Page 8 - Minutes of meeting

18 – Creation of Futures Board ACTION

Rebecca Halton and Liam Edgley delivered a presentation to the
Board. They were both members of Cumbria LEPs newly established
Futures Forum which comprised people aged 18 to 35. The group of
young people had been tasked with influencing key decisions on the
economic future for Cumbria and were committed to ensuring that
their views and the views of their peers seriously influenced
Cumbria’s economic strategy and investment decisions.

The Forum provided an opportunity to promote youth involvement
and empowerment at all levels of decision making in Cumbria. It was
intended that the Futures Forum would develop proposals to be
considered by the LEP Board and other Governance Bodies.
Members of the Forum were set to receive developmental support
including mentoring, to help them to progress in their careers and
operate at Board level.

Councillor M A Thomson asked if it would be helpful to have
representation from the Futures Forum on the two Sub-Groups of this
Board (The Communications and Engagement Group and the Plan
Development Group); the Chair agreed.

Julie Mennell commented that this Board needed to think about how it
could support the development and sustainability of the Futures
Forum. The Chair added that the Board needed to assist in
increasing the membership of the Futures Forum. This had been
welcomed by Rebecca Halton and she requested recommendations
for appropriate Private Sector representation. The Chair requested
members of the Board to seek relevant representation from within
their respective organisations for the Futures Forum.

Andrew Wren commented that demonstrating that we have a Futures
Forum had potential to place us is a strong position when submitting
a bid for funding. All Board
members
RESOLVED:- To note the information.

19 – Future High Streets Fund Update

Michael Barry provided an update on the Future High Streets Fund.
He advised that the draft submission was due to be submitted in
March and that a Project Board had been established comprising of
representation from BBC/CCC/Cumbria LEP and partners are
working towards the submission of a draft application by March 15
th
th
ahead of a final on June 30 .

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