Agenda item

The report of the Chief Executive is attached.

It was RESOLVED that Cabinet:

a)           endorses the identified priority interventions for Rushcliffe’s Investment Plan and the local principles for the allocation of funding;

b)           endorses the identified long list of interventions for Rushcliffe’s Investment Plan for year 1 in Appendix B;

c)           delegates sign off of the Investment Plan to the Leader, Chief Executive and S151 Officer, including refinement of projects for year 1 and allocations for years 2 and 3, with both revenue and capital implications reported in future Financial reports to Cabinet and the MTFS to Full Council; and

d)           endorses the submission of the Levelling Up Funding bid with the Capital Programme to be updated accordingly and reported in future financial reports.

The Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Business and Growth, Councillor Edyvean presented the report of the Chief Executive outlining the endorsement of the investment Plan for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and Levelling Up Funding bid.

Councillor Edyvean thanked the Director – Development and Economic Growth, the Economic Development Team, and in particular the Service Manager Economic Growth and Prosperity for the significant work undertaken, again under very challenging timescales

Councillor Edyvean referred to the launch of UKSPF in April 2022 and stated that it was intended to replace the EU Structural Funds, which had been allocated to Rushcliffe through the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).  Rushcliffe’s allocation would be £2,571,462 for three years, with a breakdown of the figures for each year highlighted in the report. 

Cabinet was advised that in order to receive this money, an Investment Plan had to be completed to identify how the money would be spent against the three priority areas, and Councillor Edyvean advised that Rushcliffe was able to work with other neighbouring councils and upper tier authorities if projects could deliver over a wider area.  Cabinet noted that a specific pathway had been set out by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUG), and any unspent money would be returned to Central Government.  Councillor Edyvean confirmed that the Council had engaged with a wide variety of stakeholders, and an outline Plan had been made, which required further refinement prior to submission.

In conclusion, Councillor Edyvean advised that the recommendations also dealt with a submission of the Levelling Up Funding bid, and it was important to recognise that the terms of the bid required projects with immediate deliverability.  Cabinet was asked to endorse the bid to deliver new infrastructure requirements on the Rushcliffe side of the River Trent in relation to the new pedestrian bridge being built by Nottingham City Council, details of which were highlighted in Section 4.23 of the report.

In seconding the recommendation, Councillor Brennan welcomed the report, stated that it was pleasing to see that the Government was committed to replacing the funding from the EU Structural Funds, and emphasised the necessity of spending the money, rather than it being returned to the Government.  Councillor Brennan agreed that it was a very short timescale, and it was good that projects had been identified and officers were thanked for their hard work in pulling this together.  As the funding increased overtime, Councillor Brennan was pleased to see that in the list of longer term potential projects, new areas, or at least areas that had not received funding for some time had been included, to help bring the Levelling Up agenda to life.  Councillor Brennan welcomed the creative ideas that had come through and that the Council’s partners had been involved, and fully endorsed the recommendations. 

The Leader concurred with previous comments, referred to previous meetings with partners, which had been extremely constructive, and advised that the meeting last week with local MPs had been very productive.  Cabinet noted that Rushcliffe was far more advanced that many other areas, and it was a great credit to the hard work of officers that the August deadline would be met.  The Leader advised that this was a review process and would be looked at regularly to reflect the needs of the Borough.  The Leader stated that he had been keen to see the funding spread out across the Borough, to ensure that everyone could enjoy the funding, and that had been achieved.

Councillor Upton reiterated his thanks to officers and stated that he was very optimistic that this bid would be successful.

It was RESOLVED that Cabinet:

a)           endorses the identified priority interventions for Rushcliffe’s Investment Plan and the local principles for the allocation of funding;

b)           endorses the identified long list of interventions for Rushcliffe’s Investment Plan for year 1 in Appendix B;

c)           delegates sign off of the Investment Plan to the Leader, Chief Executive and S151 Officer, including refinement of projects for year 1 and allocations for years 2 and 3, with both revenue and capital implications reported in future Financial reports to Cabinet and the MTFS to Full Council; and

d)           endorses the submission of the Levelling Up Funding bid with the Capital Programme to be updated accordingly and reported in future financial reports.