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Councillors scrutinised a number of council reports at a meeting of Overview and Scrutiny on 19 November 2020.
• Watch the meeting
• Read the agenda
UK Innovation Corridor
The UK Innovation corridor (UKIC) – formerly the London-Stansted-Cambridge Consortium, was the first item on the agenda for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The corridor connects enterprise, innovation and organisations from London to Cambridge.
Described as a ‘dynamic ecosystem of international business, maverick academics, ambitious start-ups, City finance and law firms, all cross-pollinating to accelerate success’ – the corridor boasts more registered patents per capita than Silicon Valley!
Councillors received a comprehensive presentation from Director John McGill and Chairman Dr Ann Limb and an opportunity to find out what benefits the district can expect from its work and collaboration with the council.
Accommodation programme
Works on the accommodation programme are progressing and EFDC is now in the final stage of the project – confirming the design, fixtures and fittings. A Change Manager has been appointed to help support employees and managers begin adopting new ways of working.
A model floor layout has been created with fixed desks and collaboration spaces enabling teams to come together to work side-by-side in the future. Initial soft market testing has shown positive interest in the commercial space and the programme is on track to deliver a space for employees and our community, within budget, by early 2021.
Other business
Council members considered the Council’s Quarter 2 budgets for 2020-2021, recent Cabinet reports, the upcoming O&S Work Programme, Select Committee Work programmes and the Local High Street Task and Finish Panel’s report on local highstreets.
Following Councillor Richard Bassett’s resignation from his position as Chairman of the Stronger Place Select Committee, members appointed Councillor Steven Heather as Chairman and Councillor Richard Morgan as Vice-Chairman.