15 September 2006

• Paul Barrett (Chairman)
• Ian Mazerolle (Vice Chair)
• Jonathan Watts (Managing Director, Lenleys)
• Eileen Hargreaves (Voluntary Sector)
• Jan Thornby (Kent Works)
• Michael Head (Crown Products)
• Jan Druker (Senior Pro-Vice Chancellor, Canterbury Christ Church University)
• Denise Everitt (Director of Finance, University of Kent)
• Amy Austin (Kent Works)
• Ron Donmall (Advisor, Technology Enterprise Kent)
• George Wilson (Managing Director, George Wilson Holdings)
• Ian Brown (Regeneration & Economic Development, Canterbury City Council)
• Ron Donmall (Advisor, Technology Enterprise Kent)
• Sharon Brown (Secretary C4B)
• Nick Churchill (Economic Development Officer, Canterbury City Council)

• Dawn Hudd (Local Economy Manager, Canterbury City Council)
• Colin Carmichael (Chief Executive, Canterbury City Council)
• Clive Relf (Tax Partner, Reeves & Neylan))
• Tony Bartlett (Enterprise Development Manager, Business Link Kent)
• Peter Hawkes (Director, Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce)
• Peter Drummond (Insurance Broker, National Farmers Union)

• As above
• Councillors – Leaders of the 3 groups
• Local Chambers of Commerce
• Website, once approved by the board

• Dawn Hudd to contact Herne Bay Town Partners with a view to asking them whether a partner would wish to join the C4B board. Action DH.
• A replacement for Peter Drummond with experience and knowledge of rural business issues is sought to join the board. Action ALL.

Futures Conference

Whitstable based manufacturing firm Huyck Ltd has recently been purchased by a Canadian Trust. Huyck used to employ 165 people but has now relocated the majority of its operations overseas. The board were keen to see the site remain in employment use. Paul will formally write to the council expressing the view of C4B. Action: PB
The council’s Business Life newsletter, containing the 2006 Business Survey, is due to be mailed out to 3500 local businesses next week.

Employment & Entrepreneurship
Tony Bartlett – Absent from the meeting, but the board received the latest sub group update.

Improving Education & Skills.
Jan Druker spoke to the Board.
The group is investigating how education and business can work more closely together. Carole Barron from the University of Kent, Bob Jones from Christchurch University, and Uwe Derksen from Ucreative are on the sub group. Jan also felt that input from a business representative was also required on the sub-group, possibly a C4B board or Associate member.
The group are also proposing a new service via the C4B website – a directory of local business training provision in the district. Jan welcomed any comments/feedback from the handouts given out at the meeting.
Jan also reported on a new Diploma aimed at 14 – 19 year olds, which will be more focused on vocational development and encouraging schools to work with businesses.
Several board members raised strong concerns over the standard of education in primary schools. It was suggested that C4B meet with KCC cabinet member Cllr John Simmons, to discuss this matter further.
John Simmons, to discuss this matter further.
The Head teacher at Barton Court School was keen to speak to the board, but full agendas for forthcoming C4B meetings would mean that this could not take place until next year.

Marketing
Ian Mazerolle – The last meeting was held at Simon Edridge Associates’ offices in Canterbury. SEA oversees all PR and marketing activity for C4B.
82 Associate members are presently signed up to C4B. The aim is to sign up another 100 businesses before Christmas using the following approaches:
Telemarketing, 280 of Fiona Beer’s business contacts remain on a database. It was agreed that each board member should be given 15 names to contact. SEA will send out a script for board members to use. If the contact agrees to become an Associate then the board member can either fill in the form on their behalf or a hard copy can be supplied to the business.

Direct Mail

The new website is now up and running. SEA currently receive £500 per month for marketing and PR services for C4B, this is monitored by Dawn. The original quote for the website included an on-going charge of £350 per month for maintenance and updates, this was overlooked. The board agreed to a revised monthly payment to SEA of £750 to include marketing, PR and website maintenance. The board all agreed this was a good idea, and money well spent. Ian is also able to monitor the number of C4B website hits and will report to the board on this. SEA is working to enhance the website’s search engine, to allow C4B to be found more easily online.

Major projects
Michael Head – A Transport Conference is being held on Tuesday 18 September at the Westgate Hall.

A2 Slip Roads
A report has been produced and submitted to the Highways Agency in time for a Minister to sign it of, for approval in principal for a slip road. The process all takes time, and is ongoing.

Little Barton Farm
The site has now been adopted as a business allocation in the Local Plan. However, the Highways Agency have emphasised that the A2 Bridge Junction would have to be improved to allow for the development of an additional slip road. The cost of this would be significant. It appears that this infrastructure would have to be in place to serve the traffic generated by a new business park. In addition, the A2 slip roads projects have been put forward for inclusion within the Southeast Regional Transport Strategy.

Olympics – Paul
Ongoing, the update is to be carried forward to the next meeting.

Chamber of Commerce – Peter Hawkes
Absent from this meeting, update at the next meeting.

Canterbury Festival presentation – Rosie Turnball and Amanda McKean
This mixed arts festival lasts for two weeks in October each year. The Festival is a charity trust, employs five full time and one part time member of staff. It also generates a turnover of £0.75 million pounds per year and breaks even each year. The Festival is getting more prominent and successful with each year and delivers a unique programme comprising a broad mix of events whilst maintaining a high standard of customer care.
There are a variety of ways for businesses to participate in the Festival. For £250 per year businesses can become a corporate member, or for £1,000 become an official sponsor for the festival, of which there are 37 to date. It is also possible for businesses to provide in-kind support via hospitality or transportation for example. Amanda explained that the Festival currently does not have access to an electronic box office system and they were keen to investigate ways of addressing this problem via a feasibility study. It was suggested that this could be put forward as a community project for a possible funding bid to the East Kent Partnership next year. The board were keen to support this project.
One event at this year’s Festival will see a Canterbury Festival Talk given by Sir John Ure, to be held at the Cathedral’s International Study Centre on Monday 23 October. This will be followed by a Reception to be held at the offices of Reeves and Neylan. All C4B members have been invited to attend. Please contact Paul Spree or Sharon Brown if you wish to attend the event.

Canterbury Branding – Neil McCollum and Caroline Cooper -Tourism team, CCC
Neil McCollum, Tourism Manager, presented a new branding for Canterbury using the slogan, ‘Canterbury - simply inspirational’. This approach employs a very modern and distinctive looking font.
Neil also compared these new designs with marketing work carried out in the past. The new branding together with a new look web site will be launched officially later this year.
After some years of joint tourism marketing for Canterbury, Herne Bay, Whitstable a different approach will see each being assigned its own branding. This approach reflects the recommendations of the recent ‘Yellow Book’ report. The Board in the main supported the concept of the new branding though the separation of Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay was queried. Neil explained that this was due to the difficulties in compiling the different identities, characteristics and target visitor markets of the three areas into a single branding for the district.
Sharon to circulate copies of the ‘Yellow Book’ report to Board members. Action SB.

Board members drew attention to the potential savings to business operating costs that can be made by increased energy efficiency, particularly in light of rising energy costs.
Developers of residential and commercial building schemes should also be encouraged to incorporate energy efficiency and the use of sustainable materials as part of new construction schemes.
Ian Brown explained that the council is producing a new Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for Sustainability. This will be primarily aimed at housing developers but was also relevant to businesses.

Paul suggested that a new C4B sub group be created to investigate these matters further with a view to possible future projects for the board. Paul to investigate this issue further with Dawn Hudd and report progress to the next meeting. Action PB and DH.

Dorothy Thom – Director East Kent Enterprise Gateway – 27 October
• Presentation by Viv Pritchard – Head of Transportation and Engineering – TBC
• Consultation by CCC on budget consultation process – TBC

Date of the next Meeting
Friday 27 October, 8am, Venue TBA.