Welcome. Welcome to this inaugural meeting of the Business Infrastructure and Growth Committee. I'd like to welcome those officers who are joining us this evening. They are Daniel Mouawaad, Chief Executive, Coralie Holman, Group Head Assets, Heather Morgan, Group Head, Place, Protection, and Prosperity, who is joining us by teams, Paul Taylor, Chief Accountant, who is joining us by teams, Linda Heron, Legal Services Manager, Joe Claire, Senior Solicitor, Matthew Williams, Committee Manager, and Karen Wyeth, Principal Committee Manager, who is streaming the meeting. The beginning of this meeting is being live broadcast to YouTube for the public to see and hear the proceedings. So please turn your microphone on when speaking. May I ask everyone to turn off any mobile phones or switch them to silent mode. In the event of a fire alarm sounding, please follow the council offices out of the building and do not use the lift. Can I remind members where necessary to complete the gifts and hospitality book located by the sign-in sheet? You may see that from time to time I will be speaking to the officers on the dais who will be guiding me through any procedural points. The intention is for this meeting to finish by 10 o'clock and can I ask that members dispose of any youth cups in the bin provided outside the chamber. Before we turn to the agenda, I would like to thank those councillors who were members of the Economic Development Committee or the Development Subcommittee and to acknowledge their help, support and scrutiny on those committees. Now, turn to the agenda. Item one is apologies for absence and substitutions. Apologies have been received from Councillor Bortfahr. Councillor Saligofis is attending as his substitute. Are members of the committee aware of any other apologies? Nope, thank you. Item two, disclosures of interest. Does any member have a disclosure of interest to make in relation to any item on the agenda other than the standing declaration from those members who are also on the Planning Committee or are a Surrey County Councillor? Councillor Pietrangelo. I am a member of the Planning Committee. Thank you. Anyone else? Councillor Pateson. I too am a member of the Planning Committee. Councillor Gibson. So I thought I heard other than those who are members of the Planning Committee, so I didn't think-- You're right. Sorry, you-- no, you're right. You are right. Were there any others who-- people who are not on the Planning Committee have other reasons to disclose? No, thank you. Questions from members of the public. There are no questions from members of the public. Item four is the terms of reference. This item is to consider the terms of reference for this committee and can be found on pages three to four of the agenda. Do members have any comments in relation to the terms of reference? Councillor Gibson. They're probably not comments, so they are just very quick questions. Maybe Linda might be able to help on this one. When we talk about on the functions and we talk about also to carry out the statutory and non-statutory functions, where would we find detail of that if we were in any doubt of what they might be? Thank you. If there's any doubt, if you refer them to the Monitoring Officer for a decision, that would be great, thank you. Well, it's not really any decision. I just want to be aware of what non-statutory and unstatutory functions that might fall within the areas of responsibility. Would there be a list or are there any that we need to be aware of or is it as they come? I'll take it away and get back to you on that one. Thank you. Much appreciated. Thank you. Just a couple more, promise. From the point of view areas of responsibility, we've got Heathrow Liaison. Will we have the feedback from our Heathrow Liaison officer because we do have a counselor who is tasked to do that? The committee can request that they come along and provide feedback or provide a report. Thank you. And just finally, you'd be happy to know, the interaction with CP&R. Just want to confirm CP&R corporate policy and resources is senior to this committee, is it not? Wonderful. Thank you very much. And that's it. Thank you so much. Counselor Sankopoulos. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I'm asking this question, if I may, because I wasn't on the last committee for obvious reasons. My first question is, what's your last meeting on the 11th of January? That's the first question. Of the development subcommittee? Do you mean, this is the first time we've had this committee meeting? Yeah, the economic development committee, was it the 11th of January because I've got a paper in front of me? Was that the last meeting proper? As I recall, yes. Okay. May I ask a question on that? I'm sorry, that committee doesn't exist anymore. Someone being advised that we don't. It's just relating to a report about international development. And it says report to follow, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Maybe I'll ask -- We'll take that away and look into it for you. Thank you. Cassie Gibson. Sorry, just one more question. Under the heading and specifically, that's areas of responsibility and then specifically, it does actually say to consider and make recommendations to council on the disposal of assets in the development portfolio. Would that not go to CPNR first, or are we going direct to council on that one? I think in general, it goes to CPRC and then they recommend it. And that is to council on that one. No, I think -- okay. It's only the council that has the authority to dispose of those assets. I personally would think that we would put it through CPRC to get feedback first, but -- Let me clarify which assets are you talking about. Are you talking about the development projects or the commercial assets? I'm talking about the fourth bullet point under the heading and specifically, which is directly underneath areas of responsibility. Yes, that specifies -- yes. To consider and make recommendations to council on the disposal of assets. It looks like we're going straight to council. So all I wanted to do is clarify whether we're doing that or going via CPNR. That's all. Yeah, it's straight to council as both the terms of reference. Thank you very much. Thanks, Mark. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Clark. Thanks, Chair. Could I draw you to the under and specifically to the second point of that? And it says to be responsible for the management of the strategic regeneration portfolio at such time as those assets are no longer held for income-producing purposes. I may be wrong, but I thought the strategic regeneration portfolio was to provide residences for people to live and not necessarily an income-producing purpose. So I thought we were place-making and not profit-making on this. It just seems rather cutthroat, and I think, perhaps, change that to just viable. Can you pick on that? Thank you. Good question. Currently, we have an investment portfolio when we have a development portfolio. The slightly grey area in the middle is the three regeneration properties that we've got. At the moment, they sit as part of the investment portfolio. At the time that we consider them appropriate for regeneration purposes, they will move into the development portfolio. So currently, they are contributing towards the income for the commercial investments. Thanks, Coralee. Although I think there is a direction, we're not here to make money as such. It's a really useful byproduct, but we're here to place-make as best we can for the residents of the local area. Absolutely. However, those assets at the moment was obviously there in our proposals and our thoughts in terms of how we're going to take various sites forward. At the moment, they are being used for income generation. So we've got Elmsley Shopping Center, Communications House, and Summit Center, but at the appropriate time, they transfer across. We'll need to make sure that we do the financial piece of work to understand how we're going to treat the loss of that income or partial loss of that income as we move them from one portfolio to the other, because there's obviously borrowing on them, and they do fit into our medium-term financial planning at the moment. Thank you very much. Does that answer your question, Councillor Clark? Thank you. Any other questions, please? No. Moving on, the next item, item five, the Strategic Priorities for 2024-2025. So this item is to discuss what members feel should be our strategic priorities for 2024-2025. Strategic priorities need to be within the remit of the committee and should align with the corporate priorities as set out in the corporate plan. And these can be found on pages five and six of the agenda. Do members have any comments in relation to the strategic policies for 2024-2025? Before I open it out, I can give you a couple of examples of the things that we're talking about here that we want to focus on. To me, it seems the first item we need to focus on is the development and regeneration properties. We're sitting on a lot of properties. We're spending a lot of money out on interest charges, and we need to prioritise which of those we're going to tackle first because we can't tackle them all at the same time. So that would be one. The second one I put is obvious, the Heathrow rail link. I think that is something that we, as a committee, need to take ownership of. The third one is doing something to improve safety and reduce antisocial behaviour in our town centres. We have seen extra number plate recognition cameras put on the entrances to stay in so police can pick up when someone with a history of antisocial behaviour is driving into the area. That's the kind of thing I think we need to be looking at. And the final one I've got talking to colour the area about is if we are looking to build new homes for our residents or work with partners to get new homes built for our residents, we should probably also be talking to the people who are responsible for providing the infrastructure in terms of GP practices and improving road infrastructure, which means talking to Surrey County Council, et cetera. So those are the first four that I came up with, but I'm more than happy to take suggestions from members. But bear in mind, we need to relate these back to our care's priorities. Councillor Gibson. Just for clarification, so when we're talking about strategic priorities, is that the corporate priorities we're looking at right now 2024 to 2028? It's referring to the cares, but we're trying to make sure that we have specific focus areas for this year because otherwise we could just kind of drift and do bits and pieces of this and not actually get anything done. So I'm suggesting that obviously affordable homes is one thing, so we want to try and translate some of these buildings we've got into delivered affordable homes. The rail link is an obvious one, which has lots of implications for residents, and then the other two also relate directly back to those care's priorities. So it's a case of how we take those care's priorities and make them actionable projects. Right, so therefore, just for clarification, what you've just mentioned is your -- the list that you think would be a good idea. That would be a subset of the corporate priorities. Is that what you're saying? Because what you've just said, it doesn't appear in the documents, so I'm just going to get a little bit -- No, no, no. This is meant to be an open discussion about -- this is not -- so this is an opportunity for committee members to say what they think the priorities should be, actionable items, actionable projects for this year that we'll need to crack on with, and then those will materialize in the forward plan. Right, so the points you just made and the projects you just talked about are part and parcel. I don't want to make anything up, so obviously there are a number of projects that we have in the pipeline at the moment or have thought about, so have we got a list of those to choose from? Or do you want us to come up with ideas? No, I want this to be an open discussion. Councillor Bateson. Thank you, Chair. The Southern Light Railway, we had some months ago a presentation followed by the heavy rail mob coming in and giving us their take on things and why we should pick their scheme to support rather than our own. It seems to me to have now all gone a bit flat with nothing much happening with either. I just wonder, when we talk about pursuing this as part of the resilience, that we almost need an update as to where we are, what are we waiting on before we can actually proceed on that one? Thank you. I think the Chief Executive likes to comment on that. It's a very valid point, Councillor Bateson. We have been part of a much wider exercise that has been instigated by the Heathrow Strategic Planning Group, which ARUP, the consultancy, has undertaken. That report is now being produced in draft form, but it's not being made public. In the meantime, the members who engage with HSG, HS Heathrow Southern, the heavy rail scheme, we're waiting their definitive detailed answers to, I think, about 30 questions that members have posed to them. Our Head of Place and Prosperity, Heather Morgan, is attending an HSPG meeting next week where these two schemes are going to be discussed by the wider partnership. Thereafter, the report is going to be in the public domain, and I think it's probably at that point in line with what the Chair has suggested that it should be open to scrutiny and considered in the wider context of other schemes, and it probably ought to be placed before yourselves. Thank you. Councillor Bateson? Yes. You know, thank you for the explanation because I think there's a few members who were sort of thinking we were a bit in limbo. When we attend this meeting, the view of Spalthorn Council, members have yet to decide what option they want to pursue. I think they await more detailed information on which to base their decision, so will that be reflected in the council's position at that meeting? Thank you. I see Heather Morgan has her hand up. Heather, did you want to come in on this point? Thank you, Chair. It wasn't necessarily on that particular point, but effectively, as Daniel said, probably by the end of June we will have the report from HSPG via ARUP, so it will be in the public domain. Councillor Bateson is absolutely correct. We have -- the members have had briefings on both the Southern Light Rail and Heathrow Southern Rail, and as a council collectively, we will need to reach a position on which scheme. It isn't -- I don't think it's been identified as an item on the forward plan, but when we get to that point, I think the next one, the next big committee meeting is in September, so I was going to suggest under that item anyway, if members are comfortable, that we put an item on the forward plan with regard to Southern Rail access to Heathrow, and I'm anticipating at that point that we would be putting a report to members of this committee, if that's agreeable, rather than CPRC, with the two options and the benefits, and then members can reach a decision on that. So my suggestion would be that if there is a meeting prior to that with Heathrow Southern Rail, and if it is for them to respond to the 31 questions that members have put to them, that it may be appropriate for members to just take that as feedback, take that away, then there can be, you know, discussions separately, if you like, but we need to ensure that the council's official position goes through the appropriate governance channels, and I would suggest that that would be via this committee. Daniel, I don't know whether you have any other comments or whether you're comfortable with what I'm suggesting. Thank you. No, Daniel's nodding his head. Perfect, thank you. Thank you, Heather. I don't know about Councillor Gibson, then Councillor Beecher. Thank you, Chair. What was just fed back to us is very welcome. I had raised some questions in January, and I was rather hoping for an answer. I do actually -- I mean, I think everybody in this room would like to see some form of link between us and Heathrow as a no-brainer. But what I would really appreciate when the project is actually presented to members, the next round, as we talked about in September, that there is some form of background and history on it as well, so people can get particularly newer Councillors and get a full picture of exactly how we've progressed to this stage. That would be really appreciated. Thank you. Yes, Matthew's noting that. I'm sorry, Councillor Bates. I should have asked -- did that answer your question? Yeah, sorry, I overlooked that. Councillor Beecher. Thank you, Chair. In your preamble to this item on the agenda, you mentioned some infrastructure developments, such as new cameras for the police in Stains, and also you didn't exactly mention them, but they were purchased as part of a strategic seal development, along with other strategic seal developments of clinic facilities in Sunbury, Ashford, and Stains. These are strategic seal matters, which are viewed by the Environment and Sustainability Committee, who has responsibility for strategic seal matters, less than 1 million. Greater than 1 million, they go to CP&RC. Do you have a comment on that? Thank you. How they are funded is if they're being funded through seal, and fair enough, that goes through Environment and Sustainability, but if this committee feels there's a driving need for some improvements, then I think we are perfectly within our rights to recommend that. And perhaps go to Environment and Sustainability to ask if you can stump up some money for it. Okay. Good luck. Yes, Councillor Matthew Eyck. Thank you, Chair. Just a quick one on new housing and development projects that you mentioned, or current ones, actually. Do we also provide a steer on the environmental aspect, you know, the net zero part of it, on things such as renewable energy, you know, whether it's solar panels or heat pumps, or whatever it is? And are we also going to provide steer on linking it to external organisations who may want to support such investment? I might pass that over to Corey. I think there's a -- my view is I think there's a limit as to how much control we can put on what people build if we're partnering with an external agency. But I'll ask Colby to confirm. Thank you, Chair. Yeah, that's definitely something we're always going to be considering with any partnership arrangement we move forward with. There's obviously certain criteria that we have to meet, or any developer would have to meet as part of the planning process. And obviously, it's one of the key objectives of the corporate plan in terms of reaching net zero. So it would probably be part of the -- when we go out to procure, it would be one of the questions that we would ask in that procurement so we could understand what the proposals were. And it would be one of the items that we would then score and assess each return on, and obviously report the various elements back to the committee as part of their decision making. Councillor Beecher. There are, of course, legal restrictions on what can actually be built with regards to climate change. There is a -- for us, there is a climate change supplementary planning document in existence which now hangs off the 2009 local plan. There also is government legislation around net zero -- biodiversity net gain that needs to be achieved. So there are legal restrictions in place as well. I would imagine we might be building some of this stuff into the design code work that we're working on as well. I should hope so. Okay. Councillor Gibson. Chair, from the heading environment, we're talking about minimising the impact on the environment, achieving the goal to net zero, but also working to maintain a clean and attractive borough which supports biodiversity. Now, one of the jewels in the crown as we're well aware is a riverfront. From my perspective and many people's perspectives, our current riverfront is not attractive, and it certainly needs to be opened up and made more accessible for residents to enjoy. A bit like, you know, wanting to sound like a cliche, but a bit like Richmond. So could we maybe put that on the agenda to talk about plans for the low-hanging fruit we've got and ways we can develop our riverfront and expand it so that the residents who will be coming in, we've got some development in the progress at the moment, will be able to enjoy it? Thank you. I have no objection. It's not just my decision there. Is everybody else happy with that? Yeah, excellent. Thank you. We'll add that. Happy days, thank you. On that note, does anybody else have any other suggestions, please? Councillor Clark. Thanks, Chair. Obviously, Staines has been here for quite a long time and the River Thames has been here for quite a long time. We have a problem with flooding that we all experience. And something spoken about previously is the engineering of foundations. And there's going to be a lot of development likely within two miles from here in the next 20 years. And I think that were it to be done in a coherent fashion to a standard set of objectives for subsurface, I think we could work with some of our naysayers from across the river and various other people and the environment agencies so that we're all stepping forward in a balanced way together so that we can prevent flooding. We can improve the borough and we can, you know, be safe and happy that what lies beneath is not going to be causing us problems in future. It might be a little bit too big for this committee or even for the borough, it might be like a national issue. But it would be nice if we could move in that direction. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. I think I noticed Heather Morgan's got her hand up. Was it this one you wanted to come in on, Heather? Yes, thank you, Chair. Yeah, I appreciate Councillor Clark raising this issue in terms of flooding. Councillor Beecher as Chair of E&S may have a comment as well. But I mean, my initial thoughts would be obviously my understanding of the remit of this committee is largely around, well, it's the Council's assets but also in terms of economic development. I think if we're looking at sort of the flooding issues, my inclination would be that that should probably still stick with E&S committee and link to the local plan. So I would just appreciate if there's any comments from my Chair of E&S on that part. Thank you. Thank you, Heather. I think Councillor Beecher is going to pick up on that. Thank you, Heather. This is very much-- flooding is a matter for the Environment and Sustainability Committee and it is a work in progress at the moment. More than likely, developments as they go through E&S committee and into the local plan will put the-- basically the building blocks or requirements around the-- any economic development that this committee has to review. So to Councillor Clark, yes, it's a work in progress at the moment. Thank you, Councillor Beecher. All right, fine, Councillor Clark, yes. Councillor Gibson. Through the two, Councillor Clark's comments. So under Environment, we've got to work with our residents, suppliers and partners to minimise our impact on the environment. So I'm going to do a dangerous thing and assume that that is part of what Councillor Beecher was talking about and we will be able to join the dots. Thank you. I'm sure we can. Does anybody else have any suggestions? So far, I have got the development properties, the Heathrow Rail Link, the infrastructure to prevent antisocial behaviour, not just in town centres but I'm also thinking about graffiti and fly-tipping and stuff like that. Working with infrastructure providers like the County Council and ensuring the riverfront is as attractive as possible. I guess that kind of feeds into part of what we want to do is build a sort of tourism, nightlife kind of culture and that fits in with all of that as well. Have I missed anything? Has anybody else got anything burning? So, Councillor Gibson. I'm sorry to be a pain, but when we were talking about underenvironment to maintain a clean and attractive borough which supports biodiversity, I think at the minute we are actually supporting quite a lot of biodiversity because the verges and hedges haven't yet been cut and they're really doing quite a lot for our bees and birds and things like that, but I do have a number of resident comments in my inbox at the moment that I'm trying to solve because there are some verges that need to be addressed. So, creating blind spots for traffic, et cetera. That does not appear to be in our gift. So, how do we maintain a clean and attractive borough if some of that is not yet in our gift and belongs to other agencies? That may be a corporate power for the Council. I'm not sure that's within the gift of this committee, though. So, it matters that it's probably more community well-being and housing committee. Maybe we should take that out then and maintain a clean and attractive borough. No, that's the corporate priorities. That's the whole Council's priorities. Okay. Okay, I'll leave it at that for the minute. Thanks. Councillor Clark. Thank you, Chair. Currently Cyprus, Greece, Austria, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark have a conscription. Germany have mentioned 900,000 people to be conscripted. I'm sorry, is this going somewhere, Councillor Clark? It is, it is indeed. Could you get to the question then, please? Okay, okay. National service may be coming down the line to the country and to the borough reasonably soon. I think we should have half an eye to were it to be delivered in the borough, how are we going to deliver national service? I'm sorry, that has got nothing to do with this committee, isn't it? How does, how does, how we deliver national service in this borough relate to this committee? I don't understand. Could you explain? So, it will require infrastructure and buildings and it will require places for people to go and assemble and things like that. If it needs to be done by somebody and normally what happens is it's a top down, it's sort of, you know, top delivered and also top advised and then delivered at a local level. So, I think forward thinking councils and boroughs and unitaries should be now considering, well, if it does come, what does it look like? Well, let's see who wins the election and whether we think it's a realistic possibility and my view on it, my instant view on it would be that we would address it in the same way that we address the question of Ukrainian and Afghan refugees and we're told you have to put these people up and we just sorted it out. Okay, okay. Just a note that Vladimir Putin did win the election. Yes, I was referring to the general election on the 4th of July, I'm sorry, I should have made myself clearer. Okay, thank you. Councillor Beecher. I think we're drifting into matters that are perder and shouldn't be-- can't exactly be struck from the minutes but ought to be, thank you. Thank you. I would disagree. Councillor Salicopoulos. Thank you, Chairman, did I just hear you say about putting up Afghans and Ukrainians and I quote and you just said but we've just sorted it out, what do you mean by that? Just-- this has gone completely off topic, could we please go back to the thing we're supposed to be talking about which is the strategic priorities for this year, can we please get back to the topic? You just said it and I asked you what did you mean by that. Maybe run the tape back afterwards. I meant we were presented with a situation of council was presented with a situation and the council simply acted and addressed that situation, that's what it meant. Is that clear? Thank you. Do we have any other suggestions? Councillor Giroir. Thank you, Chair. Right. Spelt and Hub, so let's not sort of like get blurry as Economic Development Committee has been merged to this committee, so it has been a fantastic platform for small businesses, startup to get that platform and support from the borough. So, we have to have continuous focus on developing Spelt and Hub. So, that should be our priority. And a good thing I recently heard on social media actually because we got some funding as well from [inaudible] studio. I don't know what that really means, but I think that's a good news. So, that has to be continued our focus. So, do you mean Spelt and Hub specifically or do you mean more generally supporting small businesses and startups? It's sort of like it goes hand in hand, isn't it? Because it's providing the space because the trainings are conducted there for free. So, it's sort of like a platform to bring in those businesses. Okay, thank you. I'm going to pass to Heather because she's got her hand up again and I think she might be wanting to address that. Heather? Yes, thank you, Chair. Yeah, I mean, thank you, Councillor Giroir. Just to advise members that obviously we do have, obviously within the corporate plan, 2428, we do, and I'm just trying to locate them, obviously, members have in front of them the five key priorities. In terms of if you drill down into the detail on the corporate plan, we do have a short-term action already identified which hopefully will give members some reassurance which, so there's a specific action around the Spelthorne Business Hub to promote further hot-desking space and provide tailored support, advice, and information to new and established businesses. So, that's already identified as an action that we're already undertaking this year, and also that we will help residents find employment and training via the Jobs and Skills Hub which is based in Staines and extend the Better Futures Program to match residents with local employers. So, there are a couple of specific actions already identified within the current corporate plan, that will cover that alongside, I believe, that we've got a couple of other ones which relate to some of the work, working with businesses around business sustainability developments and around sort of reducing their bills through better energy consumption, et cetera. So, there are a number of specific actions that are already identified in the corporate plan, and my understanding is that there will be a regular report that goes to CPRC, which will be a corporate plan tracker. So, if members want to understand detail around that one, they can follow that through CPRC, thank you.

• Thank you, Heather. Does that cover the point for you, Councillor?
• Yes, thank you.
• Thank you. Are there any other comments on this item? Nope, okay, so we will take that on board and we will incorporate them into a future forward plan. (papers rustling) Which handily takes us on to the forward plan? This can be found on pages seven to 10 of the agenda. Other than what we've just discussed about adding these other items to this forward plan, does the committee have any comments in respect of the forward plan? Councillor Gibson.
• Big surprise, huh? I was just wondering whether Heather might be able to expand on our service committee's forward plan and key decisions document 29, May 24 to 30, September 24. It doesn't have a numbering system on it, but however, one, two, three, four, five, six, seventh one down, which is business infrastructure and growth committee 12, nine, 24. We've got international business engagement. I was just wondering whether Heather could expand on exactly what that means, entails, and the scope of it, please. Thank you.
• Chair, do you want me to answer?
• Yes, sorry Heather, would you like to pick up on that?
• Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Thank you very much. I was about to put my hand up to explain to members about that one as well, but also to flag up that obviously, I think Councillor Saligopoulos referenced an item that was on the minutes from the last economic development committee, which was related to international business engagement. So that item has been carried forward. So that is what you're now seeing as an item for the 12th of September. So there was a discussion at the last economic development committee. I think it was a matter that was raised by Councillor Bing-Dong, as I recall. She sort of made a submission for the economic development committee to look at that. And it's about international business engagement and inward investment. So I know that Councillor Williams' chair has had an initial conversation with Councillor Bing-Dong and has passed it on to Chris Norrington, who is our interim economic development manager. I understand that he is having, I don't have the date in front of me, a meeting with Councillor Bing-Dong to understand a bit more about that so that we can then understand what the aspiration is. And then we can put a report to committee in September that will cover that as well as identifying what we're doing from an inward investment point of view. So that's about as much as I can give members at the moment. Thank you.
• Thank you, Heather.
• Thank you, sir. - Yes, thank you. Are there any other comments on the forward plan? No, okay, thank you. Do we agree to note the forward plan with the additional agreed items? Thank you. All right, for item seven, we will need to move into part two to deal with exempt business. As we will be discovering private information, we will need to formally agree to exclude the public from this meeting. May I have a proposer to move the exclusion of the press and public for this discussion in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph three of part one of schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, which states information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person, including the authority holding that information. And in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information because disclosure to the public would prejudice the financial position of the authority in being able to undertake even-handed negotiations and finalising acceptable contract terms. Thank you. I think Councillor Beecher probably got it to you and that's seconded by Councillor Bates and thank you very much. Is that agreed?
• Agreed.
• Thank you.

Welcome. Welcome to this inaugural meeting of the Business Infrastructure and Growth Committee. I'd like to welcome those officers who are joining us this evening. They are Daniel Mouawaad, Chief Executive, Coralie Holman, Group Head Assets, Heather Morgan, Group Head, Place, Protection, and Prosperity, who is joining us by teams, Paul Taylor, Chief Accountant, who is joining us by teams, Linda Heron, Legal Services Manager, Joe Claire, Senior Solicitor, Matthew Williams, Committee Manager, and Karen Wyeth, Principal Committee Manager, who is streaming the meeting. The beginning of this meeting is being live broadcast to YouTube for the public to see and hear the proceedings. So please turn your microphone on when speaking. May I ask everyone to turn off any mobile phones or switch them to silent mode. In the event of a fire alarm sounding, please follow the council offices out of the building and do not use the lift. Can I remind members where necessary to complete the gifts and hospitality book located by the sign-in sheet? You may see that from time to time I will be speaking to the officers on the dais who will be guiding me through any procedural points. The intention is for this meeting to finish by 10 o'clock and can I ask that members dispose of any youth cups in the bin provided outside the chamber. Before we turn to the agenda, I would like to thank those councillors who were members of the Economic Development Committee or the Development Subcommittee and to acknowledge their help, support and scrutiny on those committees. Now, turn to the agenda. Item one is apologies for absence and substitutions. Apologies have been received from Councillor Bortfahr. Councillor Saligofis is attending as his substitute. Are members of the committee aware of any other apologies? Nope, thank you. Item two, disclosures of interest. Does any member have a disclosure of interest to make in relation to any item on the agenda other than the standing declaration from those members who are also on the Planning Committee or are a Surrey County Councillor? Councillor Pietrangelo. I am a member of the Planning Committee. Thank you. Anyone else? Councillor Pateson. I too am a member of the Planning Committee. Councillor Gibson. So I thought I heard other than those who are members of the Planning Committee, so I didn't think-- You're right. Sorry, you-- no, you're right. You are right. Were there any others who-- people who are not on the Planning Committee have other reasons to disclose? No, thank you. Questions from members of the public. There are no questions from members of the public. Item four is the terms of reference. This item is to consider the terms of reference for this committee and can be found on pages three to four of the agenda. Do members have any comments in relation to the terms of reference? Councillor Gibson. They're probably not comments, so they are just very quick questions. Maybe Linda might be able to help on this one. When we talk about on the functions and we talk about also to carry out the statutory and non-statutory functions, where would we find detail of that if we were in any doubt of what they might be? Thank you. If there's any doubt, if you refer them to the Monitoring Officer for a decision, that would be great, thank you. Well, it's not really any decision. I just want to be aware of what non-statutory and unstatutory functions that might fall within the areas of responsibility. Would there be a list or are there any that we need to be aware of or is it as they come? I'll take it away and get back to you on that one. Thank you. Much appreciated. Thank you. Just a couple more, promise. From the point of view areas of responsibility, we've got Heathrow Liaison. Will we have the feedback from our Heathrow Liaison officer because we do have a counselor who is tasked to do that? The committee can request that they come along and provide feedback or provide a report. Thank you. And just finally, you'd be happy to know, the interaction with CP&R. Just want to confirm CP&R corporate policy and resources is senior to this committee, is it not? Wonderful. Thank you very much. And that's it. Thank you so much. Counselor Sankopoulos. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I'm asking this question, if I may, because I wasn't on the last committee for obvious reasons. My first question is, what's your last meeting on the 11th of January? That's the first question. Of the development subcommittee? Do you mean, this is the first time we've had this committee meeting? Yeah, the economic development committee, was it the 11th of January because I've got a paper in front of me? Was that the last meeting proper? As I recall, yes. Okay. May I ask a question on that? I'm sorry, that committee doesn't exist anymore. Someone being advised that we don't. It's just relating to a report about international development. And it says report to follow, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Maybe I'll ask -- We'll take that away and look into it for you. Thank you. Cassie Gibson. Sorry, just one more question. Under the heading and specifically, that's areas of responsibility and then specifically, it does actually say to consider and make recommendations to council on the disposal of assets in the development portfolio. Would that not go to CPNR first, or are we going direct to council on that one? I think in general, it goes to CPRC and then they recommend it. And that is to council on that one. No, I think -- okay. It's only the council that has the authority to dispose of those assets. I personally would think that we would put it through CPRC to get feedback first, but -- Let me clarify which assets are you talking about. Are you talking about the development projects or the commercial assets? I'm talking about the fourth bullet point under the heading and specifically, which is directly underneath areas of responsibility. Yes, that specifies -- yes. To consider and make recommendations to council on the disposal of assets. It looks like we're going straight to council. So all I wanted to do is clarify whether we're doing that or going via CPNR. That's all. Yeah, it's straight to council as both the terms of reference. Thank you very much. Thanks, Mark. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Clark. Thanks, Chair. Could I draw you to the under and specifically to the second point of that? And it says to be responsible for the management of the strategic regeneration portfolio at such time as those assets are no longer held for income-producing purposes. I may be wrong, but I thought the strategic regeneration portfolio was to provide residences for people to live and not necessarily an income-producing purpose. So I thought we were place-making and not profit-making on this. It just seems rather cutthroat, and I think, perhaps, change that to just viable. Can you pick on that? Thank you. Good question. Currently, we have an investment portfolio when we have a development portfolio. The slightly grey area in the middle is the three regeneration properties that we've got. At the moment, they sit as part of the investment portfolio. At the time that we consider them appropriate for regeneration purposes, they will move into the development portfolio. So currently, they are contributing towards the income for the commercial investments. Thanks, Coralee. Although I think there is a direction, we're not here to make money as such. It's a really useful byproduct, but we're here to place-make as best we can for the residents of the local area. Absolutely. However, those assets at the moment was obviously there in our proposals and our thoughts in terms of how we're going to take various sites forward. At the moment, they are being used for income generation. So we've got Elmsley Shopping Center, Communications House, and Summit Center, but at the appropriate time, they transfer across. We'll need to make sure that we do the financial piece of work to understand how we're going to treat the loss of that income or partial loss of that income as we move them from one portfolio to the other, because there's obviously borrowing on them, and they do fit into our medium-term financial planning at the moment. Thank you very much. Does that answer your question, Councillor Clark? Thank you. Any other questions, please? No. Moving on, the next item, item five, the Strategic Priorities for 2024-2025. So this item is to discuss what members feel should be our strategic priorities for 2024-2025. Strategic priorities need to be within the remit of the committee and should align with the corporate priorities as set out in the corporate plan. And these can be found on pages five and six of the agenda. Do members have any comments in relation to the strategic policies for 2024-2025? Before I open it out, I can give you a couple of examples of the things that we're talking about here that we want to focus on. To me, it seems the first item we need to focus on is the development and regeneration properties. We're sitting on a lot of properties. We're spending a lot of money out on interest charges, and we need to prioritise which of those we're going to tackle first because we can't tackle them all at the same time. So that would be one. The second one I put is obvious, the Heathrow rail link. I think that is something that we, as a committee, need to take ownership of. The third one is doing something to improve safety and reduce antisocial behaviour in our town centres. We have seen extra number plate recognition cameras put on the entrances to stay in so police can pick up when someone with a history of antisocial behaviour is driving into the area. That's the kind of thing I think we need to be looking at. And the final one I've got talking to colour the area about is if we are looking to build new homes for our residents or work with partners to get new homes built for our residents, we should probably also be talking to the people who are responsible for providing the infrastructure in terms of GP practices and improving road infrastructure, which means talking to Surrey County Council, et cetera. So those are the first four that I came up with, but I'm more than happy to take suggestions from members. But bear in mind, we need to relate these back to our care's priorities. Councillor Gibson. Just for clarification, so when we're talking about strategic priorities, is that the corporate priorities we're looking at right now 2024 to 2028? It's referring to the cares, but we're trying to make sure that we have specific focus areas for this year because otherwise we could just kind of drift and do bits and pieces of this and not actually get anything done. So I'm suggesting that obviously affordable homes is one thing, so we want to try and translate some of these buildings we've got into delivered affordable homes. The rail link is an obvious one, which has lots of implications for residents, and then the other two also relate directly back to those care's priorities. So it's a case of how we take those care's priorities and make them actionable projects. Right, so therefore, just for clarification, what you've just mentioned is your -- the list that you think would be a good idea. That would be a subset of the corporate priorities. Is that what you're saying? Because what you've just said, it doesn't appear in the documents, so I'm just going to get a little bit -- No, no, no. This is meant to be an open discussion about -- this is not -- so this is an opportunity for committee members to say what they think the priorities should be, actionable items, actionable projects for this year that we'll need to crack on with, and then those will materialize in the forward plan. Right, so the points you just made and the projects you just talked about are part and parcel. I don't want to make anything up, so obviously there are a number of projects that we have in the pipeline at the moment or have thought about, so have we got a list of those to choose from? Or do you want us to come up with ideas? No, I want this to be an open discussion. Councillor Bateson. Thank you, Chair. The Southern Light Railway, we had some months ago a presentation followed by the heavy rail mob coming in and giving us their take on things and why we should pick their scheme to support rather than our own. It seems to me to have now all gone a bit flat with nothing much happening with either. I just wonder, when we talk about pursuing this as part of the resilience, that we almost need an update as to where we are, what are we waiting on before we can actually proceed on that one? Thank you. I think the Chief Executive likes to comment on that. It's a very valid point, Councillor Bateson. We have been part of a much wider exercise that has been instigated by the Heathrow Strategic Planning Group, which ARUP, the consultancy, has undertaken. That report is now being produced in draft form, but it's not being made public. In the meantime, the members who engage with HSG, HS Heathrow Southern, the heavy rail scheme, we're waiting their definitive detailed answers to, I think, about 30 questions that members have posed to them. Our Head of Place and Prosperity, Heather Morgan, is attending an HSPG meeting next week where these two schemes are going to be discussed by the wider partnership. Thereafter, the report is going to be in the public domain, and I think it's probably at that point in line with what the Chair has suggested that it should be open to scrutiny and considered in the wider context of other schemes, and it probably ought to be placed before yourselves. Thank you. Councillor Bateson? Yes. You know, thank you for the explanation because I think there's a few members who were sort of thinking we were a bit in limbo. When we attend this meeting, the view of Spalthorn Council, members have yet to decide what option they want to pursue. I think they await more detailed information on which to base their decision, so will that be reflected in the council's position at that meeting? Thank you. I see Heather Morgan has her hand up. Heather, did you want to come in on this point? Thank you, Chair. It wasn't necessarily on that particular point, but effectively, as Daniel said, probably by the end of June we will have the report from HSPG via ARUP, so it will be in the public domain. Councillor Bateson is absolutely correct. We have -- the members have had briefings on both the Southern Light Rail and Heathrow Southern Rail, and as a council collectively, we will need to reach a position on which scheme. It isn't -- I don't think it's been identified as an item on the forward plan, but when we get to that point, I think the next one, the next big committee meeting is in September, so I was going to suggest under that item anyway, if members are comfortable, that we put an item on the forward plan with regard to Southern Rail access to Heathrow, and I'm anticipating at that point that we would be putting a report to members of this committee, if that's agreeable, rather than CPRC, with the two options and the benefits, and then members can reach a decision on that. So my suggestion would be that if there is a meeting prior to that with Heathrow Southern Rail, and if it is for them to respond to the 31 questions that members have put to them, that it may be appropriate for members to just take that as feedback, take that away, then there can be, you know, discussions separately, if you like, but we need to ensure that the council's official position goes through the appropriate governance channels, and I would suggest that that would be via this committee. Daniel, I don't know whether you have any other comments or whether you're comfortable with what I'm suggesting. Thank you. No, Daniel's nodding his head. Perfect, thank you. Thank you, Heather. I don't know about Councillor Gibson, then Councillor Beecher. Thank you, Chair. What was just fed back to us is very welcome. I had raised some questions in January, and I was rather hoping for an answer. I do actually -- I mean, I think everybody in this room would like to see some form of link between us and Heathrow as a no-brainer. But what I would really appreciate when the project is actually presented to members, the next round, as we talked about in September, that there is some form of background and history on it as well, so people can get particularly newer Councillors and get a full picture of exactly how we've progressed to this stage. That would be really appreciated. Thank you. Yes, Matthew's noting that. I'm sorry, Councillor Bates. I should have asked -- did that answer your question? Yeah, sorry, I overlooked that. Councillor Beecher. Thank you, Chair. In your preamble to this item on the agenda, you mentioned some infrastructure developments, such as new cameras for the police in Stains, and also you didn't exactly mention them, but they were purchased as part of a strategic seal development, along with other strategic seal developments of clinic facilities in Sunbury, Ashford, and Stains. These are strategic seal matters, which are viewed by the Environment and Sustainability Committee, who has responsibility for strategic seal matters, less than 1 million. Greater than 1 million, they go to CP&RC. Do you have a comment on that? Thank you. How they are funded is if they're being funded through seal, and fair enough, that goes through Environment and Sustainability, but if this committee feels there's a driving need for some improvements, then I think we are perfectly within our rights to recommend that. And perhaps go to Environment and Sustainability to ask if you can stump up some money for it. Okay. Good luck. Yes, Councillor Matthew Eyck. Thank you, Chair. Just a quick one on new housing and development projects that you mentioned, or current ones, actually. Do we also provide a steer on the environmental aspect, you know, the net zero part of it, on things such as renewable energy, you know, whether it's solar panels or heat pumps, or whatever it is? And are we also going to provide steer on linking it to external organisations who may want to support such investment? I might pass that over to Corey. I think there's a -- my view is I think there's a limit as to how much control we can put on what people build if we're partnering with an external agency. But I'll ask Colby to confirm. Thank you, Chair. Yeah, that's definitely something we're always going to be considering with any partnership arrangement we move forward with. There's obviously certain criteria that we have to meet, or any developer would have to meet as part of the planning process. And obviously, it's one of the key objectives of the corporate plan in terms of reaching net zero. So it would probably be part of the -- when we go out to procure, it would be one of the questions that we would ask in that procurement so we could understand what the proposals were. And it would be one of the items that we would then score and assess each return on, and obviously report the various elements back to the committee as part of their decision making. Councillor Beecher. There are, of course, legal restrictions on what can actually be built with regards to climate change. There is a -- for us, there is a climate change supplementary planning document in existence which now hangs off the 2009 local plan. There also is government legislation around net zero -- biodiversity net gain that needs to be achieved. So there are legal restrictions in place as well. I would imagine we might be building some of this stuff into the design code work that we're working on as well. I should hope so. Okay. Councillor Gibson. Chair, from the heading environment, we're talking about minimising the impact on the environment, achieving the goal to net zero, but also working to maintain a clean and attractive borough which supports biodiversity. Now, one of the jewels in the crown as we're well aware is a riverfront. From my perspective and many people's perspectives, our current riverfront is not attractive, and it certainly needs to be opened up and made more accessible for residents to enjoy. A bit like, you know, wanting to sound like a cliche, but a bit like Richmond. So could we maybe put that on the agenda to talk about plans for the low-hanging fruit we've got and ways we can develop our riverfront and expand it so that the residents who will be coming in, we've got some development in the progress at the moment, will be able to enjoy it? Thank you. I have no objection. It's not just my decision there. Is everybody else happy with that? Yeah, excellent. Thank you. We'll add that. Happy days, thank you. On that note, does anybody else have any other suggestions, please? Councillor Clark. Thanks, Chair. Obviously, Staines has been here for quite a long time and the River Thames has been here for quite a long time. We have a problem with flooding that we all experience. And something spoken about previously is the engineering of foundations. And there's going to be a lot of development likely within two miles from here in the next 20 years. And I think that were it to be done in a coherent fashion to a standard set of objectives for subsurface, I think we could work with some of our naysayers from across the river and various other people and the environment agencies so that we're all stepping forward in a balanced way together so that we can prevent flooding. We can improve the borough and we can, you know, be safe and happy that what lies beneath is not going to be causing us problems in future. It might be a little bit too big for this committee or even for the borough, it might be like a national issue. But it would be nice if we could move in that direction. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. I think I noticed Heather Morgan's got her hand up. Was it this one you wanted to come in on, Heather? Yes, thank you, Chair. Yeah, I appreciate Councillor Clark raising this issue in terms of flooding. Councillor Beecher as Chair of E&S may have a comment as well. But I mean, my initial thoughts would be obviously my understanding of the remit of this committee is largely around, well, it's the Council's assets but also in terms of economic development. I think if we're looking at sort of the flooding issues, my inclination would be that that should probably still stick with E&S committee and link to the local plan. So I would just appreciate if there's any comments from my Chair of E&S on that part. Thank you. Thank you, Heather. I think Councillor Beecher is going to pick up on that. Thank you, Heather. This is very much-- flooding is a matter for the Environment and Sustainability Committee and it is a work in progress at the moment. More than likely, developments as they go through E&S committee and into the local plan will put the-- basically the building blocks or requirements around the-- any economic development that this committee has to review. So to Councillor Clark, yes, it's a work in progress at the moment. Thank you, Councillor Beecher. All right, fine, Councillor Clark, yes. Councillor Gibson. Through the two, Councillor Clark's comments. So under Environment, we've got to work with our residents, suppliers and partners to minimise our impact on the environment. So I'm going to do a dangerous thing and assume that that is part of what Councillor Beecher was talking about and we will be able to join the dots. Thank you. I'm sure we can. Does anybody else have any suggestions? So far, I have got the development properties, the Heathrow Rail Link, the infrastructure to prevent antisocial behaviour, not just in town centres but I'm also thinking about graffiti and fly-tipping and stuff like that. Working with infrastructure providers like the County Council and ensuring the riverfront is as attractive as possible. I guess that kind of feeds into part of what we want to do is build a sort of tourism, nightlife kind of culture and that fits in with all of that as well. Have I missed anything? Has anybody else got anything burning? So, Councillor Gibson. I'm sorry to be a pain, but when we were talking about underenvironment to maintain a clean and attractive borough which supports biodiversity, I think at the minute we are actually supporting quite a lot of biodiversity because the verges and hedges haven't yet been cut and they're really doing quite a lot for our bees and birds and things like that, but I do have a number of resident comments in my inbox at the moment that I'm trying to solve because there are some verges that need to be addressed. So, creating blind spots for traffic, et cetera. That does not appear to be in our gift. So, how do we maintain a clean and attractive borough if some of that is not yet in our gift and belongs to other agencies? That may be a corporate power for the Council. I'm not sure that's within the gift of this committee, though. So, it matters that it's probably more community well-being and housing committee. Maybe we should take that out then and maintain a clean and attractive borough. No, that's the corporate priorities. That's the whole Council's priorities. Okay. Okay, I'll leave it at that for the minute. Thanks. Councillor Clark. Thank you, Chair. Currently Cyprus, Greece, Austria, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark have a conscription. Germany have mentioned 900,000 people to be conscripted. I'm sorry, is this going somewhere, Councillor Clark? It is, it is indeed. Could you get to the question then, please? Okay, okay. National service may be coming down the line to the country and to the borough reasonably soon. I think we should have half an eye to were it to be delivered in the borough, how are we going to deliver national service? I'm sorry, that has got nothing to do with this committee, isn't it? How does, how does, how we deliver national service in this borough relate to this committee? I don't understand. Could you explain? So, it will require infrastructure and buildings and it will require places for people to go and assemble and things like that. If it needs to be done by somebody and normally what happens is it's a top down, it's sort of, you know, top delivered and also top advised and then delivered at a local level. So, I think forward thinking councils and boroughs and unitaries should be now considering, well, if it does come, what does it look like? Well, let's see who wins the election and whether we think it's a realistic possibility and my view on it, my instant view on it would be that we would address it in the same way that we address the question of Ukrainian and Afghan refugees and we're told you have to put these people up and we just sorted it out. Okay, okay. Just a note that Vladimir Putin did win the election. Yes, I was referring to the general election on the 4th of July, I'm sorry, I should have made myself clearer. Okay, thank you. Councillor Beecher. I think we're drifting into matters that are perder and shouldn't be-- can't exactly be struck from the minutes but ought to be, thank you. Thank you. I would disagree. Councillor Salicopoulos. Thank you, Chairman, did I just hear you say about putting up Afghans and Ukrainians and I quote and you just said but we've just sorted it out, what do you mean by that? Just-- this has gone completely off topic, could we please go back to the thing we're supposed to be talking about which is the strategic priorities for this year, can we please get back to the topic? You just said it and I asked you what did you mean by that. Maybe run the tape back afterwards. I meant we were presented with a situation of council was presented with a situation and the council simply acted and addressed that situation, that's what it meant. Is that clear? Thank you. Do we have any other suggestions? Councillor Giroir. Thank you, Chair. Right. Spelt and Hub, so let's not sort of like get blurry as Economic Development Committee has been merged to this committee, so it has been a fantastic platform for small businesses, startup to get that platform and support from the borough. So, we have to have continuous focus on developing Spelt and Hub. So, that should be our priority. And a good thing I recently heard on social media actually because we got some funding as well from [inaudible] studio. I don't know what that really means, but I think that's a good news. So, that has to be continued our focus. So, do you mean Spelt and Hub specifically or do you mean more generally supporting small businesses and startups? It's sort of like it goes hand in hand, isn't it? Because it's providing the space because the trainings are conducted there for free. So, it's sort of like a platform to bring in those businesses. Okay, thank you. I'm going to pass to Heather because she's got her hand up again and I think she might be wanting to address that. Heather? Yes, thank you, Chair. Yeah, I mean, thank you, Councillor Giroir. Just to advise members that obviously we do have, obviously within the corporate plan, 2428, we do, and I'm just trying to locate them, obviously, members have in front of them the five key priorities. In terms of if you drill down into the detail on the corporate plan, we do have a short-term action already identified which hopefully will give members some reassurance which, so there's a specific action around the Spelthorne Business Hub to promote further hot-desking space and provide tailored support, advice, and information to new and established businesses. So, that's already identified as an action that we're already undertaking this year, and also that we will help residents find employment and training via the Jobs and Skills Hub which is based in Staines and extend the Better Futures Program to match residents with local employers. So, there are a couple of specific actions already identified within the current corporate plan, that will cover that alongside, I believe, that we've got a couple of other ones which relate to some of the work, working with businesses around business sustainability developments and around sort of reducing their bills through better energy consumption, et cetera. So, there are a number of specific actions that are already identified in the corporate plan, and my understanding is that there will be a regular report that goes to CPRC, which will be a corporate plan tracker. So, if members want to understand detail around that one, they can follow that through CPRC, thank you.

• Thank you, Heather. Does that cover the point for you, Councillor?
• Yes, thank you.
• Thank you. Are there any other comments on this item? Nope, okay, so we will take that on board and we will incorporate them into a future forward plan. (papers rustling) Which handily takes us on to the forward plan? This can be found on pages seven to 10 of the agenda. Other than what we've just discussed about adding these other items to this forward plan, does the committee have any comments in respect of the forward plan? Councillor Gibson.
• Big surprise, huh? I was just wondering whether Heather might be able to expand on our service committee's forward plan and key decisions document 29, May 24 to 30, September 24. It doesn't have a numbering system on it, but however, one, two, three, four, five, six, seventh one down, which is business infrastructure and growth committee 12, nine, 24. We've got international business engagement. I was just wondering whether Heather could expand on exactly what that means, entails, and the scope of it, please. Thank you.
• Chair, do you want me to answer?
• Yes, sorry Heather, would you like to pick up on that?
• Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Thank you very much. I was about to put my hand up to explain to members about that one as well, but also to flag up that obviously, I think Councillor Saligopoulos referenced an item that was on the minutes from the last economic development committee, which was related to international business engagement. So that item has been carried forward. So that is what you're now seeing as an item for the 12th of September. So there was a discussion at the last economic development committee. I think it was a matter that was raised by Councillor Bing-Dong, as I recall. She sort of made a submission for the economic development committee to look at that. And it's about international business engagement and inward investment. So I know that Councillor Williams' chair has had an initial conversation with Councillor Bing-Dong and has passed it on to Chris Norrington, who is our interim economic development manager. I understand that he is having, I don't have the date in front of me, a meeting with Councillor Bing-Dong to understand a bit more about that so that we can then understand what the aspiration is. And then we can put a report to committee in September that will cover that as well as identifying what we're doing from an inward investment point of view. So that's about as much as I can give members at the moment. Thank you.
• Thank you, Heather.
• Thank you, sir. - Yes, thank you. Are there any other comments on the forward plan? No, okay, thank you. Do we agree to note the forward plan with the additional agreed items? Thank you. All right, for item seven, we will need to move into part two to deal with exempt business. As we will be discovering private information, we will need to formally agree to exclude the public from this meeting. May I have a proposer to move the exclusion of the press and public for this discussion in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph three of part one of schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, which states information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person, including the authority holding that information. And in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information because disclosure to the public would prejudice the financial position of the authority in being able to undertake even-handed negotiations and finalising acceptable contract terms. Thank you. I think Councillor Beecher probably got it to you and that's seconded by Councillor Bates and thank you very much. Is that agreed?
• Agreed.
• Thank you.