York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (YNYLEP)
16 January 2015- Drax Power Station.
MINUTES OF MEETING
PRESENT
David Kerfoot
Dr Ruth Smith
Robert Miller
Colin Mellors
Peter Emery
Jane Lady Gibson
Cllr John Weighell
Cllr Tracey Simpson-Laing
Cllr Linda Cowling
The Kerfoot Group Ltd
PM Management Consultants
Bluebird Engineering Solutions
Higher Education
Drax Power
Visit York
North Yorkshire County Council
York City Council
Ryedale District Council
IN ATTENDANCE
James Farrar
Sarah Barkey
Sarah Hendry
Julian Rudd
Tim Frenneaux
Mark Haynes
Sue Lang
James Barrett
Chief Operating Officer
YNYLEP
DEFRA
Ryedale District Council
YNYLEP
Hambleton District Council
East Riding of Yorkshire Council
Department for Energy and Climate Change
DK, Vice Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, explaining that Barry Dodd, Chairman was at
the Tourism for the North Conference with Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP on behalf of the LEP. DK wished
the board a happy new year and said how much he was looking forward to the year ahead for the
YNYLEP.
1. APOLOGIES
Barry Dodd
Cllr Stephen Parnaby
Cllr Richard Cooper
Cllr Mark Robson
Cllr Tom Fox
Richard Flinton
Nigel Pulling
Chairman
East Riding of Yorkshire Council
Harrogate District Council
Hambleton District Council
Scarborough Borough Council
North Yorkshire County Council
Yorkshire Agricultural Society
2. Minutes of last meeting- the minutes were agreed.
3. Matters arising/ LEP Board Outstanding Actions Log. Scarborough is to host a skills summit in
February/March 2015.
4. Chairman’s Update. DK announced to the board that Neil Warman has stepped down from the
board, a letter will be sent to Neil to thank him for his time on the board. There are now two
vacancies on the board and these will be advertised in the next week.
DK updated the Board on Biovale advising they had now appointed 3 private sector members to the
Steering Group. The Bio-Renewables Development Centre have also been engaging business and
have a list of businesses that have shown an interest in re-locating. The business plan is to be
considered by Leeds City Region LEP (LCR) in the next couple of weeks.
JR gave an update on the proposed DEFRA Food Enterprise Zones. This generated discussion among
the board on the proposals and it was decided to put a paper together regarding our LEP’s concerns
and issues on this subject to go to DEFRA.
DK asked the board to note the email that JF had sent out regarding the successful and unsuccessful
projects within our Local Growth Deal 2 proposal.
DK advised finalised devolved paper is hoping to be with the next board meeting. This will be a
political decision not a board decision. Councils are starting to collaborate around us and N Yorks will
not be left behind.
Action: Thank you letter to be sent to Neil Warman.
Action: JR and CM to put a paper together to send to DEFRA.
5. PE gave a presentation on Carbon Storage and the White Rose CCS Project, the presentation
explained where Drax were with the project, the objects of the benefits of carbon storage. This is a
significant investment in the LEP area with potential for spin off benefits, particularly linked to the
carbon pipeline and businesses that use or produce CO2. This then lead on to a discussion about the
project including, the potential to reuse Co2 and the route chosen for the pipeline.
Action: Presentation to be circulated to the Board.
6. Fracking JB a policy advisor from DECC talked through his paper on fracking and answered the
boards questions. LC explained that in Ryedale there is a public meeting regarding fracking, hosted
by First Energy. The board commented that the figures that show the drop in gas imports to the UK
over the last 30 years make this an important subject.
7. Potash Update. JR talked through the Potash paper which outlined the LEP response to the
planning application. JR advised the planning decision has been delayed until May to allow Potash to
address some environmental questions. This generated a discussion over the issues for the planners.
JR explained that the planning doc was available to view on line but it was a very large document.
Recommendation: The board noted the response to the planning application and the support for
the scheme.
8. Performance Report. JF talked through the performance report. The LEP is on target to achieve
targets for the year.
9. AOB- CM had attended an event at Screen Yorkshire on behalf of the board; this was with Greg
Dyke and discussed how the LEP will be supportive of screen clusters. A key objective is to ensure
post production activity stays in the region increasing the economic impact.
The next meeting is at Harrogate College on the 27 February 2015.
The meeting closed at 12.12 pm.