Growing Business Fund Grant Panel Meeting Minutes (Confirmed)
Wednesday, 02 May 2018 | 10.00am - 12.30pm
Meeting Room 3, Centrum, Norwich
Present - Panel:
Mike Burrows (MB)
(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
Rose Joy (RJ)
New Anglia LEP
Barry Henson (BH)
Suffolk County Council
Vimmi Hayes (VH)
Suffolk County Council
Stuart Ager (SA)
Finance East
Amanda Castell (AC)
Finance East
Actions from the meeting: Wednesday, 02 May 2018
No Actions identified.
Reminder: GDPR - JWe requested all paperwork to be given to RJ to shred at the end
All
of the meeting. No paperwork to be kept.
1
Welcome
MB welcomed everyone to the meeting and round table introductions took place.
2
Apologies
Apologies were received from Sandy Ruddock, Scarlet and Mustard, David Dukes, Norfolk County
Council, Neil Sargent, Finance East and Jason Middleton, New Anglia LEP
3
Declarations of Interest
No Declarations of Interest declared.
4
Meeting Minutes: Panel Meeting Wednesday, 04 April 2018
Confirmed, with minor amendment as follows:
Panel Graphics Ltd (2) to read Panel Graphic Ltd (2)
Amend Approved Grant value from £64,414 to £64,386.
5
New Applications for Approval (3)
(a)
Warren Services Limited - Agreed to Support
Approved Grant: £32,000
Condition applied: SCC to discuss with company the unclaimed small grant
Two and a half jobs to be created
De-minimis award
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(b)
Food Forensics Limited - Agreed to Support
Approved Grant: £36,980
Condition applied: Grant not to be paid until long-term match-funding is confirmed
Six jobs to be created
(c)
Renvale Limited - Agreed to Support
Approved Grant: £184,552
No additional conditions
Ten jobs to be created
6
Small Grant Scheme Update
The Panel noted the award of thirteen Small Grants in the month of March 2018, totalling £78,668
(Grants Awarded) and £387,717 (Total Project Cost). See Appendix 1.
7
Funding and Jobs Creation
BH advised committed spend stands at £1.9 million, leaving approx. spend of £800/£900k.
Panel highlighted the need to make Chris Starkie/Chris Dashper aware that potentially the current pots of
funds are almost all allocated and there is a healthy pipeline. This will be raised and discussed at the
Programmes Team Meeting which is held monthly.
Cumulative confirmed job creation now stands at 1,867 (+36), with an additional 26 jobs (+4) created
from the Small Grant Scheme.
A general discussion took place on job creation.
8
Updates on Approved Grants
Nothing to report.
9
GBF Applications ‘Pipeline’
AC provided brief details of applications in progress.
JWe advised of two new Expressions of Interest being processed by the Growth Hub.
There is a meeting planned in June, which is likely to have three, possibly four, applications; a meeting
planned for July and there is, at the moment, a meeting pencilled in for August.
10
PR and Marketing
JWe provided an update. PR and marketing is ongoing, with profile raising being the priority. The new
Growth Hub website will be launched next month.
It was noted that all three of the applications approved today would make very good case studies.
11
Any Other Business
GBF/SGS statistics were circulated circulated for information - see Appendix 1. Discussion on grant
demographics took place. It was noted that the statistics are useful indicators to help in targeting areas
where it is becoming evident no/few grants are being awarded.
Forthcoming meetings - if there are no applications forthcoming then there will be no meeting. JWe to
inform Panel members if this is the case.
Recruitment - MB advised that two members are required to join the Panel - candidates with either a
financial, legal or HR background preferable.
The meeting closed at 11.10am
Next Meeting:
Wednesday, 06 June 2018 |10.00am - 12.30pm
Center Parcs, Elveden, Suffolk
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