The City Region Board met to discuss the Strategic Economic Development Fund (SEDF), the Green Skills Strategy, and the Business Rates Pool. The board agreed to delegate to Councillor Julian Tooke, Cabinet Member for Business, Economic Development, Planning and Infrastructure and Chair of the City Region Board, the writing of a letter to the government's Fair Funding consultation, highlighting the benefits of the business rate pool system to Gloucestershire. The board also received updates on the Local Growth Plan, the Countywide Strategic Plan, the Local Area Energy Plan, and the Economic Dashboard.

Business Rate Pool

The board received an update on the Business Rates Pool from Andrew Cummings, Stroud District Council's Deputy Chief Executive and Strategic Director of Resources. The Gloucestershire Business Rates Pool was set up to maximise the business rates income retained in the county by implementing a 50% rates retention system, with the resulting Strategic Economic Development Fund (SEDF) being allocated through a bidding process to support economic growth activity across Gloucestershire.

The report highlighted that Cheltenham was no longer part of the pool as of 1 April 2025, but continues to benefit from the Pool gain. The purpose of the change was to increase the business rates income retained locally and maximise the Pool Gain.

The government has confirmed that the 'reset' of business rates growth will take place in 2026, and is considering whether pooling arrangements should continue in 2026/2027 as part of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 Consultation. It was noted that the business rate reset would significantly weaken the rationale for pooling and therefore may mean that 2025/2026 could be the final year of the Gloucestershire Business Rate Pool.

The board resolved to delegate to Councillor Julian Tooke, Chair of the City Region Board, the writing of a letter to the government's Fair Funding consultation to highlight how beneficial the business rate pool system had been to Gloucestershire.

Strategic Economic Development Fund (SEDF)

The board received an update on the Strategic Economic Development Fund (SEDF) bids in the pipeline. There were nine Expressions of Interest submitted for consideration for this round, including bids to support the Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing sector in Tewkesbury, enhanced business support for start-ups in the Cyber/Digital sector, funding to support the Gloucestershire Careers Hub, and resources to support future energy planning work.

Officers reviewed the bids against the fund criteria and were supportive of the majority of them. Two bids were ready to be assessed in October, and six bids required further work and clarity. These points have been fed back to the respective project sponsors/bidders.

One bid, seeking to mitigate the impacts of overtourism in Bibury, was acknowledged to be a localised project with little wider strategic benefit, and it was suggested that funding should be explored from other local authority funding sources.

The board was informed that the funding award timetable had been updated to allow more time to consider the bids. Presentations about each of the bids will be given in September, with a decision on funding to be made at the November meeting.

Green Skills Strategy

The board received an update on the Green Skills Strategy from Jon Hickman. The strategy aims to define green skills as the knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes needed to live in, develop and support a society which reduces the impact of human activity on the environment .

The strategy categorises green skills into three types: existing, enhanced, and emerging. Existing skills are those for which there is increased demand but no significant changes in the work and skills required (e.g. insulation experts). Enhanced skills are those where there are significantly altered work or skills and knowledge which are not new but rarely available (e.g. mechanics upskilling in electric vehicle maintenance). Emerging skills are those required for new green jobs which have a direct impact on combatting carbon emissions (e.g. the build and operation of Small Modular Reactors).

The strategy focuses on promoting all green skills, skills for retrofit, and skills to support local and national energy strategy. It includes the creation of a Gloucestershire Green Skills Pledge, similar to the Essex County Council scheme, and a Gloucestershire Green Skills Summit planned for Q1 2026.

The strategy also identifies interventions to create better outcomes for householders commissioning retrofit works¹, match the supply of skills training and upskilling to demand and government targets for heat pumps and retrofit, and align local and national demand generation for retrofit.

Economic Dashboard

The board received an update on the Economic Dashboard from Katherine Martin, GCC's Data and Insights Manager for Communities and Place. The dashboard included new data on Gross Value Added (GVA), unemployment claimant count, universal credit, payrolled employees, and unique active job postings.

New data included GVA per head, which was £33,626 in 2023, an increase of £2,024 since 2022, and GVA per hour worked, which saw an increase of £0.80 since 2022.

The number of people claiming unemployment related benefits in July 2025 was 10,635, which is 2.7% of 16-64 year olds. Median pay per month was £2,463, up 4.8% on July 2024.

The dashboard also showed a decline in unique active job postings, with a 17.3% decrease since July 2022.

Local Growth Plan

Ben Watts, GCC Manager for Economy and Strategic Planning, provided an update on the draft Local Growth Plan. It had been the intention to bring the draft Local Growth Plan to the City Region Board's July meeting, however having received feedback from District and GCC colleagues, it was agreed to delay seeking agreement of the draft document until September's Board meeting.

A member raised concern that the Forest of Dean was not well represented in the Local Growth Plan and that they wanted to make sure the Forest of Dean was not left behind. Officers highlighted the DEEP Institute, a pioneering underwater research facility which was being developed in Tidenham in the Forest of Dean, which would bring both new visitors and new industry.

Countywide Strategic Plan

Tracey Birkinshaw, Cheltenham Borough Council's Director of Communities and Economic Development, provided an update on the Countywide Strategic Plan. The report gave an update on the position of each of the 6 Districts' Local Plans. There was a clear message that to create the Countywide Strategic Land Use Plan, the 7 councils had to work together and think more like a unitary authority. Another update will be provided at November's City Region Board.

Local Area Energy Plan

Afriqnmun Lovejoy, Countywide Climate Change Coordinator, provided a presentation about the emerging Local Area Energy Plan. It was explained that by creating a Local Area Energy Plan, it would give Gloucestershire the ability to be proactive and decide where grid capacity should be prioritised. It was stressed by officers that Gloucestershire was behind other counties on creating a Local Area Energy Plan as 66 other areas had already created plans.