Agenda item

Briefing Note of the Director of Business, Investment and Culture

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a briefing note from the Director of Business, Investment and Culture, which provided an update on the status of the Coventry and Warwickshire Green Business Programme, the current finite funding available and opportunities being explored to maintain the programme.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Green Business Programme (GBP) supports the shift towards low carbon economy, delivering a cohesive package of support activities that facilitate economic growth through small and medium sized enterprises (SME) developing and adopting energy and efficiency measures, as well as renewable energy.  The Council acts as the accountable body of this programme through the Economic Development Services Project Management Team.  Activities are then delivered by an established partnership of Council’s Climate Change and Sustainability Team, Coventry University and Coventry University Enterprises.

The Briefing Note indicated that the GBP was established in 2016 and was the first integrated package of business support focussed on low carbon that the Authority had delivered, and the first such program in Coventry and Warwickshire and was funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).  The success of the first programme which ran from 2016 to 2018, led to the establishment of Phase 2, which rand from 2019 to 2021.  This was further extended to June 2023, when ERDF funding ceases.

The Council provided grants of £1k to £50k, free energy and resource efficiency audits and a Green Business Network to maximise the energy efficiency and low carbon opportunities for SMEs with less than 250 employees, based in Coventry and Warwickshire.  The partnership also offered funding and workshops around low carbon innovation, providing an integrated support package for SMEs.  SMEs engaged in the programme experienced a variety of benefits, namely:

·  Reduced energy bills and maintenance costs;

·  Reduced carbon emissions;

·  Increased competitiveness, profitability and efficiency;

·  Improved working conditions; and

·  Reduced waste disposal costs.

The main outputs which required reporting to the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities were business assists, financial claims and carbon savings.  The table within the briefing note provided a breakdown of outputs achieved against targets for both phases of the programme.  Phase 1 significantly overachieved on carbon savings, vindicating the decision to run the project and highlighting the level of need across businesses in the region.  It was noted that Phase 2, which would run until June 2023, was on tract to meet or exceed all targets.

The businesses supported through the GBP covered a range of sectors, the majority being manufacturing, but also included construction through to professional services.  Grant funding had been used to support a variety of measures ranging from LED lighting and heating improvement, to more innovative measures such as improvements to production efficiency and providing capacity for businesses to bring production in-house.  In addition to the main outputs mentioned, the Programme also reported the following:

At least 60 jobs directly created because of energy-efficient machinery part-funded by the programme.

·  Since 2018, 30 events have been hosted by the Programme (13 face-to-face, 17 webinars) which has had 1,884 delegates register.

·  440 followers on LinkedIn

·  749 followers on twitter

·  1,749 members of the Green Business Network, up from a base of zero in 2016.  This has been testament to the pro-active nature of the team delivering the programme, and especially the energy put into marketing and comms.

The briefing note also set out the relationship of the programme to the Climate Change Agenda, a further business support programme, Business Sustain, and the differences and synergies between the two programme.

The Board were advised that the ERDF funding for the GBP would end in June 2023 and that, having recognised the valuable benefit for businesses, ways were being sought to maintain the programme beyond that date.  It was acknowledged that opportunities to fund similar programmes may emerge through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, although further information on this funding was awaited from central Government.  Relationships between GBP and Business Sustain were also being explored to fully understand the synergies and services that businesses require and find an approach to continue these two valuable services and expand them.

RESOLVED that, the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3):

1)  Request that officers continue to pursue further funding opportunities which may be used to extend / re-establish a Green Business Programme when the current European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) expires in June 2023.

2)  Support an approach which looks at synergies between the Green Business programme and our other service, Business Sustain; with the aim of identifying opportunities to continue the Green Business service beyond June 2023.