GROWING BUSINESS FUND - GRANTS PANEL MEETING

Wednesday, 1^st August 2018, 10.00am to 12.30pm

Room F01 Constantine House, Constantine Road, Ipswich IP1 2DH

Agenda

1. Welcome, and Introductions

Mike Burrows

2. Apologies

Julie West

3. Declarations of Interest

All

4. Meeting Minutes: Panel Meeting 4^th July 2018

All

5. New Applications for Approval (6)

Finance East

6. Small Grant Scheme Update

Jason Middleton

7. Funding and Jobs Creation

Barry Henson

8. Updates on Approved Grants

Barry Henson

9. GBF Applications ‘Pipeline’

Finance East

10. PR and Marketing

Julie West

11. Any Other Business

All

Next Meeting: Wednesday 5^th September 2018 at 10 am in Centrum NRP Norwich

Growing Business Fund Grant Panel Meeting Minutes (Unconfirmed)

Wednesday, 04 July 2018 | 10.00am - 12.30pm

Meeting Room G01, Centrum, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UG

Present - Panel:

Mike Burrows (MB)

ECC (Chair)

Jeanette Wheeler (JWh)

Birketts (Vice Chair)

Martin Ince (MI)

Martin Ince Communications

Dominic Keen (DK)

Britbots

Paul Stewart (PS)

Center Parcs

Max Applin (MA)

Max Applin Consulting

In attendance:

Julie West (JWe)

New Anglia LEP

Chris Dashper (CD)

New Anglia LEP

Jason Middleton (JM)

New Anglia LEP

Rose Joy (RJ)

New Anglia LEP

Neil Sargent (NS)

Finance East

Stuart Ager (SA)

Finance East

Amanda Castell (AC)

Finance East

Hayley Johnson (HJ)

Finance East

Barry Henson (BH)

Suffolk County Council

Vimmi Hayes (VH)

Suffolk County Council

In observation:

Jackie Potter (JP)

Gough Hotels

Burnett Barker Solicitors

Daryl Griffiths (DG)

SGV Consultants Ltd

Dr Sumathi Sundram

Actions from the meeting: Wednesday, 06 June 2018

No actions identified.

Recruitment for Panel members. Interviews held and new panel members invited to attend and observe

today’s GBF Panel meeting.

Welcome

MB welcomed everyone to the meeting. Introductions made.

Apologies

Apologies were received from David Dukes, Norfolk County Council and Sandy Ruddock, Scarlet and

Mustard.

Declarations of Interest and GDPR

No Declarations of Interest declared.

GDPR - JM reminded Panel members to hand all paperwork to RJ to shred at the end of the meeting and

to ensure they delete emails with attachments.

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GBF Application Form - JWe to update the application form with new wording to reflect GDPR.

Meeting Minutes: Panel Meeting Wednesday, 06 June 2018

Confirmed, with minor amendment - remove ‘Condition applied’ to Omega Ingredients Limited.

Request made for distinction between Julie West (JWe) and Jeanette Wheeler (JWh) in the Minutes to

ensure clarity.

New Applications for Approval (7)

(a)

LDH (La Doria) Limited - Agreed to support

Approved Grant: £500,000

One additional condition added.

(b)

Glowcroft Limited - Agreed to support

Approved Grant: £38,742

No additional conditions. Three full-time jobs to be created.

(c)

Pecksniffs Bespoke Fragrances & Cosmetics Limited - Agreed to support

Approved Grant: £202,500

No additional conditions. Fourteen and a half full-time jobs to be created

(Fourteen full-time roles and one part-time role)

(d)

Gnaw Chocolate Limited - Agreed to support

Approved Grant: £25,330

Note: match finance needs to be confirmed and evidence provided.

Two full-time jobs to be created.

(e)

Ponders End Investments PLC - Agreed to support

Approved Grant: £179,239 - de-minimis award.

Note: Job creation to be specific to new site

Thirty-six full-time jobs to be created.

(f)

Netmatters Limited - Agreed to support

Approved Grant: £37,500

Four full-time jobs to be created.

(g)

BCMZ Precision Engineering Limited - Agreed to support.

Approved Grant: £74,500

Four full-time jobs to be created.

Small Grant Scheme Update

JM provided update. The Panel noted the award of nine Small Grant Scheme grants in the month of May

2018, totalling £91,239 (Grants Awarded) and £467,693 (Total Project Cost). See Appendix 1.

It was noted that the current programme end date is 31 August 2018. Currently waiting decision from

MHCLG on a further three-year extension for the larger programme which includes the grant and will start

01 September 2018.

To date over £1 million has been paid out - over committed by approx. £500,000.

It was noted that Asset Finance remains an issue for the Small Grant Scheme. ERDF ruling on Asset

Finance is much stricter for the Small Grant Scheme than is the case for GBF in that the match has to be

paid out of the SMEs bank account as private sector match funding therefore asset Finance cannot be

used.

Funding and Jobs Creation

BH provided update. To date £420,000 paid out (this equates to 15% of this year’s budget). £1.6 million

has been approved but not yet drawn down, which with todays approved grants totals £3.088 million -

£298,000 over-committed.

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Cumulative confirmed job creation now stands at 1902 (up eleven on last month). With an additional

thirty-eight confirmed jobs for the Small Grant Scheme (jobs not a requirement)

Small Grant Scheme - over 120 grants paid out, totalling £1.064 million, leaving £468,000 to be

defrayed.

It was noted the overall total for all grant funding paid out to date was £21.26 million.

Update on approved grant for APR Telecoms (Maintenance) Limited (November 2014) - APR Telecoms

has been sold to Wavenet Limited, Coventry, who have committed to staying in Wymondham and

retaining jobs.

GBF Applications ‘Pipeline’

NS provided brief details of applications in progress. At present there are four applications to be

submitted to the August meeting.

General discussion took place on the eligibility of veterinary practices.

PR and Marketing

GBF statistics for April 2013 - May 2018 were circulated to Panel for information.

JWe provided an update. The new Growth Hub website goes live tomorrow, Thursday, 05 July 2018. It

was noted that the Marketing & Communications Co-ordinator has resigned and recruitment to fill the

post has begun. In the interim will still continue to promote the services of the Growth Hub.

JM informed the panel that once the ERDF programme extension has been approved, there will be a

focussed marketing campaign towards specific targeted businesses as 1000 businesses within Norfolk

and Suffolk have been identified as growing above the 10% per year and therefore ideal recipients of a

growth grant.

Reminder - GBF Panel details are to be added to the website so if any Panel member has not provided

JWe with a short 100 words and an up-to-date photograph can they please do so as soon as possible.

Any Other Business

Terms of Reference - Jwe to look at, and revise if necessary, the Terms of Reference for the GBF Panel

to take into account the new Panel members.

New Panel members - new members were in observation today and if happy to join the Panel will let MB

or JWe know of their intention so that they can be formally asked to join.

Vice Chair - JWh informed the Panel that she will now remain as Vice Chair until March 2019.

The meeting closed at 12.15pm.

Next Meeting:

Wednesday, 1^st August 2018 |10.00am - 12.30pm

Room F01 Constantine House, Constantine Road, Ipswich IP1 2DH

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APPENDIX 1

New Anglia Small Grant Scheme projects approved in May 2018

Applicant

Grant

Total project

awarded, £

cost, £

Bridge Auto Sales Ltd.

20,093

100,469

Insight Ecology Ltd.

3,083

15,418

Needham Fabrications Ltd.

20,422

102,110

Joseph Read Lighting Ltd.

11,215

67,564

ACS Architectural Ltd.

1,340

6,701

Agricultural & Mechanical

6,100

30,500

Services Ltd.

Pump Street Chocolate Ltd.

25,000

125,000

R & B Plastering Ltd.

2,171

10,856

Edmund & Sedgwick Ltd.

1,815

9,075

Total, May 2018

91,239

467,693

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