This strategy sets out the vision and objectives to be delivered by Weymouth & Portland Borough Council in partnership with other public bodies and the private sector that aims to maximise the area’s potential and develop fully as place known for ’Creative opportunities in a World Class Location’.
I am delighted that Weymouth and Portland Borough Council has reorganised its resources and focused its efforts on its number 1 priority; the local economy. The newly formed service, the Economic and Tourism Development Service, aims to make a significant change and improvement to our local economy by working in partnership with the many businesses in the borough as well as attracting new ones to the area.
The Council’s re-categorisation as a ‘good’ council as part of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment in February 2009 confirmed that its ambitions are both long-term and realistic and are based on the needs of the local community.
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Cllr Michael Goodman MBE Brief Holder for Economic Development |
The objectives of the new service are focused on economic aspirations enabling specific and distinctive issues and opportunities to be addressed including developing the borough into a successful business location, combating the overall low levels of average earnings, responding to the current economic climate issues and the unique opportunity to use the sailing events in 2012 as a major catalyst for improving the economic and visitor profile of the Borough and ensuring community benefits. We will now aim to ensure that Weymouth and Portland is a vibrant and exciting place to live, work and visit whilst maximising the economic opportunities presented by hosting the sailing events for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
To view the strategy please click here.
Please note this strategy has not yet been approved by the Council
The initial equality impact assessment was conducted through identifying all the relevant equalities and customer information we held and used to understand the state of the economy and the impacts to people. This information included customer feedback, consultation results, population and community profiling data.
Reference and an examination of the outcomes of the 'Place Survey 2008', prepared for Weymouth and Portland Borough Council by BMG Research for the Dorset Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA), assisted in the formulation of the strategy and the areas where economic development intervention could help improve the quality of life for residents.
From this data there is clear evidence that economic deprivation, disability and age are the core equality issues for the Borough. Whilst these findings are backed up by significant research and form the core of this strategy, the outcomes of the equality impact assessment indicates that key data is missing from other equality strands to enable conclusions and potential actions to be considered or agreed. Therefore, a further examination and research will be conducted during the next 12 months to determine outcomes and the strategy will be updated during the annual review of the strategy.
A new objective, Objective 5 - Delivering Equality in Economic and Tourism Development in Weymouth and Portland, has been included and forms part of the strategy action plan and the full assessment is available to download.
