Agenda item

To seek the Committee’s approval for Stroud District Council’s bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund (Round 2).

The Regeneration Delivery Lead introduced the report and highlighted the following key points:

• The paper set out the details of Stroud’s bid to Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund (LUF) which was due by the 6 July 2022.
• The LUF was about infrastructure projects that gave people pride in their local communities including:

-        local transport projects

-        town centre and high street regeneration

-        support for maintaining and expanding the UKs world leading portfolio of cultural and heritage assets.

• The bids would also be assessed on their strategic fit, their economic case and deliverability.
• Paragraph 1.5 included additional criteria.
• The three projects in Stroud had strong narrative, were deliverable and were based on key plans, strategies and reports that had not been able to progress due to lack of funding.
• Much stakeholder engagement had been carried out as part of the approval process for the various strategies.
• Match funding of 10% had been secured from our public and private sector partners.
• Paragraph 2.10 highlighted that the bid was currently at £15.9 million However they would need to ensure that there was sufficient contingency included to allow for the current volatile construction market and general inflationary pressure. It was confirmed that the final amount could change before the final bid was submitted.

In response to a question from Councillor Craig it was confirmed that the council would have the opportunity to put in another bid if the current bid was unsuccessful as the Stroud District has two parliamentary constituencies within it.

In response to questions regarding the match funding it was advised that:

·       Stroud Town Council were committed to the bid and were providing both funding and support.

·       Approximately £1.9m of funding was being received from, Dransfield properties Ltd, County Council, District Council and Stroud Town Council.

Councillor Ross questioned whether the homes that would be developed on the brownfield land would be affordable, low carbon homes. The Regeneration Delivery Lead confirmed that they would be looking for a mixed tenure scheme and that there would be a proportion of affordable homes.

In response to questions from Councillor Hurst the Regeneration Delivery Lead confirmed that one of the factors used to choose the projects for the bid was the deliverability of the scheme and the narrative between the 3 projects.

Councillor Pearcy questioned when the results of the bid would be announced and whether the bid could be submitted again if it was unsuccessful. It was confirmed that the result would be announced in the Autumn and that the bid could be resubmitted, or they could look at other opportunities to bid for the funding.

In response to questions from Councillor Housden it was confirmed that:

• Parish and Town Councils were contacted asking for a list of projects that they had within their areas
• The exact number of responses was unknown but could be provided
• The funding round deadlines were very short so projects needed be ready and deliverable
• No other schemes submitted from other parish or town councils were viable.

Councillor Brine Proposed and Councillor Braun Seconded.

Councillor Braun thanked Officers for all the work that had gone into preparing the bid with-in the short timescale. She stated that it would have been better if the LUF bid allowed for greater flexibility in terms of the geographic scope however it had been defined in this way to maximise the benefit to the district and help to ensure the benefit reached a large portion of the population. She further stated that she was particularly pleased to see the environmental implications in the report which identified many benefits.

Councillor Pearson offered his support however questioned the views of the residents who did not live in or near Stroud town centre who may think the projects were too stroud centric but good communication explaining the reasons why the projects were chosen would help.

Councillor Craig confirmed his support for the LUF bid and stated it was great to have funding come into the District however the challenge would be to convince everyone in the District that the Council was going to continue to bid for funding for other areas.

Councillor Hurst stated that he was torn as to what decision to make because of the inclusion of two projects which he did not wish to support.

Councillor Housden advised that there were approximately 5 months to develop projects from other areas of the District not just Stroud and that despite some good projects e.g. cycling provision, he had concerns that the projects weren’t covering the district more widely.

Councillor Cornell stated that it would benefit the District in many ways and that they would be considering other projects that had been put forward and would be identifying other sources of funding.

Councillor Brine advised that the short timescales meant that only projects that were deliverable would be able to be accepted for this bid as Officers and Parish and Town Councils would not have had the time to develop projects in time. He also stated that he hoped the bid would be successful.

On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.

RESOLVED  To:

a.  Approve the final size and scope of the Council’s bid to the Levelling Up Fund, as set out in Appendices A and B;

b.  Delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Place, in consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair of this Committee, to finalise and submit the bid by the Government deadline of 6 July, 2022 and enter into the grant agreement if successful.

c.  Award grants to, and enter into legal agreements with, the delivery partners as set out in Appendix A if the bid is successful.