)

Norwich City College

Andrew Proctor (AP)

Norfolk County Council

Johnathan Reynolds (JR)

Opergy

Sandy Ruddock (SR)

Scarlett & Mustard

Alan Waters (AW)

Norwich City Council

Tim Whitley (TW)

Attendees

Mohammad Dastbaz (MD) University of Suffolk - For Item 2

Shan Lloyd (SL)

BEIS

Mark Ash (MA)

Suffolk County Council

Vince Muspratt (VM)

Norfolk County Council

Ellen Goodwin (ET)

New Anglia LEP - For Item 10

Julian Munson (JM)

New Anglia LEP - For Item 6

Chris Starkie (CS)

New Anglia LEP

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW)

New Anglia LEP

Helen Wilton (HW)

New Anglia LEP

Actions from the meeting: (24.2.21)

Confidential Items

Welcome from the Chair

CJ Green (CJG) welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted the challenges ahead following the

announcement of the roadmap out of lockdown.

Presentation from Professor Helen Langton and Professor Mohammad Dastbaz

CJG welcomed Professor Mohammad Dastbaz (MD) to the meeting and invited him and Professor

Helen Langton (HL) to present the board with an overview of the 10 year plan and vision for the

University of Suffolk.

HL provided details of the increases in student numbers and highlighted high level of mature and

female students largely linked to the care related courses provided.

HL highlighted the five main areas of focus - Learning and teaching, Business Engagement, Research

& Scholarly Activity, People and Places and International, both attracting international students to the

campus and widening the horizons of domestic students.

HL reviewing current important projects highlighting the Integrated Care Academy which will develop

an existing building which will hold the health and wellbeing centre and thanked the LEP for its support

for the project.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Mohammad Dastbaz, presented details of the Digitech Centre at Adastral

Park noting the support from the LEP. Work started in February 2020 and even with the impact of the

pandemic work is nearing completion. One masters course has already started and the laboratories

are hoped to be used from March 2021 onwards.

Claire Cullens (CC) advised that the Skills Advisory Panel was looking to identify skill requirements in

the voluntary sector and noted that there were opportunities to link in with the Integrated Care

Academy.

CJG thanked them for the presentation and MD left the meeting

Apologies

Apologies were received from Jeanette Wheeler.

Declarations of Interest

Andrew Proctor (AP) declared an interest in Item 8 and left the room for the duration of this

item.

Actions/Minutes from the last Meeting

The minutes were accepted as a true record of the meeting held on 27^th January 2021.

Energy Sector Recovery and Resilience Plan

Julian Munson (JM) presented the board with the Energy Recovery and Resilience Plan

which has been produced with the support of an Energy Recovery Task and Finish Group

made up of selected members from the All-Energy Industry Council including Local Authority

partners.

JM provided the board with an overview of the extensive impact of the energy sector on the

local economy and examples of the opportunities which the sector provided included those for

the supply chain.

JM advised that the plan includes current projects and investments within Norfolk and Suffolk

and also medium-long interventions highlighting the unique mix of energy both onshore and

offshore.

Corrienne Peasgood (CP) noted that some projects such as Sizewell could cause tensions for

other sectors such as the drain in skills from other areas and that this needed to be identified

and acted upon before it became an issue.

Matthew Hicks (MH) noted the existence of National Energy and Climate Plans and

highlighted the issue in Suffolk of offshore energy being brought onshore along a 20 mile area

of coastline and the impact of this on the area.

The meeting agreed that there is no joined up thinking from Government on the energy sector

and the opportunities should not be exploited at any cost.

The meeting discussed the wider impact of the developments such as on the environment

and noted that these legitimate concerns and plans need to be as joined up as possible to

ensure the benefits to the region are realised.

Johnathan Reynolds (JR) thanked JM and his team for the work on the plan and confirmed

that better connectivity with other all industry councils was required to exploit cross-over

opportunities.

He highlighted the ruling to overturn the Vattenfall approval meant that there were no clear

timescales on the future of the project and it was possible that the decision would impact on

other offshore wind farms with a potential delay of 2-3 years on other projects unless urgent

action is taken.

JM confirmed that final sign off of the plan lay with the LEP Board and that any comments

made today would be incorporated.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

• To endorse the Recovery and Resilience Plan for Norfolk and Suffolk’s energy sector

• To delegate final sign off to CJG and Chris Starkie (CS) following inclusion of minor

amendments

Enterprise Zone Accelerator Fund Amendment - Nar Ouse - Confidential

Great Yarmouth O&M Campus - Confidential

Enterprise Zone Accelerator Fund - Norwich Research Park - Confidential

Norfolk & Suffolk Transport Board Update

Steve Oliver (SO) presented the board on with an overview on how the various strands of the

transport strategy are being pulled together under the banner of clean growth and decarbonisation

Ellen Goodwin (EG) presented details of some of the key initiatives including an update on Ely

Junction as requested at the last board meeting.

JR noted that Transport East did not have decarbonisation and clean growth highlighted on their

agenda.

EG advised that the LEP is working the Combined Authority on the alternative fuel strategy which

is is about to be put out to tender.

AP asked what was being done regarding improved East-West connectivity.

SO confirmed that the A14 and A47 traskforces work to promote the region and EG advised that

they are also speaking to the Ox Cam Arc and other transport corridors.

CJG thanked SO for taking on the chair of the Transport Board.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

Chief Executive’s Report

CS updated the meeting on the work the LEP is doing on support Covid-19 testing in busineses

and confirmed that the LEP’s bid to the ESF fund to extend the Enterprise Advisor Network has

been confirmed.

It was noted that applications to the Business Resilience and Recovery programme had slowed

during lockdown but now was showed signs of increasing.

Nineteen cohorts are now participating in the Peer to Peer Network with further funding secured

for next year.

Alan Waters (AW) asked if intelligence gathered on the exit from the EU is being fed to

Government. CS confirmed that it was and that all LEPs have been asked to provide more

details.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

February Performance Reports

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW) presented the reports to the Board and highlighted key items noting

that £18.9m rollover remains in Growth deal spend. Outputs have been impacted in the last

financial year but overall remain positive.

Programme outputs dashboard - RW confirm that achievements of some outputs had been

delayed but this was to be expected and the outputs were still expected to be realised when

the projects complete.

The Board agreed: