Agenda and minutes

Venue: This meeting will be held remotely. The meeting can be viewed live by pasting this link into browser: https://youtu.be/3T1mM1cyNP0

Contact: Lara Knight / Michelle Salmon, Governance Services,  Tel: 024 7697 2642 / 2643, Email:  lara.knight@coventry.gov.uk /  michelle.salmon@coventry.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 85 KB

(a)  To agree the minutes from the meeting of Cabinet on 7th April 2020

 

(b)  Matters arising

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 7th April 2020 were agreed as a true record.

 

There were no matters arising.

3.

Renewal of City Centre Public Space Protection Order pdf icon PDF 75 KB

Report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services that sought approval for the renewal of Coventry’s City Centre Public Spaces Protection Order.

 

A Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) was created and approved in 2017 to address a number of behaviours within the City Centre that it was felt needed controlling. The behaviours included Street Trading, Busking, and Begging, amongst others.

 

PSPO’s were only permitted to run for 3 years and at that point either expire or an application made to renew. The City Centre PSPO was due to expire on 17th July 2020 and approval was being sought for the current order to be renewed for another 3 years.

 

It was felt that the existing Order had worked well in its intention to address problematic behaviours and there would benefit from those conditions being retained, particularly with Coventry becoming the UK City of Culture in 2021. A significant increase in the number of visitors to the City Centre was expected and it was important to have a framework in place to address problematic behaviour.

 

The City Centre PSPO assisted in addressing problematic behaviours and simplified the response of officers from the Police and the Council in dealing with various anti-social activities. 

 

As the Order was to be renewed before the current Order expired, and there wre no proposed changes to the wording of the Order, or the geographical area covered by the Order, a full public consultation was not required. Consultation with key stakeholders was required, this was undertaken in early 2020 with West Midlands Police, Coventry Business Improvement District and the Neighbourhood Enforcement Team that patrolled the City Centre and enforced the Order alongside Police colleagues. In addition, in advance of 2021 and becoming the City of Culture, a meeting was held with key agencies such as Equity and the Musicians Union and Performers, to review the busking code of conduct ahead of 2021.

 

The Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities agreed that a review of  permissible busking activity, which the Cabinet felt brought vitality to the City Centre, would be undertaken in preparation for the City of Culture 2021.

 

Appendices to the report provided: The City Centre (2020) Public Space Protection Order for Coventry; a City Centre Map; a summary of responses from key partners; the enforcement activity for the existing Order and the Buskers code of conduct.

 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

 

1)  Approves the wording of the proposed Public Space Protection Order and the suggested area to be covered by the Order, as set out in Appendices 1 and 2 to the report.

 

2)  Authorises officers to bring the Order into effect on 16th July 2020, just prior to the expiry date of the previous order.

 

 

4.

European Structural Investment Fund Business Support Additional Funding pdf icon PDF 150 KB

Report of the Director of Business, Investment and Culture

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Business, Investment and Culture, that would also be considered by Council on 16th June 2020, which sought approval for the Council to act as accountable body and guarantor for additional funding for European Structural Investment Fund Business Support.

 

Coventry City Council had secured an additional £9.28m in European Structural Investment Funds (ESIF) which would allow four key business support programmes to be extended until June 2023. 

 

ESIF included both the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF). ERDF was designed to fund economic development projects and support the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in a modern economy. ESF was designed to support individuals who were employed to upskill and progress in their career.

 

The four programmes that had secured additional funding included three ERDF Programmes and one ESF programme. The ERDF Programmes, Business Support; Green Business and Innovation would seek to address the barriers to growth faced by existing SME’s; support the development of new business start up’s; assist SME’s to improve their energy efficiency levels and support SME’s to develop and test new products and technologies. The ESF Skills 4 Growth would work with SME’s to identify skills gaps in their employees and address them through targeted training.

 

This additional funding would also play a key role as the economy began to recover after the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

The current ERDF Programmes were due to come to an end in December 2021 and the ESF Programme in June 2020 (ESF). In view of this, the Council submitted bids for extensions to the ERDF programmes and a new ESF Skills 4 Growth Programme which had now been approved.

 

Across all the Programmes the amount totalled £9.28m which represented 43% of the £21.6m funding made available in this round of Calls.

 

The Council had already taken a leadership role in bringing partners together from across the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area to develop projects and programmes that would lead to greater economic growth across the City and the sub-region. The Council had an outstanding track record of securing, managing and delivering EU-funded programmes.

 

The report provided information on each of the bids and requested approval for the Council to act as accountable body and guarantor for the funding programmes.

 

The Cabinet agreed that the Council be recommended to:

 

1)  Approve the acceptance and drawdown of the grant funding totalling £9.28m (£8.12m for European Regional Development Fund and £1.16m for European Social Fund) from European Structural Investment Fund to be utilised in delivering the City’s priorities as set out in this report.

 

2)  Delegate authority to the Director of Business, Investment and Culture and the Director of Finance, following consultation with the Director of Law and Governance and the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration, to negotiate final terms and approve entry into:

 

a)  the grant funding agreement for the extensions to secure the European Regional  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Hosting the International Children's Games (ICG) 2022 in Coventry pdf icon PDF 117 KB

Report of the Director of Business, Investment and Culture

Additional documents:

Minutes:

This item was withdrawn from the meeting.

6.

Outstanding Issues

There are no outstanding issues

Minutes:

There were no outstanding issues.

7.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

Minutes:

There were no other items of public business