Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor Deborah Watson.

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has

consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B)

4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business to consider.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable

Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the

Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a) any business on the agenda

b) any urgent additional items to be considered

c) any matters arising out of those items and if appropriate, withdraw

from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 13^th March 2023.

Moved by Councillor Janet Tait and seconded by Councillor Will Fletcher

RESOLVED that the Minutes of a Local Growth Scrutiny Committee held on 13^th March 2023 be approved as a correct record.

(Members should contact the officer whose name appears on the List of Key Decisions for any further information).  NB: If Members wish to discuss an exempt report under this item, the meeting will need to move into exempt business and exclude the public in accordance with the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 and Local Government Act 1972, Part 1, Schedule 12a for that part of the meeting only.

Committee considered the List of Key Decisions and items to be considered in private document.  The Scrutiny & Elections Officer explained the importance of Scrutiny involvement before reports were submitted to Executive and asked that any queries be directed to the listed officer or portfolio holder in the first instance.  Should Members then feel that a more detailed examination of the proposed decision is required, Members must contact the Monitoring Officer and Scrutiny & Elections Officer so that a meeting of the relevant Scrutiny Committee can be held to enable pre-scrutiny of the decision.  She also explained the process of Call-in subsequent to Executive decisions.

Moved by Councillor Tom Kirkham and seconded by Councillor Phil Smith

RESOLVED that the List of Key Decisions and items to be considered in private document be noted.

Committee considered their proposed work programme for 2023/24.  The Chair briefed Members on the programme explaining that it was a fluid document which could be added to and amended as required.  The programme was considered as part of every meeting to allow Committee Members to adjust to emerging issues throughout the year.

The Scrutiny & Elections Officer noted that a decision still needed to be taken on the frequency of reports in relation to Dragonfly construction projects.  Members agreed that these should feature on each meeting initially.

A Member queried how the findings from the recent Town Centre Regeneration Frameworks Review would be addressed in the coming year.  The Scrutiny & Elections Officer explained that a report was due to be submitted to Executive in July and scrutiny would then monitor implementation of the recommendations over the coming 12 months.  Normally this would be at six-month and 12-month intervals, but Members could look at a different frequency if they felt it was necessary.  This could be decided once Committee received Executive’s response.  The Member noted that more frequent reports may prove valuable due to the monitoring required for areas where work had not progressed.

Moved by Councillor Phil Smith and seconded by Councillor Will Fletcher

RESOLVED that (1) the Work Programme 2023/24 be noted,

            (2) updates from Dragonfly Development Ltd. be added to each meeting, with a focus on construction delivery.

(Scrutiny & Elections Officer)

The Business Growth Manager provided an update on the main Business Growth Strategy to Members.

This was the first briefing to the new committee and outlined the priorities for the Development Directorate for 2019-23.  When considering the six priorities, the following was noted:

• Building Back Better – this strand was focussed on nature recovery, sustainable transport, and carbon reduction.
• Enabling Housing Growth – this was being delivered via Dragonfly and included Council housing via Bolsover Homes and construction of commercial sales properties via Dragonfly Development Ltd.
• Increasing Revenue Streams – This included projects such as the development of the Crematorium, Dragonfly Development Ltd., and local growth plans for Shirebrook and Creswell.
• Making the Best Use of our Assets – a key deliverable under this strand had been the review of Council garage sites.  Over £1m had been secured via disposal or redevelopment and teams were now assessing other assets to go through a similar review process.  A dedicated officer had now been appointed to assess proposals for development of the Pleasley Vale site.  This would involve complex consideration of listed buildings, the conservation area, and a variety of stakeholders including Mansfield DC and Nottinghamshire CC.
• Promoting the District and Increasing Tourism – the new Tourism and Place Manager had now started in her role, and it was hoped to move this area forward swiftly due to her past experience working for the Council on tourism.
• Working with Partners – the team were now able to move forward with this area of work because of the UKSPF monies allocated by the Leader’s Executive & Partnerships team for business support and development.  This commenced in April.  The team were also working with partners from One Public Estate (OPE) as part of a countywide exercise looking at the future scope for publicly owned buildings within Bolsover town centre.  The team hoped it could lead to the Council being able to access additional funds.

The Business Growth Manager also noted that following the recent District Council election, it would be appropriate to review the Strategy and Action Plan as it came to the end of its lifecycle to ensure that new Members priorities were being addressed.

A Member queried the four areas of delivery under the Working with Partners strand.  The officer directed Members to the action plan appendices for further detail - the four areas were Business Support, Business Engagement, Social Value Index, and OPE.

A Member queried who was part of the OPE team.  The officer noted that this was a national team.  As a result of the unsuccessful LUF bid the area had been identified as having public buildings and land which could benefit from redevelopment.  By taking part in the current consultation exercise this would put the area in a strong position when future funding was announced.

A Member questioned why Dragonfly had no clear target dates assigned within the Enabling Housing Growth action plan.  The officer noted that these could be included in future updates once they had been decided.  ...  view the full minutes text for item LOC7-23/24

The Business Growth Manager briefed Members on the outcome of the recent bid.  In May 2022, the Government announced a second call for the allocation of the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund (LUF), investing capital funds into places in need of economic recovery and growth, regeneration, and improved transport connectivity.  Investment was targeted against the three themes of Regeneration and town centre, Cultural, and Transport.

As part of the development of LUF, the Index of Priority Places was formulated, ranking lower-tier and unitary authorities based on a combination of metrics, and then used this ranking to award ‘priority status’ to those areas in Category 1, awarding a capacity fund of £125,000 to all Category 1 places to support the development of their bid submission/s.  Bolsover received Category 2 status, so no capacity fund was available for the development of its bid.

The Fund focussed on investment in projects which required less than £20m of funding, and it encouraged bids to include a local financial contribution of at least 10% of total costs.  Private sector partners were encouraged to contribute if they stood to benefit from an intervention.

The total amount of grant fund requested from LUF was £14,218,305 with a match funding contribution of £1,242,595 – 8% of the total project costs.  It sought 45% of the funding from the Regeneration and Town Centre strand, and then the remaining 55% from the Cultural strand.

The application focussed its delivery around three main project areas, as set out below and also shown in Appendix 1 – Bolsover Town Proposals:

• Purchase, demolition, and redevelopment of the former Co-Operative Foodstore to provide a cultural hub including a cinema; theatre; gallery and exhibition space; food and drinks court; indoor market area.  This would have linked through to the redevelopment of Oxcroft House for the cultural industries to base as a business hub.
• Townscape improvements, including a shop front improvement scheme and a comprehensive public realm improvement scheme for the public areas across the town.
• Connectivity through investment in digital connectivity, Internet-of-Things (IOT) and technology to support the visitor experience including parking apps and augmented reality experiences.

The Council received significant support for the development of a cultural hub from English Heritage, National Trust, and Welbeck Estates amongst others, who were keen to ensure the town had a local venue to display artifacts currently located in London and elsewhere.

Feedback on the bid acknowledged that the gap in match funding, 8% rather than 10%, had been a factor in failure of the bid.  The Council were not able to commit any financial resource to the application and was only in a position to contribute its UKSPF (UK Shared Prosperity Fund) allocation, land and buildings, and match funding from Old Bolsover Town Council.  While DLUHC encouraged bids to include a local financial contribution of at least 10% of total costs, this could not be met.

Officers also noted that due to the area not qualifying for capacity funding, the bid was not as detailed as other areas,  ...  view the full minutes text for item LOC8-23/24