Memorandum submitted by Ipswich Borough
Council
Ipswich Borough Council welcomes the opportunity
to respond to the Business and Enterprise Committee's inquiry
into the role of Regional Development Agencies. Ipswich is the
county town of Suffolk and one of the East of England's key regional
cities. It is part of the Haven Gateway sub-region which is responsible
for delivering over 50,000 net additional houses and just under
50,000 net additional jobs by 2021. In order to deliver this scale
of growth the council needs a strong and supportive partnership
with the East of England Development Agency—the region's
RDA.
In order to support the major expansion in housing
and jobs Ipswich also needs to significantly increase its higher
education / further education offer and invest heavily in its
infrastructure to accommodate this growth. To this end Ipswich
BC and EEDA developed a joint programme of investment (the Ipswich
Prospectus)—focusing resources on a limited number of high
profile interventions that can achieve a real and lasting change
to achieve greater impact and leverage than would otherwise be
the case by acting independently.
Certainly EEDA acts as an important regional
body that helps links local areas together and assists with providing
better access to other regional and national bodies and agencies.
Perhaps the best example of this is EEDAs central role in the
creation of Regional Cities East and its continued support for
that organisation. EEDA have been crucial to the development of
Integrated Development Progammes and used their networks and contacts
to ensure involvement of other regional agencies such as the Housing
Corporation, the Environment Agency and the Highways Agency. In
my 10+ years working in Ipswich this is the first opportunity
we have had to discuss local issues with all the relevant agencies
in a room at the same time.
A key example of this joint working is the combined
investment in the Ipswich waterfront area. Three key elements
of this joint investment approach are highlighted below:
THE UNIVERSITY
CAMPUS SUFFOLK
(UCS)
The UCS project will deliver a dedicated higher
education institution (HEI) in Suffolk, with degrees accredited
by UEA and Essex. From its "hub" in central Ipswich
a UCS Learning Network will be developed across the county widening
participation in HE. The UCS project represents EEDA's single
largest project investment (£20.1 million out of a total
project cost of £137 million). This is key initiative for
Ipswich and Suffolk since the lack of HE provision has been identified
as a major barrier to improving economic performance.
CRANFIELDS MILL
Cranfields Mill is an iconic, 23 storey mixed
use development on the Ipswich Waterfront which represents the
cornerstone of the Ipswich waterfront renaissance. The former
derelict grain mill is being transformed into 330 new homes with
leisure and cultural facilities. Central to this is the new Jerwood
DanceHouse for the regional dance compant DanceEast. Without EEDA's
£3.5 million investment to secure the land, building and
decontaminate the site this £50 million development would
have struggled to get off the ground as there was previously very
little developer interest.
Crucially from a local perspective I believe
that EEDA involvement has ensured this development has a larger
and broader mix of uses within it than would otherwise have been
the case. This has established a really useful benchmark and precedent
for the Council's subsequent discussions with other developers.
IP CITY CENTRE
The IP City Centre is a complex of well-equipped
office suites and conference facilities that offer growing businesses
space to expand in a thriving location near central Ipswich. EEDA
provided funding of £7.5 million towards the cost of purchasing
and "fitting out" the former warehouse building. The
centre largely provides graduation space for small businesses
that have grown out of their original accommodation and addresses
a key issue for Ipswich—the lack of "grow on"
space for expanding small businesses.
To the best of my knowledge the total investment
in Ipswich by EEDA since its creation has been around £32
million. This funding has been targeted to transform the regeneration
of Ipswich and has levered in at least £1 billion more into
the town from a range of public and private partners.
19 September 2008
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