Issue - meetings

Investment Plan to be issued as a supplement Thursday 30 June

Members considered a report which set out the draft West Lindsey UK Shared Prosperity Fund Investment Plan and sought Member’s approval, that the Plan be submitted to the Government.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) was a central pillar of the UK Government’s Levelling Up agenda and a significant component of its support for places across the UK. It provided three year’s funding for local investment, with all areas of the UK having received an allocation; West Lindsey District Council’s being £2.7 million.

In order to “unlock” the allocation, local places were required to develop an investment plan, setting out priorities for investment, and what a place could achieve through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, for its places, residents, communities and businesses.

Whilst the opportunities presented by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund were recognised, it was also acknowledged, the Fund alone, could not address all of the identified local challenges.

The West Lindsey UK Shared Prosperity Fund Investment Plan set out a shared endeavour and was based upon a robust evidence base, established and adopted strategic priorities and wide-ranging stakeholder engagement. The Plan proposed how the Fund could be invested across the three Government priorities of: -

·                Communities and Place

·                Supporting Local Businesses; and

·                People and Skills.

Within each priority, the report proposed a set of high-level interventions, which, once further developed into business cases, would deliver the desired outputs and outcomes, as set out in the guidance.

The submission to Government required local authorities to set out strategic priorities. A two-stage approach, that would satisfy the Government requirements, for submission, whilst allowing work to continue in the development of business cases, for each of the investment priorities, had been adopted.

Each business case would be the subject of a future decision by the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee. Once the Investment Plan was submitted, it was understood there would be a process of engagement and discussion with Government, ultimately ending in a funding contract.

In support of the published report, Members received a detailed presentation from the Director of Planning, Regeneration and Communities.

During the presentation, Members received information relating to: -

·               The creation and intention of the Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund;

·               The two phased Approach (Phase 1. Submission to UK Government, Phase 2. Business Case Development for Internal Sign-Off) which had been developed;

·               The stakeholder engagement which had been undertaken;

·               The key challenges summarised in the Themes;

·               The key opportunities in West Lindsey;

·               How the Plan had been shaped, the Investment Plan Framework; the Over-arching Vision and Golden Thread;

·               The key structural challenges in West Lindsey;

·               Interventions being developed and the approach;

·               An overview of the proposed projects;

·               The Investment Plan – Financial Strategy and the funding split by investment area; and

·               The Governance and Next Steps.

The UKSPF was a £2.6bn programme for local investment distributed, via a funding formula. The fund was part of a suite of investment made available under the Levelling Up agenda and succeeded EU Structural Funds. The fund could support interventions that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3