Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Freeman & Talbot.

Councillor D Hammond attended as a substitute for Councillor Freeman.

There were no declarations of interest given at the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 29 September 2022 were confirmed.

Councillor A Wright  referred to page 7 of the minutes and asked for further clarification that the response from the Economic Growth Manager was specific to the East Coast College campus The Head of Inward Investment agreed to follow this matter up and report back to the committee.

The Chairman reported that there were no matters arising from the minutes which were not covered elsewhere on the agenda.

The Committee received and considered the Forward Plan.

Councillor Plant asked for an update on the South Denes Enterprise Zone and O & M Campus and proposed that these should be on the Forward Plan. The Director of Planning & Growth reported that he would need to clarify the reporting process before he could approve the request.

Councillor A Wright proposed that the Full Generate update & future plans for 2023 be brought forward from the March to the January 2023 meeting.

Councillor Price asked that the committee receive regular updates on the North Quay. The Director of Planning & Growth informed members that this was reported directly to Policy & Resources Committee but he would check with the Monitoring Officer to ascertain if this was appropriate that a report for information only came to this committee.

Councillor Cordiner-Achenbach asked for an update on the Enterprise Hub. The Head of Inward Investment agreed to report this to the committee in January 2023.

Councillor P Hammond asked that a feasibility report be prepared for sites for small starter business units boroughwide to encourage small business start-ups. The Director of Planning & growth agreed to take this away and discuss with Property Services and report back.

The Director of Planning & Growth reported that a Great Yarmouth Junctions and A47 scheme update report would be presented at the next meeting.

The Chairman asked that a report on apprentices be prepared for the January meeting in preparation for Apprentice Week in February and that an Apprentice Fair be held in the Town Hall in conjunction with County. The Head of Inward Investment reported that this could tie in with the Economic Growth Plan & Kickstart initiative.

The Director of Planning & Growth suggested that he meet with the Head of Inward Investment and the Chairman outside of this meeting to discuss the requested additions to the Forward Plan.

RESOLVED:-

That the Committee note the Forward Plan.

The Committee received and considered the report from the Project Manager.

Mia Mason, Ginger, joined the meeting to assist with answering questions from members.

The Project Manager reported the salient areas of her report to the Committee in regard to progress to date:-

The trial launched 30th March 2021. 

Statistics for the trial from launch up until 24th October 2022:-

• Total unique riders: 13,400
• Total Ginger app sign-ups: 18,700
• Total mileage: 220,000 miles (that's scooting around Earth eight times!)
• Total CO2 emissions saved: 58 tonnes
• % of point to point rides (from launch): 83% overall since launch, 87% this past month
• Most popular bays are: Crown Road, Southtown Road and the Train Station parking bay (when looking at 2022 data)
• The busiest Great Yarmouth rider has 530 journeys under their belt, they are on our Free Rides for Heroes program 
• Total Bays: 72 (additional bays can be added where needed based on feedback and demand)
• Users banned: 22
• Warnings issued: 92 warnings issued by text
• Only three serious incidents reported (serious incident defined as an accident that required medical attention).

Since launch Ginger have been instructed to move 12 parking bays based on feedback received by local residents. Ginger are able to implement these changes within 24 hours of instruction. We will continue to act on feedback throughout the trial to ensure its safety and effectiveness. 

Dismount zones have been implemented in the Market Place, Victoria Arcade, St George’s Park, Great Yarmouth Seafront Beach side promenade, Marine Parade running alongside Pleasure Beach, St Nicholas Car Park, Pleasure Beach Gardens, the A47 and Gorleston High Street.

Ginger have launched an 'end journey photo' feature within the app. This means that all journeys can now only end when the user takes a live photo of their scooter to show its end state. This is to promote positive user behaviour for good, upright parking and to ensure users leave the vehicles in a roadworthy state. It will help Ginger identify any problem parkers or damaged vehicles earlier, allowing the fleet managers to respond faster.

To help support issues around inclusion and access for 16-18 year olds it was agreed that the trial would include this age group to give a cheap, convenient, green form of access for commuting to college and/or work. 16-18 year olds must still have a valid driving licence and do have to go through an additional verification process to access the app. 

Working in partnership with NCC’s Bikeability Project, a number of e-scooter safe use training sessions will be held for 16-18 year olds. 

Ginger have extended their Free Rides for Heroes offer, which provides free journeys on Ginger scooters for NHS and other key workers, indefinitely. The scheme was originally set to close on 31st December 2021. The campaign has been tremendously successful so far with Ginger having provided free scooter journeys to well over 1,000 key workers nationwide.

Nplaw have amended the temporary TROs in place for the trial; the TROs are now permanent allowing e-scooter use in all cycle and shared-use lanes.

Great Yarmouth Police have provided the following feedback: Actual reports to us of misuse are still low; they have been working with their Roads Policing Teams to devise a Norfolk wide approach to E-Scooters; Police Communications Team has been working with GYBC Communications Team and NCC Communications Team to devise a strategy with Police taking the lead around privately owned E-Scooters; all officers have now been sent a guide to the legalities of E-Scooters, and; reports of anti-social behaviour relating to E-Scooters can be feedback to the Police via 101 or via their website by hitting the report it now button on the front page.

The Queen’s Speech in May this year announced the Government’s intention to introduce legislation on the future of transport in the new parliamentary session as part of a Transport Bill. DfT anticipate using powers to create a new independent low-speed, zero emission vehicle (LZEV) category, and to subsequently create regulations that will legalise e-scooters under new rules, as well as proposing new powers for local transport authorities to manage rental operations for pedal cycles, e-cycles and e-scooters through a rental permit scheme. DfT will continue to engage with local authorities while legislation is being developed and will also consult publicly before any secondary regulations for e-scooters and the rental schemes are made.  

The move towards a new regime means that the trials continue to have significant value, as well as providing a practical example of how better regulation can encourage responsible use. DfT continue to gather trip data and monthly incident reports to inform policy development. 

Department for Transport have announced that all e-scooter trials have been extended to 31st May 2024. The extension will be restricted to existing trial areas only and will allow DfT to gather further evidence where gaps are identified, building on the findings of the current evaluation. 

Councillor A Wright reiterated his earlier concerns regarding the E-Scooter trial. He asked that Ginger publish the number of complaints made on a month to month basis in regard to misuse. He was concerned that the goal posts had been changed a number of times during the trial period which was unacceptable. The latest increase in the time period for the trail would result in the trial lasting 4.5 years. Pressure should be put on the Government to publish its legislation.

Mia Mason agreed to pull the requested data together with assistance from the Project Manager and that she was equally frustrated that the Government legislation was still not published and this affected investment options and optimum fleet numbers. Their CEO was in the process of drafting a letter to the Government outlining their concerns.

Councillor P Hammond asked for clarification as to the details of the three incidents. Mia Mason clarified that a  mild incident resulted in a sprain/bruise/cut and a major incident resulted in an injury requiring medical intervention for example, a bone breakage.

Councillor Jeal asked why we did not insist that riders wore a helmet when riding an E-Scooter. The Project Manager reported that the current legislation did not require a helmet to be worn as was the case with cyclists.

RESOLVED:-

That the Committee note the progress of the E-Scooter trial and the extension of the trial to 31 May 2024.

The Committee recived and considered the report from the Renewables Marketing Manager.

The Renewables Marketing Manager provided members with an update on GENERATE, and a summary of the marketing activity since the last Economic Development Committee meeting held in July 2022. This report outlines the operational focus for the remainder of the current term and recommendations for GENERATE moving forward when the current MOU ends at the end of March 2023.

The Renewables Marketing Manager shared a promotional video with the Committee of the wider South Denes inward investment opportunities/development sites, including the Great Yarmouth O & M Campus with the committee, which was a joint project commissioned with Peel Ports.

The Chairman reported that he welcomed the impactful, professional video showcasing the infrastructure and investment that Great Yarmouth Borough Council and its partners were making in the region.  This provided a valuable piece of promotional material that can be used by GENERATE and partners to provide exposure for the O&M Campus, working closely with the Inward Investment and Property teams within Great Yarmouth and New Anglia LEP work will focus on maximising visibility of this video, and support wider work to land investment into the campus.  The Chairman requested that the video link be shared with all members.

Councillor Mogford asked if the video could be shown to the public and suggested that an empty shopfront be utilised for this purpose. The Chairman agreed to follow this suggestion up.

Councillor A Wright referred to section 6.2 of the agenda report; the brand is just over 12 months old; brands typically need 3-5 years to be truly embedded, therefore should its profile diminish, or more crucially, dialogue/facilitation with potential investors and key stakeholders falter, there is a risk that the competitiveness of the area is reduced, and investment lost. Councillor Wright asked for an assurance that this worthwhile brand would be fully funded to promote the borough. Councillor Plant assured members that onward funding schemes and funding partners would be actively sought to support the brand moving forwards after this 12 month extension. 

RESOLVED:-

That the Committee reviewed the report and agreed to the recommendations of the Enterprise Zone Funding and Governance Group; the recycling of underspend against allocated Pot B marketing budget to set out costed proposals for GENERATE delivery for the period April 2023 to March 2024, as set out in Section 4.1 to 4.4 of the report.

Councillor Jeal highlighted that HGV's carrying aggregates were traveling from Peel Ports along the seafront, then down Kings Road & Queens Road from 6 am in the morning which was disturbing residents and he asked if the Chairman would agree to sending a letter from the Committee to the aggregate companies asking that this be curtailed as a matter of urgency.

Actions:-

(i) That an officer contact Peel Ports and request a list of the aggregate companies and a blanket letter be written on behalf of the committee for the Chairman to sign.

(ii) Councillor Plant to talk to County officers to ascertain if any restrictions could be put in place in the interim period but the opening of the Third River Crossing next year would probably alleviate this problem.