Growing Business Fund Grant Panel Meeting Minutes (Confirmed)
Wednesday, 07 August 2019 | 10.00am - 12.30pm
Concertus Design and Property Consultants (Boardroom), 2 Friars Bridge Road,
Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 1RR
Present - Panel:
Jeanette Wheeler (JWh)
Birketts
Dr Sumathi Sundram (SS)
S&V Consultants Ltd
Jackie Potter (JP)
Micropress
Martin Ince (MI)
Martin Ince Communications
In Attendance:
Jason Middleton (JM)
New Anglia LEP
Julie West (JW)
New Anglia LEP
Barry Henson (BH)
Suffolk County Council
Vimmi Hayes (VH)
Suffolk County Council
David Dukes (DD)
Norfolk County Council
Hayley Johnson (HJ)
Finance East
Stuart Ager (SA)
Finance East
Mick Biegel (MB)
New Anglia Growth Hub
Actions outstanding | Updates from the meeting: Wednesday, 03 July 2019
Terms of Reference to be circulated to the Panel as these have now been approved by Investment
Appraisal Committee.
1
Welcome and Introductions
JWh welcomed everyone to the meeting.
2
Apologies received
Mike Burrows, Chair; Daryl Griffiths, Burnett Barker Solicitors; Max Applin, Max Applin Consulting;
Paul Stewart, Center Parcs; Dominic Keen, Britbots, Amanda Castell, Finance East; Neil Sargent;
Finance East; Chris Dashper, New Anglia LEP and Rose Joy, New Anglia LEP
3
Declarations of Interest and GDPR
Declarations of Interest - None
4
Meeting Minutes: Panel Meeting held on Wednesday, 03 July 2019
Minutes confirmed with no amendment.
5
Terms of Reference
RJ to circulate Terms of Reference.
6
New Applications for Approval (2)
a)
William Morfoot Limited - Agreed to support
Approved Grant: £50,000
Two full-time positions and one part-time position to be created.
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General discussion took place on the cost of machinery and feasibility of using funds from the sale
of redundant machinery/vehicle. Proceeds to be shown in business account. SCC to monitor.
(b)
Timber Frame Management Limited - Agreed to support
Approved Grant: £35,662
Two full-time positions to be created. General discussion took place on timelines for purchase of
equipment and job creation, how this will impact business growth.
Condition: New Leases to be signed prior to grant payment.
Screenworks Limited application was not considered this month, as their evidence of match
funding had not been made available in time. Application to be re-submitted at the September
Growing Business Fund Panel meeting subject to confirmation of match funding being available.
7
Small Grant Scheme Update
JM provided update. The Panel noted the award of seven Small Grant Scheme grants in the month of
June 2019, totalling £102,582 (Grants Awarded) and £467,041 (Total Project Cost) - see Appendix 1.
8
Funding, Updates and Jobs Creation
BH updated the Panel on the overall funding position, job creation and updates on four previously
approved grants where there have been recent developments:
Growing Business Fund - just over £200k has been paid out since the last Panel meeting, making the
total for the year thus far £1.16m, with a further £1.06m committed including today’s Approvals, leaving
£629k still to be allocated plus the additional £1m provisionally approved by the Board, if needed.
A further 18 jobs have been evidenced since the last Panel, making the overall total now 2,168.
BH referred to recently changed rules on job evidence in the Small Grant Scheme, as a result of GDPR,
and would be seeking the LEP’s approval to align the Growing Business Fund jobs requirements, as
some businesses were now questioning supply of personal data.
Small Grant Scheme - BH advised that overall Small Grant Scheme spend is now £2.16m (239 grants)
with 39 further grants approved but not yet claimed - £536k. There is £526k of unallocated funding
remaining. Average grant value is £9.6k.
The new products and services target for the whole programme has now been passed (61 against target
53) and the jobs total from the Small Grant Scheme now stands at 107 (jobs not a requirement).
Programme extension - JM provided update. Proposing to submit a request to Ministry of Housing,
Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) for an additional £500k and an additional year of extension.
The Panel noted that the New Anglia Business Growth Programme is one of MHCLG’s highest
performing programmes and MHCLG are delighted.
Weco Engineering Ltd - Planning Permission still not obtained as further Surveys required therefore
verbal Offer of grant has been withdrawn. Business to start the application process again and re-apply
when Planning Permission has been obtained.
Anglia DNA - gone into liquidation. BH registered SCC’s interest with the Liquidators. Original grant was
£80,000.
Mattressman - entered into a CVA, after largely reversing a decision to bring manufacturing in-house.
SCC clarifying retention of the assets supported by the original grant.
Liquid Digestate Limited - a further Monitoring Report received, but still no tangible developments on
the grant-funded Project. A fully detailed Business Plan has been promised.
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9
GBF Applications ‘Pipeline’
The Panel noted the current slowdown in applications continues, not only for the Growing Business Fund,
but across all programmes and some ERDF programmes are closing.
SA and HJ provided update. Presently there are two cases in the pipeline going forward to the September
Panel.
JW reported that there were seven Expressions of Interest at Growth Hub stage.
10
PR and Marketing
A new video is now available featuring Vanilla Electronics who received a GBF grant last year - a link was
emailed to the Panel earlier. New suite of leaflets and pop-ups are being commissioned and should be
available by the end of September.
11
Any Other Business
Innovation, Research & Development - JM provided update. The full application has now been
submitted to MHCLG and six questions have been raised for clarification by the Contracts Manager.
The Innovation, Research & Development programme will be run the same as the current Small Grant
Scheme and anticipate an October start.
The meeting closed at 11.35am
Next Meeting:
Wednesday, 04 September 2019 |10.00am - 12.30pm
Centrum (Meeting Rooms G01 & G02), Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7UG
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Annexe 1
New Anglia Small Grant Scheme projects approved in June 2019
No
Approved
Grant
Total Project
Awarded (£)
Cost (£)
1
Timberwolf Ltd.
18,275
91,375
2
Cap Trac Ltd.
25,000
126,844
3
Yum Yum Tree Fudge Ltd.
10,905
54,525
4
N-Ergise Ltd.
25,000
89,285
5
Emkay Plastics Ltd
14,453
72,267
6
Vinyl Installation Ltd.
7,200
24,000
7
C.S. (Computer Services) Ltd.
1,749
8,745
102,582
467,041
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