The West Sussex Economic Growth Board is scheduled to meet on 25 September 2025 to discuss sectors, clusters and innovation development, the West Sussex Economic Strategy Action Plan, energy infrastructure, sector insights from business representatives, English devolution and local government reorganisation, the interim chair and vice-chair review, and the TfSE Business Advisory Group.

Interim Chair and Vice-Chair Review

The West Sussex Economic Growth Board is scheduled to review the interim arrangements for the chair and vice-chair positions. According to the report pack, at a meeting in February 2025, it was agreed that Councillor Paul Marshall, Leader of West Sussex County Council, would act as interim chair, and that the appointed business representatives would be invited to act as vice-chair on an interim basis. The report pack states that none of the business representatives can currently take on the vice-chair position.

The board is scheduled to consider the following options:

• Continue with the current interim arrangement with Councillor Paul Marshall acting as chair until summer 2026, and leave the vice-chair role vacant.
• Continue with the current interim arrangement with Councillor Paul Marshall acting as chair until summer 2026, and recruit an interim vice-chair from the business community through open advert.
• Recruit a new, independent business chair on an interim basis to summer 2026 through an open recruitment process, with Councillor Paul Marshall reverting to the vice-chair role.
• Recruit a new, independent business chair on a permanent basis through an open recruitment process, with Councillor Paul Marshall reverting to the vice-chair role.

The report pack notes that in July, the government agreed to move forward with devolution in the area, with a Sussex and Brighton Mayoral Combined County Authority (MCCA) to be established with a mayoral election in May 2026. It also notes that work has been progressing on options for local government reorganisation, which could see one or two unitary councils covering the geography of West Sussex from April 2028.

Sectors, clusters and innovation development

The West Sussex Economic Growth Board is scheduled to discuss an update on sectors, clusters, and innovation development for high growth. The report pack states that an initial analysis report was presented at the June meeting, and the board agreed for the work to be taken forward.

The report pack states that the board agreed that the immediate focus of high growth support should be on 'enabling sectors', which are:

• Digital technology and Artificial intelligence
• Electronics and sensors
• Photonics (includes quantum technologies)

The report pack also references the UK Modern Industrial Strategy, which aims to increase business investment, boost productivity, and foster economic growth by focusing on key sectors with high potential. According to the report pack, there is significant alignment between the West Sussex Economic Strategy 2025 – 2035 and the Modern Industrial Strategy.

The report pack states that since the June board meeting, West Sussex County Council has commissioned growth and innovation specialists to progress work on the three enabling sectors agreed by the board. The first stage of this work was completed in September and included data work to clarify and agree sector definitions and identify West Sussex businesses by location in these sectors, and other growth and innovation assets, such as universities and the institute of technology who will be important participants.

The report pack states that the commissioned specialists have begun engagement work with West Sussex businesses in the identified enabling sectors. The outputs from this engagement will inform the development of plans for sector-specific support.

The report pack states that options for support are likely to include:

• Funding support connecting businesses to public and private sources of grants, funding and investment, and supporting business plan and funding application processes.
• Innovation support connecting businesses to sources of support from Innovate UK, universities, catapults¹ and clusters, including facilitating introductions to key contacts and promoting competitions and challenges through a local enabling sectors network.
• Sector specific mentoring support from sector experts, peer-to-peer mentoring and/ or account manager support to achieve specific business objectives.
• Export and new market support support from international trade advisors and other government sources to facilitate entry to new markets.
• Grants dependent on funding available, a support programme could include grant funding for specific capital investments, product development and testing, or seed funding for innovation development.

Other items

The West Sussex Economic Growth Board is also scheduled to:

• Receive a presentation on highlights on progress from the West Sussex Economic Strategy Action Plan.
• Receive a presentation on a strategic overview of energy and the economy.
• Receive round table updates from business representatives on sector and business challenges and opportunities. The business representatives are Alison Addy – Gatwick Airport Ltd, Melanie Asker – Greenwood Plants, Gabby Day – Pentagon Plastics Ltd, Rachael Dines – Shake it Up Creative Ltd, Philip Kennedy – Eschmann Technologies Ltd, Di Mill – Commtel Ltd, Simon Pringle – Red River.
• Receive an update on English Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation.
• Have a feedback discussion on the TfSE Business Advisory Group. Ana Christie, Chief Executive Officer, Sussex Chamber of Commerce is scheduled to provide an update to the Board on progress, including the approval of Rampion 2 project and that the TfSE Transport strategy is due to be published by end of 2025.