Business Growth Strategy DRAFT S

Transcription

Business Growth Strategy
DRAFT
SEPTEMBER 2010
Disclaimer: This is a draft plan which has been prepared for
public discussion purposes and does not necessarily
indicate the position of Council. Councillors will adopt this
plan after careful consideration of all public submissions
received and amendments have been affected to address
concerns raised in submissions that Council feels are justified.
Bega Valley Shire Council
Zingel Place
PO Box 492
Bega NSW 2550
Phone (02) 6499 2222
Fax (02) 6499 2200
council@begavalley.nsw.gov.au
www.begavalley.nsw.gov.au
Strategic Economic Solutions
Client
Bega Valley Shire
Project
Business Growth Strategy
Date
Contact
12 August 2010 Kim Houghton
02-6262-6234
kim@economicsolutions.com.au
Prepared by Strategic Economic Solutions for Bega Valley Shire Council
1
4.3
4.4
4.5
Contents Executive Summary
3
1 Introduction
4
2 External influences: National and
state trends and implications
5
2.1 Employment growth trends
2.2 Business growth and innovation
2.3 Implications
5
5
7
3 Bega Valley Shire perspectives
8
3.1 Current snapshot
3.2 Main concerns and issues
3.3 Implications
8
13
15
4 Ways forward
16
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
16
16
17
18
26
Community feedback sought
Council’s role
Longer term issues and questions
Actions
Outcomes
17
Actions 18
Outcomes 26
Contents 2
1
4
Introduction 2 External influences: National and state trends and implications 5
2.1
2.2
2.3
3
3.1
3.2
3.3
4
4.1
4.2
Employment growth trends 5
Business growth and innovation
5
Implications 7
Bega Valley Shire perspectives 8
Current snapshot Main concerns and issues Implications 8
13
15
Ways forward 16
Community feedback sought 16
Council’s role 16
2
Executive Summary
Bega Valley Shire Council has prepared
this draft Business Growth Strategy to
guide Council’s economic development
initiatives over the next 12 months
(Operational Plan), 4 years (Delivery
Program) and 20 years (Community
Strategic Plan).
The Shire has an economy worth in the
order of $1,450 million per annum, and is
home to some 33,500 residents and 2,800
locally- based businesses – mostly small
businesses. The Shire is home to
nationally-recognised large businesses
including Bega Cheese and Pyramid Power.
This draft Strategy is based on external
analysis and consultations within the
community. The main issue identified is
the need for Bega Valley Shire to ensure
that it is well-positioned to benefit from
the growth expected in knowledgeintensive service sectors (professional
services, health, ICT and education).
Growth in these sectors will help address
the current low wage profile in the Shire,
and will stimulate further growth in higher
value goods and services.
The Shire’s economy is still in transition
from the traditional structure based on
commodities – forestry products,
traditional fishing and agriculture, and
family tourism (largely a readily
substituted ‘commodity’) – to a more
value-based economy. The Shire has a
strong retail and service base, which
meets the needs of its residents and
visitors, but this alone is not enough to
raise the income levels of Shire residents,
and access the flow-economic benefits that
such income growth brings.
This draft Strategy is based on eight
recommended roles for Bega Valley Shire
Council:
1. Prepare an agreed vision for the
Shire’s economic future, backed by
a 20 year plan, planning and
investment guidelines, and
processes for fast approval of
‘suitable’ developments.
2. Support and assist businesses in
meeting their compliance
obligations – especially those for
which Council has responsibility.
3. Foster partnerships between the
education sector and business.
4. Facilitate business connections and
networks, communication (to and
between businesses), offering
workshops and technologies to help
business growth.
5. Supply Shire businesses with
valuable business intelligence on
developments in the Shire, what
the Shire has, who/when/where
(ties to networking and market
development).
6. Promote an agreed and accepted
‘brand’ for the Shire as a whole –
incorporating areas in the Shire
that are outside the geography of
the Bega Valley itself.
7. Promote the Shire and prepare an
‘investment prospectus’.
8. Lobby for better infrastructure and
services.
9. Scope availability of suitable
employment lands.
Detailed actions to advance these roles are
included in the last section of this draft
Strategy.
Innovation will be hallmark of survival and
growth over the coming decade, and this
draft Strategy sets out actions for Council
which will nurture both the pressure on
and willingness of businesses in the Shire
to innovate.
3
1 Introduction
Bega Valley Shire is home to some 33,500
people, some 2,800 locally- based
businesses, and has an economy worth in
the order of $1,450 million per annum.
The Shire has a vibrant mix of small
businesses (which make up around 96% of
locally-based businesses), plus nationallyrecognised large businesses including Bega
Cheese and Pyramid Power.
This draft Strategy will be released for
broader community feedback before being
finalised and adopted by Council.
This draft Business Growth Strategy has
been prepared as a roadmap to guide
Council’s economic development initiatives
over the next 12 months (Operational
Plan), 4 years (Management Plan) and 20
years (Community Strategic Plan).
This draft Strategy is one of four prepared
by Council – it sits alongside the Youth
Strategy, Aging Strategy and Affordable
Housing Strategy. Issues common to all
four areas have been identified and are
part of this draft.
The draft Business Growth Strategy has
been prepared through a mix of analysis
and consultation. A foundation was a
Discussion Paper which provided a
quantitative assessment of the Shire’s
economy, broader economic trends, and
the implications of these for the Shire’s
economic future. This Discussion Paper
was then used in two lively and wellattended discussion forums held to draw
community input in the Strategy. A central
issue for each forum has been discussion
of the most appropriate role for Council in
supporting business growth in the Shire,
and the recommendations in this draft
reflect both community expectations and
Council’s capacity.
4
2 External influences:
National and state
trends and
implications
2.1
These five industries are expected to
account for over two-thirds of the new
jobs forecast, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 National employment growth
forecasts
Employment growth trends
Employment and business growth in Bega
Valley Shire over the next 20 years are
expected to reflect a mix of national, state
and local trends, strengths and
weaknesses.
Nationally over the last decade Australia
has seen growth in employment in tertiary
and higher order service sector industries,
little growth in manufacturing
employment, and a decline in primary
production employment as farms diversify
and holdings become larger. These broad
trends are expected to continue over the
next few years.
Employment growth in different industries
is analysed by the Department of
Employment, Education, and Workplace
Relations each year in its Australian Jobs
publication. The current forecasts (from
the 2008 edition) show that the majority of
new jobs in Australia through to 2013 will
be in just five industries:
1. Health & community service (public
and private sector)
2. Property & business services (business
services include legal, accounting,
design, marketing, exporting services
etc)
3. Retail trade
4. Construction
5. Education (public and private sector).
Source: Australian Jobs 2008, DEEWR
Four of these five industries rely heavily on
skilled workers, and for the top two, the
profile of skill demand has a strong
emphasis on degrees and diplomas.
Clearly, for young people in Bega Valley
Shire to give themselves the best
employment prospects, a high level of
education will be a crucial success factor.
2.2
Business growth and innovation
The NSW Innovation Council is working on
preparing the Business Sector Growth Plan
for NSW as one of the commitments in the
State Plan. The first step in preparing the
Sector Growth Plan is a vision of the NSW
economy in 2020 undertaken by Access
Economics. This analysis provides a
valuable foundation to the changes
expected to influence businesses in Bega
Valley Shire over the next decade, and the
opportunities and challenges these
changes represent.
The 10-year forecasts recognise four
factors as driving economic conditions in
NSW:
1. A transition to a carbon constrained
future
2. The rapid development of the digital
economy
5
3. Demand and competition from
emerging economies – China and India
4. An ageing and growing population.
Figure 2 Innovation framework
Each of these was identified in the
workshops as already being recognised as
important influences on the Shire’s
economy.
The NSW Department of Industry and
Investment has prepared its Regional
Growth Strategy based on the NSW State
Plan with attention to infrastructure,
education, health and innovation. Similarly,
the South Coast RDA has prepared its
Strategic Regional Plan, nominating
improvements to zoning and regulations,
identification of employment lands,
support for infrastructure projects such as
Eden Port and Merimbula Airport and
nature and heritage tourism as key
ingredients to business growth.
The main industries expected to
experience strong growth in NSW are:
 Professional services (for private and
business clients)
 Construction – especially new housing,
sustainable housing (new and adapted)
and infrastructure
 Health
 Information and communications
technologies.
Other industries covered in the analysis
which are important to Bega Valley Shire
are Transport & logistics, Education &
research, Creative industries,
Manufacturing, Retail, Tourism and
Agriculture. The forecasts for these
industries are for lower growth in terms of
contributions to their share of gross State
value-added, or in some cases declines in
the share of State value-added expected.
Survival and growth of these businesses in
Bega Valley Shire will require innovation
and adaptation. The Innovation Council
has reviewed the drivers of innovation for
businesses in NSW in the Regional
Innovation Strategy (Figure 2).
Source: NSW Regional Innovation Strategy (p6)
The schematic representation highlights
four important questions for Council and
the business community which relate to
innovation environment:
 Are local businesses feeling pressure to
innovate (or are they happily
continuing ‘business as usual’)?
 Are local businesses willing to innovate
(or would they rather things returned
to the ‘good old days’)?
 Do local businesses have access to
knowledge (including networks) to
enable them to innovate?
 Do local businesses have access to the
tools they need to sharpen their
business practice and implement
innovative approaches in their
business?
Traditionally, Bega Valley Shire relied on
the agriculture sector (farming, fishing,
forestry) that ahs since been the subject of
industry deregulation. That government
led process has altered the industry and
employment profile, with all sectors still in
decline.
That agriculture sector and the emerging
tourism sector ‘exported’ product and
service respectively, with income and
wealth brought into the shire distributed
through the retail system. The shift of
industry and employment trends between
those sectors emphasises the relative
value or GDP to the shire.
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Opportunities to alter and extend that
‘export’ function could be explored to:
o value added agriculture (such as dairy,
fish and aquaculture)
o tourism
o knowledge services
Further, the shire may wish to explore how
it can establish a point of difference
through:
o Brand (through relationships with
Sapphire Coast Tourism, Australia
Coastal Wilderness and Bega Cheese)
o niche markets
An understanding of the key areas for
employment growth needs understanding
– the small business sector of less than 9
employees have scope for discernible
expansion – subject to business confidence
with regulatory frameworks, capital raising
and technology (broadband) capacity.
Addressing these fundamental questions
provides an approach to building economic
and business resilience in Bega Valley
Shire and underpins the actions in this
draft Strategy. This draft Strategy
includes actions on these questions to
complement the two other important
aspects of economic development: the
need for improved infrastructure; and
services to improve the local business
environment.
2.3
Implications
Bega Valley Shire will need to ensure that
it is well-positioned to benefit from the
growth expected in knowledge-intensive
service sectors (professional services,
health, ICT and education). As the
analysis below shows, however, the Shire
is currently deficient in businesses
operating in these sectors, indicating that
some targeted work to support growth
may be warranted. Wages in these
sectors are typically higher than average,
emphasising the importance to the Shire of
securing some of the growth expected
(nationally and in NSW).
Innovation will be hallmark of survival and
growth over the coming decade, and Bega
Valley Shire needs to ensure that it
nurtures both pressure and willingness to
innovate – and actions for Council are set
out later in this draft Strategy.
It will also be important to ensure that
businesses have the implementation tools
and access to knowledge to help them
build on the desire to innovate – and there
is a clear role for Council in facilitating this
side of the innovation equation. One area
for further attention is the ‘knowledge
intensive business services’ sector which
consists of businesses providing high
quality and high value business building
services to other businesses – like
advanced e-commerce, design, packaging,
food technology, logistics, legal and
accounting services. This is an important
‘enabling’ sector currently concentrated in
the capital cities. Greater critical mass in
these businesses in regional areas is
crucial if non-metropolitan businesses (like
those in Bega Valley Shire) are to be able
to keep up with their metro-based
counterparts in an increasingly borderless
trading environment.
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3 Bega Valley Shire
perspectives
3.1
services are supplied from metropolitan
Sydney.
Figure 3 Value added by industry
Current snapshot
Various aspects of Bega Valley Shire’s
economic profile are discussed in detail
below. The three main indicators are:



The estimated resident population
of Bega Valley Shire as of June
2009 was 33,481 people. The Shire
has seen a growth rate of 1.19%
per annum over the last 10 years.
The Shire’s gross product was
estimated at $1,451 million in 2009
(equating to 0.4% of New South
Wales’ gross state product) or
$46,728 per capita.
Unemployment in the Shire in
March 2010 was 7.3%, compared
to 5.9% for New South Wales as a
whole.
Main industries by value-added
Figure 3 shows the ‘value added’ of each
industry sector in the Bega Valley Shire
and in NSW. It can be seen that the
Manufacturing sector is the largest
industry by value added ($153 million or
11% of total) and is a very important
contributor to the Shire’s economy.
‘Agriculture, fisheries & forestry’,
Construction, Retail trade, ‘Property &
business services’ and “Health &
community services’ are also important
value-added industries for the Bega Valley
Shire. Of these five industries, all show
higher percentage contributions to valueadding in the Shire than the State average
– except for ‘Property & business services’
as most of the higher level business
Source: BVSC, REMPLAN economic modelling and analysis
system, Compelling Economics ©2009
Retail and hospitality total about 15% and some tourism activity will be included
in these two industries, along with ‘Cultural
& recreational services’ (another 2%).
Tourism
Tourism is an important part of the
economy of Bega Valley Shire. Based on
statistics from Tourism Research
Australia 1, for the Bega Valley LGA as at
June 2007:
-
-
-
-
-
There were an average 21,000
international visitors, 491,000
domestic overnight visitors and
312,000 domestic daytime visitors
to the shire per year.
There were 960 tourism businesses
in the shire, 903 of which had 19
employees or less.
On average, 63% of domestic
overnight travellers travelled to the
shire for holiday or leisure (State
average is 42%).
overnight visitors were from
interstate (State average is 32%).
overnight travellers were 65 years
1 Source: Tourism Research Australia International Visitor
Survey and National Visitor Survey Prepared by Strategic Economic Solutions for Bega Valley Shire Council
8
-
old or older (State average is
13%).
overnight visitors to the shire are
from Melbourne (State average is
9%).
were sole traders without paid employees.
Previous research showed that 10-15% of
households in the Shire are likely to host a
home-based business, with over half being
more than 5 years old, around 30% being
part-time businesses, some 10% turning
over more than $300,000 per annum and
20% keen to grow.
Inclusion in Australia’s Coastal Wilderness
provides tourism in the Shire with a major
new campaign which will provide
additional momentum to marketing the
Shire to domestic and international
visitors. The campaign will help tourism in
the Shire add new opportunities and
developments to its foundation as a family
holiday beach destination.
Business mix
The mix of locally-owned businesses by
industry (Figure 4) reflects many aspects
of the contributions to Gross Shire Product.
The differences in the patterns between
Figure 4 and Figure 3 relate to the amount
of ‘value added’ per employee – which is
generally highest for mining,
manufacturing and services. Figure 4
shows that of the Shire’s 2,800 locallybased business in mid 2007, most were in
agriculture, construction, property &
business services or retail.
Figure 4 Locally-owned businesses by
industry (June 2007)
0
100
200
300
400
500
Agriculture, forestry & fishing
Mining
Manufacturing
Electricity, gas, water & waste services
Construction
Wholesale trade
Retail trade
Accommodation, cafes & estaurants
Transport & storage
Communication services
Finance & insurance Property & business services
Education
Healh & community services
Cultural & recreational services
Personal & other services
The Shire’s strengths in terms of the
number of locally-owned businesses are
shown in Figure 4. The ‘location quotient’
is a measure of whether the Shire has a
higher percentage of businesses in any
industry than the nation or not. A location
quotient of 1 means it has the same
percentage as the nation, while a score of
2 means it has twice the percentage as the
nation and a score of 0.5 means it has half
the percentage as the nation. The
following chart (Figure 5) shows the
location quotient on the vertical axis.
As an example of deriving the location
quotient, the Shire has some 4.4% of
locally-owned business in the Health &
community services industry. With the
national share of these businesses at 4.5%
the location quotient is just under 1 at
0.97 (4.4/4.5=0.97) and the industry’s
bubble (the purple bubble) is centred just
below the horizontal line which marks the
location quotient of 1. Furthest above the
line is hospitality (Accommodation, cafes &
restaurants) with a location quotient of
2.5.
600
Figure 5 shows that Bega Valley Shire has
specialisations in hospitality, agriculture
and retail. The hospitality industry is
particularly well represented in the Shire,
as over 7% of the Shire’s businesses are in
this industry, compared with 2.8% of
businesses nationally – with 7 divided by
2.8 giving the ‘location quotient’ of 2.5
Source: ABS/ATO Australian Business Register 2008 (ABS
Cat 8165.0)
The Shire is very much a small business
economy, with over 96% of locally-based
businesses having fewer than 20 staff,
including 54% of all businesses which
9
Figure 5 Bega Valley Shire industry strengths and weaknesses
Bega Valley
3.0
Areas of circles are proportional to the number of
people employed in each industry at the 2006 Census.
Accommodation, cafes & restaurants
AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND
FISHING
MINING
2.5
MANUFACTURING
ELECTRICITY, GAS AND WATER
SUPPLY
CONSTRUCTION
Location quotient
2.0
WHOLESALE TRADE
RETAIL TRADE
Retail trade
1.5
ACCOMMODATION, CAFES AND
RESTAURANTS
TRANSPORT AND STORAGE
Construction
Health & community services
COMMUNICATION SERVICES
1.0
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
0.5
60
70
80
PROPERTY AND BUSINESS
SERVICES
EDUCATION
HEALTH AND COMMUNITY
SERVICES
CULTURAL AND RECREATIONA L
SERVICES
PERSONAL AND OTHER SERVICES
0.0
% Growth 2004-7 (Industry value added)
Source: ABS Census 2006, National accounts, and Australian Business Register, SES calculations
Figure 5 adds two other important
dimensions to give a concise picture of the
Shire’s economic strengths and
weaknesses. The size of the bubbles
depends on the number of people
employed in each industry in the Shire –
so hospitality is clearly a large employer,
along with retail and construction. The
location of the bubbles on the horizontal
axis depends on whether the particular
industry showed strong economic growth
nationally in the 2004-07 period.
Continuing the example of Health &
community services, it employed over
1,300 people in the Shire in 2006 and was
the 3rd largest employing industry – hence
it has the third largest bubble diameter
after retail and hospitality. Nationally the
industry saw growth in value-added of
some 34% between 2004 and 2007
(horizontal axis).
The best place to be is the top right hand
quadrant – where an industry like
hospitality is well represented in the Shire,
has many employees, and showed growth
nationally. Agriculture is also well
represented in the Shire, but has fewer
employees these days, and nationally saw
a fall in its contribution to value-added
with the drought. Construction is
reasonably well represented in the Shire, is
a major employer and was one of the
fastest growing industries nationally
between 2004 and 2007 with the housing
boom.
One of the weaknesses in the Shire’s
economy is its below-average
representation of other growth industries
like Property & Business services, Personal
services and, to a lesser extent, Health &
community services. These three
industries all showed very strong growth
nationally, but are all under-represented in
the Shire at present. As they are also
forecast to show strong growth in the next
five years, it is vital that the Shire becomes
home to more businesses in these
industries in coming years. These
industries also tend to pay above average
wages, and their current underrepresentation in the Shire is partly
responsible for the Shire’s below average
wage pattern.
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Employment
The next chart (Figure 6) shows
employment patterns by industry in Bega
Valley Shire and regionally. It can be seen
that the proportion of employment in each
industry in Bega Valley Shire mirrors the
regional average closely. Retail, Health &
community Services and Manufacturing are
important industry sectors in the Shire
based on employment.
Figure 7 Change in employment by
industry sector
Figure 6 Employment by industry sector
In terms of the change in employment in
each sector (Figure 7), from 2001 to 2006
there has been a decline in the number of
jobs in Agriculture, fishing & forestry and
in Wholesale trade. Construction,
Manufacturing and Health & community
services saw solid increases in the number
of jobs in the Shire between 2001 and
2006.
It is important to compare these
employment trends with the pattern for
non-metro NSW to see how the change in
employment by industry in Bega Valley
Shire compares with that in other regional
areas. Figure 8 shows that the Shire saw
much stronger gains in employment than
its regional NSW counterparts in
Manufacturing, Mining (off a very low
base), Arts & recreational services and
Professional, scientific & technical services
Figure 8 Employment change - Bega
Valley Shire and non-metro NSW
‐50%
0%
50%
100%
150%
200%
Mining
Manufacturing
Electricity, gas, water & waste services
Construction
Wholesale trade
Retail trade
Accommodation & food services
Bega Valley Shire
Transport, postal & warehousing
Information media & telecommunications
Financial & insurance services
Non‐metro NSW
Rental, hiring & real estate services
Professional, scientific & technical services
Administrative & support services
Public administration & safety
Education & training
Health care & social assistance
Arts & recreation services
Other services
Source: ABS Census, SES calculations
This is a positive sign for the evolution of
the Shire’s economy as it shows the Shire
is moving faster than other regional areas
to strengthen its arts/recreation,
11
manufacturing, and professional services
base.
Figure 10 Unemployment rate trends
Incomes
Figure 9 shows the income of Shire
residents in 2006 compared to the NSW
average. It can be seen that the
distribution of income in NSW is more
evenly spread than in Bega Valley Shire,
with a higher proportion of residents
earning over $800 per week. The Shire has
a larger proportion of residents in middle
to low income brackets than NSW as a
whole, with a high proportion of residents
in the bracket between $250 and $799 per
week.
Figure 9 Bega Valley Shire income
distribution 2006
Source: BVSC, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Labour force
survey catalogue number 6202.0, and DEEWR, Small Area
Labour Markets - Australia
Source: BVSC, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of
Population and Housing 2006
Unemployment
Figure 10 shows the unemployment rate in
Bega Valley Shire, compared to Australia
and NSW, from 1996 to 2009. The chart
shows that while unemployment has been
much higher than the national and state
averages in the past, it has more recently
mirrored the national average and is
presently below 8% of the labour force.
12
3.2
Main concerns and issues
The economic context analysis above and
the workshop discussions summarised
below highlight the main issue facing the
Shire’s economy as the shift from the
traditional economy based on commodities
– forestry products, traditional fishing and
agriculture, and family tourism (largely a
readily substituted ‘commodity’) – to a
more value-based economy. The Shire
has a strong retail and service base, which
meets the needs of its residents and
visitors, but this alone is not enough to
raise the income levels of Shire residents,
and access the flow-economic benefits that
such income growth brings.
Business community views were
highlighted at a lively workshop on 7 June
which was attended by over 30 people
from a wide range of industries in the
Shire. The workshop reviewed the Shire’s
main economic assets, opportunities for
growth, impediments to growth, and
suggested roles for Council in supporting
growth. A second equally lively workshop
was held on 29 July to review issues and
recommended responses.
Readers are invited to contribute their
views to add to these reviews of economic
assets, opportunities and impediments.
Main Economic Assets
Tourism
Tourism is the mainstay of the Shire’s
economy, based on its reputation as a
family beach destination, and has
performed well through recent market
fluctuations. Still strongly seasonal, there
is an opportunity to grow the shoulder
season. While its foundations are strong,
the sector needs more depth and diversity
to capture more spending from higher
value visitors for more of the year, and for
capturing a share of the growth market of
experiential tourism. Some current
initiatives will help build this depth and
diversity:
1. Being part Australia’s Coastal
Wilderness and the associated
promotion; and
2. Indigenous communities offering to
share culture and stories –
supported by recent funding for the
Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council
to work on surveying the Bundian
Way.
3. Heritage Tourism Strategy signposting and packaging around
iconic stories of Whales, Mountains
and Waters
Merimbula Airport is an important asset as
it enables fly-in fly-out tourism and
business travel (40% of passengers).
Airport activity is on a growth path – an
airport strategy is underway..
Agriculture
The Bega Cheese factory is a major asset,
providing national recognition for the Bega
name and its dairy products. The Shire
has had a strong agricultural base –
especially in dairy – and while
restructuring has affected the area, along
with many other parts of Australia,
traditional strengths are being
complimented by the emergence of
growers of a new range of products.
Forestry
Forests have been a traditional strength
and forestry still employs some 250-300
jobs in management, processing,
harvesting and hauling. Woodchip
processing is the main value-adding and
this market is looking weak. There is little
value adding of hardwood sawlogs, though
this may improve with harvesting of the
regrowth resource in 10-20 years.
Fishing
The fishing industry is changing from
family owned trawling to more commercial
pelagic fishing. Value-adding through the
processing facility in Eden employs some
250-300 people at the largest seafood
processor in NSW. Fishing and processing
13
of pelagic species is on a growth trend.
The refrigerated truck transporting
processed fish to Sydney is also
transporting other local products.
Ports
Eden Port is a major infrastructure facility
in the Shire, with 100+ big ships stopping
per year. The port is on a growth trend.
The port has Customs, tugs, support
industries for welding, wharf services and
crew changes and the next step up in
servicing infrastructure will come from
investment tied to a shipping line selecting
Eden as its preferred Port for vessel
servicing.
Culture
Cultural assets include well known festivals
like the Four Winds, Cobargo Folk,
Merimbula Jazz. There is scope to see
more cultural activity by linking arts,
economic development and tourism as
Eden TAFE has a strong arts training
capacity, and there are many wellestablished artists practising in the region.
The region has artists with national and
global reputations in fields like painting,
writing, music, art glass, and ceramics.
Cultural entrepreneurs are needed to build
up this asset.
Opportunities
The workshops proposed ten main
opportunities for business and economic
development in the Shire:
 Australia’s Coastal Wilderness,
‘experiential’ tourism, links with
NPWS and indigenous communities
 Food value adding, including
preparation of an active
grower/supplier directory, supply
chain review, networking, links to
tourism and increased exporting
based on sustainable practices and
the reputation of the Bega Cheese
brand
 Aged care
 Regional hospital and the ‘well
being’ industries
 Building on strong social networks
and good health and education






infrastructure to attract ‘sea
change’ home-based businesses in
a range of services
Maritime servicing
Green jobs including green energy,
local food clusters, forestry,
waste/recycling and accessing the
potential of the Fenner Institute.
Sustainability – architects,
buildings and the Bega BEND
development
Creative use of the (soon to be) old
Bega Hospital site
Education is an attractor in
strengths like marine technology
training (both in education and via
service businesses)
Renewable energy – building on
capacities and activities already in
the Shire like “Clean Energy for
Eternity”, wave power trial,
proximity of grid to coast, biomass
trial (woodchips), degasification
technology (exported), renewable
energy cluster centring on Eden
plus wind and solar activities
elsewhere
The shire has a mix of natural resources
beyond those traditionally relied upon
(fishing and forests) – those include sand,
gravel and rock resources, as well as being
blessed with reliable water (in normal
seasons). Those resources may be
attractive to construction activities and
capable of export.
Due to topography of the shire, suitable
employment (industrial) lands are scarce,
with their development often difficult due
to high costs of construction and servicing.
Impediments
The workshop identified eight impediments
to economic growth in the Shire:
 Availability of fast reasonably
priced broadband
 Access to capital for expanding
businesses – especially for medium
sized businesses looking for
expansion capital
14






3.3
Limited capacity for growth in some
specialist ‘businesses’ including arts
and professions
Shire not particularly unified – not
all of it is in the Bega Valley – and
communication across the Shire as
a whole is hampered by three
parochial newspapers
Demographics – churn in
population, high non-resident
population in summer with less
attachment to the Shire and its
economic development
Ageing workforce and age profile of
business owners presents
challenges for economic
development as well as
opportunities for entrepreneurial
new businesses
Poor transport links and high car
dependency
Narrow base of post-school
education options
growing slowly, improving the retail
experience for residents and visitors alike.
Implications
Greater depth and breadth in these higher
value service sectors will then have a
further positive multiplier effect through
added appeal to another market niche for
visitors with high disposable incomes –
whether they be wealthy baby boomers,
pre retirees, well-off professionals or
successful entrepreneurs.
Bega Valley Shire’s economy is still
transitioning from its traditional strengths
in primary production and associated
export of commodities (agricultural
products including dairy, timber products
and seafood). The services components of
the Shire’s economy are growing, with the
associated mix of local consumption of
services and export of tourism and
specialist services. So the Shire’s economy
is maintaining the all-important export
element – even while the nature of those
exports is changing.
The main issues for the Shire’s economy
are the need for further diversification in
the business mix, strengthening of the
value-adding to primary production, and
strengthening of higher value service
sector business activities.
Diversification in these areas will help lift
the underlying low wage levels in the
Shire. Growth in wages (through valueadding rather than wage inflation) will
have strong multiplier effects through the
economy over time. For example income
growth will catalyse another round of
higher level service sector growth in the
Shire – as local suppliers evolve to meet
the needs of residents with higher
disposable incomes. Examples include arts
and crafts, personal services,
communication services, recreational
services and financial services.
Exports are essential for regional
economies if they are to grow to a scale
beyond simply servicing the needs of local
residents.
Bega Valley Shire has a very solid
foundation in a range of existing and
emerging export markets, and its export
profile is moving beyond the traditional
commodities. The Shire’s retail sector is
15
4 Ways forward
4.1
Community feedback sought
This draft Business Growth Strategy is the
outcome of quantitative analysis and
community consultation. It will be placed
on public exhibition, with further
community feedback sought, before it is
finalised and adopted by Council.
4.2
Council’s role
This draft Strategy is based on eight roles
for Bega Valley Shire Council that were
identified during the consultation process:
1. An agreed vision for the Shire’s
economic future, backed by a 20
year plan, planning and investment
guidelines, and processes for fast
approval of ‘suitable’
developments.
2. Support and assist businesses in
meeting their compliance
obligations – especially those for
which Council has responsibility.
3. Fostering partnerships between the
education sector and business
4. Facilitation of businesses through
connections and networks,
communication (to and between
businesses), offering workshops
and technologies to help business
growth.
5. Supplying Shire businesses with
valuable business intelligence on
developments in the Shire, what
the Shire has, who/when/where
(ties to networking and market
development).
6. Promotion of an agreed and
accepted ‘brand’ for the Shire as a
whole – incorporating areas in the
Shire that are outside the
geography of the Bega Valley itself.
7. Promotion of the Shire and
preparation of an ‘investment
prospectus’.
8. Lobbying for better infrastructure
and services.
A unique asset for Council is the sister city
relationship with Littleton Colorado, as that
city has over 20 years experience in
‘growing its economy from the inside’
using active interventions to stimulate
entrepreneurialism and business
performance. Over time this has evolved
into a refined framework under the name
of ‘economic gardening’. There are
valuable lessons from the Littleton
experience which can accelerate Bega
Valley Council’s ability to support homegrown growth oriented businesses.
This link is supported by Council’s
connections with the Australian and NSW
Governments’ innovation programs, and
the Illawarra Regional Information Service
at Wollongong University. These
connections provide a good foundation for
the Shire to become a pilot site for testing
the principles of Economic Gardening in
Australia.
Council recognises that it has limited ability
to directly assist businesses to establish in
industries that have been identified as
gaps or opportunity areas. But Council
can link existing and prospective
businesses to priorities in its Community
Strategic Plan and Comprehensive Local
Environment Plan (CLEP) to smooth the
pathway for any planning approvals that
may be required.
The Council initiatives set out in the last
part of this draft strategy have an
emphasis on ‘growth from within’ by
helping existing and new local businesses
with innovation, adaptation, support
facilities and connections with services to
address their growth needs.
16
4.3
The consultations for this draft Strategy
identified a series of longer term issues
and questions for Council and the
community to address, which will form
part of the deliberations around the 20
year Community Strategic Plan. These
include:

Anticipating change: What change in
economic circumstances will the Shire
need to be addressing in 1, 4 and 20
years time?

Are businesses in the Shire aware of
the changes in their (local) customer
base? And are they servicing the
ageing population and workforce
effectively? Is there a role for Council
in maximising the economic spin-offs
of the ageing population?

How should the Shire deal with
population growth that is concentrated
in certain areas and not others?

Can forestry play a greater role in
sustainability, tourism and valueadding? Is there further scope to
exploit public and private forestry
resources into the future – across the
spectrum from sawlogs to woodchips
to by-products?

What is the future of the Shire’s icon
business, the Bega Cheese factory?

What is the most effective role for
Council in helping the Shire tap into
the ‘green’ economy? How can further
value adding be incorporated into
agricultural operations in the region?
How can agricultural/fishery
production, value-adding, food
production and tourism be better
linked?
Is there a role for Council in relation to
fostering greater depth and breadth in
the tourism sector, alongside its
traditional role in promoting the Shire?

17
4.4
Issue
Actions
What Council is already
doing
1. Set the vision for the  Community Strategic Plan
Shire’s economy
 Comprehensive Local
Environment Plan
 LEP process
 Involvement in Australia’s
Coastal Wilderness
 Liaison with BVS Business
Forum and operational
support
Recommended role for Council
Role for others
Vision
 Contributions from chambers,
business community, general
community, main economic
asset owners
 Set an economic vision for the Shire in 2030.
This should set broad aims for the retail mix,
tourism, manufacturing and services. The
vision should be linked to Australia’s Coastal
Wilderness as the key differentiator of
business in the Shire, reflecting business and
community values. The vision should be
backed by a 20 year plan, planning and
investment guidelines, and processes for fast
approval of ‘suitable’ developments.
 Ensure the vision is linked closely into the
Community Strategic Plan’s aspirations for the
Shire and is also reflected in the LEP and
respective DCPs
18
Issue
2. Foster innovation in
the Shire
doing
Role for others
 Support for alternative
energy generation
Compliance and partnerships
 Business community and
Chambers to show support
for innovation in business in
the Shire
 Support for Clean Energy for
Eternity movement, and
“50:50 by 2020” campaign
 Support innovation within businesses, by
helping address constraints such as:




Red tape and compliance (those for
which Council has responsibility)
Business costs
(one size) regulations which treat small
business like big
Restrictions on signs/advertising, where
council has responsibility
 Educators and young people
to join with business people
 Support innovation across the Shire’s
economy by assisting sectors which are
future-focused and reflect common Shire
values like renewable energy, food value
adding, specialised manufacturers, marine
technologies, Port of Eden, links between
creative arts/sustainability and festivals.
Ensure these sectors are priorities in the
Council actions below: Economic Gardening
support; networking; research, information
and analysis; promotion; and lobbying.
 Convene a youth entrepreneurship working
group involving young people, educators and
business leaders to look at ways of stimulating
19
and recognising youth entrepreneurship.
20
Issue
3. Grow the Shire’s
economy from within
doing
Role for others
 Established the Bega Valley
Business Club in conjunction
with NSW DII
Facilitation
 Support from business
community and Chambers
 Compiled and maintains the
Business Growth email
network
 Run an Economic Gardening program in the
Shire – possibly in collaboration with the
Economic Gardening group in the Illawarra
and under a federally-funded pilot.
 Support business networks (targeted for
results) in the Shire to facilitate connections,
communication (to and between businesses)
 Arrange (with funding partners) workshops
and demonstration technologies to help
business growth – including ‘next generation’
business approaches and technologies (like
electronic market research and marketing,
and cloud computing).
 Support from University of
Wollongong and others
running the Economic
Gardening program in the
Illawarra.
 Support from State and
Federal Governments in
bringing workshops and
business skills learning
opportunities to the Shire.
 Supply Shire businesses with valuable
business intelligence on developments in the
Shire, what the Shire has, who/when/where
(ties to activity 4).
 Help tourism operators model operational
changes to benefit from and contribute to the
experiences that ACW will bring.
 Leverage Sister City relationships – in
particular with emerging economies (Ordos).
21
Issue
doing
Role for others
4. Understand the
Shire’s economy
 Council provides free access
on its website to detailed
and interactive web-based
economic profile information
via ID.economy (regularly
updated)
Business intelligence
 Wollongong University
 Hosting workshops and
seminars, often in
collaboration with partners
like the former Southeast
Area Consultative committee,
the new RDA Far South
Coast, the Department of
Industry and Investment
 Monitor and analyse key economic data
including population trends, characteristics of
in-migrants, visitor trends. Plug into businessrelevant research undertaken by other
organisations, and disseminate relevant
findings to local business. Conduct or
commission research as specific needs are
identified and as resources allow.
 Communicate business-relevant research to
local businesses – eg the ‘Over 55 and
overlooked’ package designed to help
business owners understands how to best
service (and profit from) the over 55s market.
 Host workshops and seminars from innovative
experts. Workshops could include a series of
presentations by innovative and/or successful
home-grown businesses, as well as
presentations from outside experts. Partner
with DI&I, RDA Far South Coast, Enterprise
Connect and universities.
 Understand the scale, role and economic
impact of Creative Economy industries –
arts/festivals.
 CEFE
 Community College
 U3A
 Willingness of owners of
existing innovative local
businesses to share their
experiences with peers.
 Four Winds longitudinal
analysis project
 Links to assessment and
priorities for region done by
Far South Coast RDA
 Links to Department of
Industry and Investment
regional jobs and
infrastructure programs
22
Issue
doing
Role for others
5. Promote the Shire
and its business
opportunities
 Council’s agreed role in
tourism is the provision of
infrastructure, with the
industry itself driving
marketing and promotion
Brand development and Shire promotion
 Partnerships with South
Coast Tourism groups, and
State regional tourism
programs
 Council is contributing
$250,000 for Sapphire Coast
Tourism in 2010-11 based on
special levy on business
properties
 Council hosts the film liaison
officer
 Council’s website promotes
the Shire and provides useful
economic background to
potential investors
 Participation in Country
Week
 Promote the Shire as a place to visit – with
tourism promotion funding subject to ongoing
and rigorous evaluation to understand how to
get the highest return from Council’s
investments.
 Promote an agreed and accepted ‘brand’ for
the Shire as a whole – incorporating areas in
the Shire that are outside the geography of
the Bega Valley. Test the concept flagged in
this draft of basing promotion around the
powerful ‘Australia’s Coastal Wilderness’
brand.
 Prepare an investment prospectus highlighting
economic strengths and opportunities
identified through the research. The
prospectus should be web-based and in
printed form, and should provide ‘hot spot’
investment prospects identified through
research and consultations with industry in
addition to the more usual economic
snapshot. A specific prospectus is already
being developed for Eden Port.
 Willingness to get involved by
tourism businesses, and by
other ‘iconic’ businesses in
the Shire
 Partnerships with University
of Wollongong and other
research bodies to ensure a
focus on research on the
Shire
 Review the Shire’s current ‘rate incentives’ for
new businesses to ensure they are effective,
competitive and affordable.
23
 Promote further investment in aged
accommodation to capitalise on many benefits
including
 Consequent reduced need for public
housing (saving rates)
 Increases density which also help
improve affordability
24
Issue
doing
Role for others
6. Improve
infrastructure
 Council is both lobbying and
driving activities to
strengthen infrastructure
Lobbying
 Support from elected
representatives, State
Government agencies,
Federal government agencies
and neighbouring Councils
 Council funding of transport
study for Eden
 Involvement in Southern
Councils Group
 Engagement with State
Government Regional
Coordination Group
 Identification and expansion
of tourism-related
infrastructure like trails,
tracks, signage
 Council will actively lobby for infrastructure
identified as being of critical value to the
Shire’s economic future:
 Faster, affordable, accessible broadband
 Port infrastructure at Eden
 Health facilities
 Partnerships between the education sector
and business
 Upgrade Princes Highway
 Investment in Merimbula
Airport
25
4.5
Outcomes
Council’s proposed actions on business
growth reflect the measures of:
 Accessibility
 Affordability
 Liveability
 Sustainability.
To make these measures of success
tangible Council has set targets for
each of the six action areas in the
table above.
1. Set the vision for the Shire’s
economy
Target:

Community satisfaction with input
into the economic vision. High
levels of input from stakeholders.
2. Foster innovation in the Shire
5. Promote the Shire and its business
opportunities
Targets:



Agreement reached on central role
of ACW in Shire’s economic future
Investment prospectus completed
by mid 2011
Rate incentive review completed
6. Improve infrastructure
Target:

Broadband access improved
Target
Accessibility:
1. Infrastructure
2. Communications
Affordability:
1.
Liveability
2.
Sustainability:
3.
Indicator
Airport passenger growth
HS Broadband per capita
Insert
Targets:



Higher rates of business
satisfaction in dealings with
Council
Increased rate of new business
formation in the Shire increases
Youth entrepreneurship activity in
place by mid 2011
3. Grow the Shire’s economy from
within
Targets:


Quarterly ‘business intelligence’
updates emailed to Business
Growth email list
Economic Gardening programs run
through 2011 with 40 participants
4. Understand the Shire’s economy
Targets:


2 specialist seminars hosted in
2011
Over 55 and overlooked research
disseminated across business
community
26

Business Growth Strategy DRAFT S

Transcription

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