26 January 2007

• Paul Barrett (Chairman)
• Paul Spree (Local Economy Support Officer, Canterbury City Council)
• Eileen Hargreaves (Voluntary Sector)
• Michael Head (Crown Products)
• George Wilson (Managing Director, George Wilson Holdings)
• Dawn Hudd (Local Economy Manager, Canterbury City Council)
• Colin Carmichael (Chief Executive, Canterbury City Council)
• Clive Relf (Tax Partner, Reeves & Neylan)
• Jonathan Watts (Managing Director, Lenleys)
• Jan Druker (Senior Pro-Vice Chancellor, Canterbury Christ Church University)
• Mark Isom (Director Disom Printers
• Janice Sandwell (Business Link Kent)

• Jan Thornby
• Peter Hawkes
• Ron Donmall
• Caroline Hadlow
• Amy Austin
• Ian Mazerolle

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

The Chairman informed the board that he had seen Paul Carter give a very good speech and presentation of the Kent 2010 vision document. The Chairman felt that Paul Carter dealt with enquiries in a professional manner and overall gave a very good impression of the document.

The Chairman informed the board that due to the "adult" content being posted on the C4B website forum, the forum will now be deactivated and replaced by a Chairman's Blog an on-line diary which will be regularly updated.

Local Economy & Business Events.

Dawn Hudd: Events report circulated. The Local Economy team's quarterly report was also distributed to the board members and was well received. Eileen commented upon this as being a most useful source of information. Dawn also informed the board that she and two other members of the Local Economy team will be receiving training to become accredited business advisors through the Institute of Business Advisers with others from Canterbury Christ Church University CEBD.

Dawn informed the board that March business month would commence with the annual C4B dinner on the 8th, board to discuss later the venue. A Careers Festival which is being organised by Kent Works will also take pace on the 8th. So far over 400 pupils have been registered for the event. Paul apologised for the mishap with the circulation of the invitation email. Janice will be supplying some business games that will stimulate thought of running your own business aimed at 15-16 year olds. Paul stated that at the time we will no doubt be looking for C4B members to volunteer in the assistance of the event and the board asked that Jan or Amy contact them to set out how they can help. Clive made an enquiry regarding the budget of £3000 being a quite big but Dawn informed him that they would be paying for the transport of the children to and from the event.

"Retail Therapy for Small Businesses" is the name of the next event to happen in Herne Bay at the Kings Hall on 13th The event will feature workshops from Kent Police on credit card fraud, Marks & Spencer senior visual merchandising manager will speak and they will give a demonstration on window dressing, Girlings will talk about taxation and employment law, Christ Church will give an overview on the retail sector and Job Centre Plus will talk about retail recruitment along with other contributors.

"Are you fit 2 compete?" will be held in Whitstable at the Marine Hotel on the 19th and will focus on procurement and winning contracts. The business events month will then be finished off with a series of business master classes held at Hall Place in Harbledown in conjunction with Unlimited Potential on the 27th Also Healthy Business Growing Business from Christ Church CEBD will be launched and both Colin and Clive will be giving key speeches during this programme.

Dawn Informed the board that as Tony Bartlett has stepped down from chairing the employment and entrepreneurship project group and Dawn will head this for the time being.

Dawn then moved the discussion back to the issue of the C4B Dinner, its location and a possible alternative event for 2007. Dawn proposed that instead of the tradition of holding a C4B dinner, an event could be held to take in the Tour De France at Hall Place that would also cater for the C4B associate members. The Chairman opened up a general discussion between the board members for the possibility of replacing the Dinner in favour of the Tour De France event. Mark enquired about the location on the Dinner, Dawn informed him that Broome Park had been reserved for the event. George asked if the event at Hall Place would be indoor or outdoor Dawn said that the event could take in both with a buffet inside and a BBQ outside, and the lecture theatre showing the event live. Dawn advised the board that she had been given the responsibility of corporate hospitality at the Tour De France, however a hospitality village would be too expensive and a location was proving difficult to tie down and the costs prohibitive to most options considered. George expressed his concerns of having this type of event and highlighted the logistics of transporting people from Hall Place to the finish line. Colin said that the event could work however some of the C4B Board / associates may not be able to attend due to other business / public commitments.

George then highlighted that the event that was held at the Cathedral Study Centre last year was the best C4B Dinner yet. Michael stated that the event at the Cathedral is an opportunity to bring together corporate team and again last year's event was the best. Dawn drew the board's attention to the fact that the Cathedral is very expensive and the likely cost would be around £4,500, which the board would have to fund themselves, around £1,500 more expensive than Broome Park. Mark commented on the possibility that C4B could do both events. It was agreed that the dinner would go ahead and the Chairman asked the board to put the C4B Dinner event location to the vote. The board voted that the event would be held at the Cathedral.

Action: Dawn Hudd to make arrangements for this.

The Board then discussed the Dinner keynote speaker, as this has not yet been confirmed. The Chairman informed the board that the leaders of the separate sub groups will give a brief update and overview of their work, achievements and plans for 2007. This would also be supported by a speech from the C4B Chairman. Colin suggested that Paul Carter DOE at KCC act as the keynote speaker.

Action: Colin to speak with Paul Carter about being the Keynote Speaker

Improving Education & Skills.

Jan Druker: Report circulated. Jan Informed the group that the web pages for the business skills directory are progressing. A future project for the group would be raising awareness of the 14-19 Diplomas - intended to provide a more vocational orientation for school students, enabling them to develop knowledge and understanding of the business world and to emerge from full-time education with appropriate skills. These diplomas require schools to engage more systematically with employers and the business world. A Business breakfast was proposed for C4B and sponsorship may be available. The group welcomed this initiative. Jan also reported on the Leitch Review published in December 2006, noting that, if implemented, it promises to raise levels of literacy and numeracy and to improve skills of those already in employment. She undertakes to provide a brief resume for C4B (attached).

Action: Jan will submit a written report to the on this proposed project, also to provide a précis on the recently published skills report.

Employment & Entrepreneurship.

Dawn Hudd: Dawn will start the chair of this group with a meeting on the 9th February and will establish the future of the group and key projects.

Marketing.

Ian Mazerolle: was absent from the Board meeting; however Dawn said that the group will meet on the 31st January. The forum has now been removed from the website. The on-line associate list will be updated today. Paul's Blog will be developed once costs have been agreed. Front page of the C4B website will be changed to display the forthcoming business events.

Mark suggested that a newsletter be published each month to the associates to inform and update on C4B. The marketing strategy will look at an e-newsletter in due course with a printed newsletter a couple of times a year as this will provide us with material to hand out to potential associates.

Major projects

Michael Head: Report submitted. A2 slips, progress is slowly moving forward, no real progress since the last meeting to report on for Little Barton Farm.

Olympics.

Paul Barrett: Paul said that he would be attending the Kent County Council project group on Tuesday 30th January. Colin said that Canterbury High are looking to develop a beach volley ball court, as they will be hosting some of the Australian track and field team there this summer for training and are currently trying to raise the funding required.

Environmental.

Clive Relf: Clive advised that the group held its first meeting on Tuesday 23rd January and discussed green policies and business benefits. An email will be sent to the C4B Associates informing them about the group and a workshop to be held at Hall Place as part of the event on 27th March. The group will meet again on the 22nd February. Dawn suggested that a number of company environment policy templates be made available on the website for people to download. Ian had already offered to make Acceleron's policy available.

Chamber of Commerce.

Peter Hawkes: The chairman read out an email update from Peter main points: A membership recruiter post for Thanet is being advertised. The Canterbury policy group has considered a detailed presentation on behalf of Canterbury Cricket club in relation to its proposed new development, and we have made representations to CCC planning to support their application. KICC has made written representations in support of the Herne Bay action plan option 4. W eare liaising with Economic Development team with a view hopefully to future input into the consultations over the proposed Wincheap scheme and the development brief for Canterbury West.