Plymouth Economic Forum
Insider’s Plymouth economic forum in late September was held at a crucial moment for the city, coming soon after news about the closure of the Plymouth City Development Company.
Business leaders came to hear how economic development efforts in the city would be led in the future, and how far can the private sector might expected to pick up the baton to help the city to thrive.
Our panel included David Draffan, assistant director of economic development at Plymouth City Council and City College Plymouth principal Viv Gillespie from the public sector, and three private sector participants: Simon Chamberlain, chief executive of Succession Advisory Services, Ian Potts of architectural practice ADG and Graham Austin of Barclays Corporate.
Draffan began proceedings by tackling the question of whether the demise of Plymouth CDC and the public sector cutbacks meant that the effort of promoting Plymouth would fall on the private sector.
“Everyone regrets that the CDC had to close, but promotion of the city takes many different forms,” said Draffan. “Work will go on on many fronts, from behind-the-scenes efforts to drive inward investment to some of the more visible efforts made to grow tourism here.”
He said promotion of Plymouth would never fall on a single organisation, so the CDC’s closure was not the end of anything. “There are many major organisations out there actively promoting the city: the local authority, the university, the naval base and the city centre companies, to name just some.”
Simon Chamberlain said the real question was whether Plymouth CDC was ever the organisation it needed to be.
“At the launch of the CDC a budget of £750,000 was announced for three years, and many felt at the time it wouldn’t be enough. I don’t think the CDC ever got beyond being an irrelevance.”
The issue of how to create an effective Local Enterprise Partnership for the city also arose, and a wish for Plymouth and Devon to work with Cornwall rather than compete with it was shared by all.
Austin said the danger with the LEPs wa that they would descend into local disputes or pettinesses. “I think you need a critical mass and a common vision – and that means Devon and Cornwall working together.”
Draffan said the city council’s position was clear: “The Devon proposition for an LEP is strong and coherent, but an LEP that includes Cornwall is a better answer. We are lobbying for that locally and nationally.”
Chamberlain added: “It doesn’t surprise me that Cornwall wanted to go it alone, but I don’t think you can have an LEP without a full-blown university. Any economy needs a university in the mix to act as a hub for excellence. Devon and Cornwall’s futures are linked, so I hope that commercial realism prevails.”
