Issue - meetings

The Business Growth Manager presented the report to update Members on the activities of the £15 million Regeneration Fund project awarded to the Council in the 2023 Autumn Statement; the fund was for “Place” based regeneration within the District.

Henham Strategy had been appointed December 2023 to work alongside the Economic Development Team to identify and appraise appropriate options around the utilisation of the regeneration funding.  Working alongside the Executive and acting on previous Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) feedback on the District’s Levelling Up Fund round 2 feedback, Henham Strategy had implemented a methodical approach to appraising potential options based on their insight into the bid development process.

Following this work, an Investment Plan had been submitted to DLUHC on 29^th March 2024, setting out the proposals for how the Fund would be directed to best meet the strategic priorities for regeneration of the Place across the District.

The projects proposed had been considered based on their alignment and ability to deliver the strategic priorities within the provided timescale of the Fund (delivery up to 31^st March 2026).  The projects would directly deliver economic, social, and environmental benefits to the District’s residents, businesses, and visitors.

Appendix 1 set out the 8 projects proposed, the financial allocation of each project, and the upcoming key milestones.

The Chair asked, with the UK General Election taking place in July 2024, was this capital secured irrespective of the result in Westminster.  The Business Growth Manager explained no comment, nor any confirmation could be made at this time.  The Council’s position was to await a signed investment plan from the UK National Government and DLUHC; to the day of the Committee, no memorandum had yet been issued to the Council.

A Member noted the report detailed the stakeholder engagement; Mark Fletcher MP for Bolsover had publicly stated he had not been engaged with this, and neither had the Committee in its scrutiny role – who was engaged in drawing up this strategy.  The Business Growth Manager reiterated from the previous Committee meeting that a Working Group of the Executive had been convened to carry out the consultation due to the limited timescale available of the Regeneration Fund; all projects had to be completed before 31^st March 2026.

A Member stated this had been a fraught process for the Council; were there any learnings from this process to avoid any similar issues in the future.  The Business Growth Manager stated it was difficult to know which the issues the Member was referring to, but generally, with the need to respond quickly to this allocation of funding, and the amount of information requested by DLUHC, it would have been unlikely to have been able to prepare and responded more successfully given these circumstances.  The Business Growth Manager listed the following restricted timeframe the Council was working under:

·       The announcement was made in October 2023;

·       The details from DLUHC had not been provided until 16^th January 2024;

·       The Council had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8