Issue - meetings

Report of the Director – Development and Economic Growth

The Economic Growth Officer and the Corporate and Commercial Projects Officer presented an update to the Group about the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF).

The Economic Growth Officer confirmed that the funding was announced in September 2022, following which much work had taken place to set out a proposed programme of expenditure going forward.

The Economic Growth Officer noted that UKSPF and REPF replaced existing EU funding and had the goals of building pride in place and increasing life chances across the UK. She explained that the EU funding had supported business support and skills, for both local projects, such as £1.6m for Bingham Chapel Lane Enterprise Centre and wider projects across the D2N2 area, such as the Growth Hub.

The Economic Growth Officer said that UKSPF provided allocated funding for each local authority over three years, rather than through a competitive bidding process for specific projects. She noted that the funding had three overarching investment priorities, being community and place, business support, and people and skills, and had forty one interventions below those priorities, with a range of expected outputs and outcomes for those interventions. She said that funding could be allocated to both capital and revenue initiatives and that local authorities were encouraged to work collaboratively.

In relation to REPF, the Economic Growth Officer explained that this replaced the previous EU LEADER funding and had only been awarded to rural areas, which included Rushcliffe, Bassetlaw and Newark and Sherwood districts within Nottinghamshire. It was capital grant funding only and would commence in April 2023 for two years.

The Economic Growth Officer explained that the Council had identified some Rushcliffe principles for the funding which included ensuring projects supported delivery of the Councils Corporate Plan, that funding supported projects across the Borough, demonstrated value for money and were deliverable. This was particularly important in year one due to the tight timescales. She added that much reporting would be required as part of the programme, demonstrating value for money, added value for projects that otherwise wouldn’t be delivered, and a need for the project.

The Economic Growth Officer said that stakeholder engagement had been done through the Strategic Growth Board as well as with wider stakeholders including through local growth boards and discussions with identified groups.

The Economic Growth Officer confirmed that the high level Investment Plan for UKSPF had been submitted to Government on 31 August 2022 and approval for it had been received in November 2022. The Addendum for the REPF had been submitted in December 2022 for which the Council was awaiting approval.

The Economic Growth Officer outlined a range of projects that had been approved for the first year of funding, including, benches and improvements to the café at Rushcliffe Country Park, energy audits for the Council’s properties, funding to support reed clearance along the canal  to improve  water retention, implementation of a digital support toolkit for high streets, funding to support increased police patrols at Ratcliffe on Soar  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12