Confidential

New Anglia Board Meeting Minutes (Unconfirmed)

26^th January 2022

Present:

Claire Cullens (CC)

Norfolk Community Foundation

David Ellesmere (DE)

Ipswich Brough Council

C-J Green (CJG)

Brave Goose

Matthew Hicks (MH)

Suffolk County Council

Pete Joyner (PJ)

Shorthose Russell

Dominic Keen (DK)

Britbots

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

Jeanette Wheeler (JW)

Birketts

Attendees

Justin Ott (JO)

EV Spark

Mark Goodall (MG)

All Energy Industry Council Chair - For Item 7

Vince Muspratt (VM)

Norfolk County Council

Shan Lloyd (SL)

BEIS

Jai Raithatha (JRa)

Suffolk County Council

Iain Dunnett (ID)

New Anglia LEP - For Item 9

Ellen Goodwin (EG)

New Anglia LEP - For Item 6

Julian Munson (JM)

New Anglia LEP - For Item 7

Chris Starkie (CS)

New Anglia LEP

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW)

New Anglia LEP

Helen Wilton (HW)

New Anglia LEP

Actions from the meeting: (23.2.22)

None

Welcome from the Chair

CJ Green (CJG) welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Presentation from Justin Ott, EV Spark

CJG welcomed Justin Ott (JO) to the meeting. JO is the CEO of Spark EV Technology which was

awarded £50,000 by New Anglia Capital.

Jo provided the board with a presentation on the company’s work in energy optimisation and range

prediction technology for electric vehicles and explained how they map driver movements and driving

styles to understand the impact on the ranges of the vehicles.

He advised that the company has identified a niche in working with owners of commercial vehicles and

that they would break even in 2022 and it will turn a profit in 2023.

JO noted their core challenge is reduced R&D due to a smaller order book from delays in the supply of

semi-conductors.

The meeting discussed the skills shortages in the market. JO advised that salaries for graduates had

increased significantly over the past few years with joining salaries of around £65k. The need to

access skilled staff means that engineers have to be sourced from across Europe in order to allow to

allow work to start immediately for customers.

Jeanette Wheeler (JW) queried whether the company had links to the universities and colleges. JO

advised that they had worked on commercial projects with the UEA but not with engineers however he

was open to working with these establishments in the future.

Johnathan Reynolds (JR) asked if the technology could be used in other fields such as the marine

sector. JO confirmed that this was possible and he was keen to explore other areas of application.

CJG thanks JO for his presented and JO left the meeting.

Apologies

Apologies were received from Kathy Atkinson, John Griffiths and Stuart Dark

Declarations of Interest

JR declared an interest in the following items:

Item 7 - All Energy Industry Council Update - noting he is a co-founder and Director of

Hydrogen East and that Martin Dronfield, EEEGR’s Executive Chairman, is Opergy’s

Commercial Director.

Item 10 - Freeport East Update - Opergy is contracted to support Freeport East (Harwich Tax

Site only), in terms of offshore wind and hydrogen development

Item 11 - Chief Executives Report - Fit 4 Offshore Renewables. Opergy is contracted by

ORE Catapult to deliver the F4OR programme across the UK.

Corrienne Peasgood (CP) noted an interest in Item 9 - the Growing Places Fund Application

Actions/Minutes from the last Meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd January were agreed as accurate.

CS reviewed the action log and confirmed all items been updated.

Transport Board Report

Ellen Goodwin (EG) presented the paper giving an overview of the progress achieved by the

Transport Board since the last report was provided a year ago.

EG noted that the work has been steered towards supporting clean growth and the

decarbonisation of transport and cited the development of the Alternative Fuel Strategy, the

role of Hydrogen East and support for greener commuting as examples of the areas of focus.

Following agreement at the January LEP Board on the Strategic Priorities the paper proposed

the re-alignment of staff resources devoted to transport to reduce duplication and maximise

value. This includes disbanding the Local Transport Board and continuing to work through

Transport East to achieve both the transport and economic ambitions for Norfolk and Suffolk.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

• To delegate to the CEO the disbandment of the Transport Board in line with agreed

governance procedures

All Energy Industry Council Report

Julian Munson (JM) presented the report detailing the progress achieved by the All Energy

Industry Council (AEIC) since the last update.

JM noted the importance of the private sector collaboration as highlighted in the Levelling Up

White Paper and confirmed that this underpinned the work of the council.

JM highlighted the complexity of the energy sector for the region and noted the number of

strategic national projects which were underway which would showcase the region’s

strengths.

JM advised that the AEIC was working closely with EEEGR on a regional communications

strategy with sector groups established for each type of energy. These groups will feed into

the AEIC where membership numbers will be reduced to enable it to focus on key strategic

areas and bridging the gap between key stakeholders.

Other areas of work include the successful launch of Generate band which has been well

adopted and is being used by partners across events.

Consent for the Vanguard & Borreas wind farms has been well received and will have a

positive impact on the local supply chain. A decision on Sizewell is expected in May with a

visit from Kwasi Kwateng last month and £100m commitment from Government to unlock

further private funding.

JM noted the continued development of the O&M campus which is being supported by the

LEP in partnership with local authorities and the ORE Catapult which will continue to have a

base here and will now fully fund a post in the region.

The LEP has also supported in lobbying Government in pushing forwards key projects where

delays have been experienced.

Mark Goodall (MG), Chair of the AEIC, joined the meeting and reiterated the positive news on

the consent for the offshore wind projects and expressed the hope that they would now be

progressed in a timely manner.

MG noted the USP for the region was the fact that it contains such a wide range of types of

energy and this diversity needed to be promoted and exploited.

JW enquired whether there had been any progress in resolving the issues around bringing

power onshore. The board heard that work has been continuing which has moved on this area

although there are still significant challenges. Large scale transmission batteries need to be

sited in Norfolk & Suffolk to allow onward transmission

JR noted that the connection issues around some projects have not yet been resolved and this

affects beyond the energy sector ie utilities and transport.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

Freeport East - Confidential

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

Chief Executives Report

CS presented key items from the report and highlighted the launch of the Space Sector plan

at an event held at Adastral Park which aims to bring together the significant number of

businesses in the region working in this field.

CS noted that, at AP’s suggestion, the LEP has been in contact with Rolls Royce regarding

their search for production units and have submitted ideas for consideration.

CS thanked partners for their contributions to the bid for the Skills Bootcamp which, if

successful, will result in a £2m fund.

Work is also continuing on a Skills Hub to support the work of the Skills Advisory Panel. Local

skills involvement plans will be lead by the chambers and the LEP is involved with their

development building on the work of the SAP.

JW noted the feedback received in the Annual Performance Review regarding the delivery of

projects within the Getting Building Fund. RW confirmed that the spend for the fund had to be

completed by the end of March 2022 and that this deadline and the ongoing work to achieve

the spend had been discussed at the APR.

JW queried the increase in the level of the risk relating to the improper use of grant funds.

RW advised that spend for the GBF is required by the end of March and an intervention rate

is linked to that award. For some projects the spend in less then envisaged or through lack of

evidence small clawbacks can be required but these are small scale given overall size of the

programme.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

February Performance Reports

RW presented the February Programme Performance Reports and confirmed that as the

focus has been on approving those grants with looming end dates the approvals to the Small

Grants Scheme had stopped.

Growth Deal & Getting Building Fund - The report covers Q3 up to the end of December

2021. The focus is on achieving spend out by 31^st March 2022.

Growth Deal - Snetterton & Nar Ouse have consistently been flagged as red however a claim

for £700k has now been received from Nar Ouse and work will continue on this project.

Snetterton - a claim of £1.6m is expected which will be a combination of actual and forward

spend.