Executive Summary |
The UK Government announced the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) funding allocations to local authorities in December 2024 for a ‘transition’ year of funding, with anticipated new models of funding from 26/27. This transition funding follows the preceding 2022-25 UKSPF programme which has been successfully delivered by NNDC (~£1.2 million) and the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) capital grant programme (~£1.4 million).
NNDC will receive a total allocation for the next financial year (2025-26) of £405,095, composed of £330,302 of revenue and £74,793 of capital funding. All areas of the UK will receive an allocation from the Fund via a funding formula rather than a competitive bidding process.
There are three UKSPF investment priorities: Communities and Place; Supporting Local Business; and People & Skills.
The one-year allocation of UKSPF funding will continue to support businesses and communities in North Norfolk to address identified local challenges. This will be achieved through the development of business and community support schemes and will seek to complement existing business and community support. |
Options considered
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NNDC is the nominated lead authority for the delivery of this funding and, as such, is obliged to develop appropriate vehicles to disseminate this funding accordingly. However, It is within the Council’s gift to determine the priorities as to how this is committed to achieve local objectives address local needs. |
Consultation(s) |
An internal review of the current three-year UKSPF programme has taken place to gauge success, consider impact and realign existing projects (if appropriate) to the new guidance and significantly reduced budget, with workstreams mapped against the new Government missions and limited timeframe available. New projects that can support the Government missions, fit within the allocated interventions and align with the NNDC Corporate Plan have been considered in this process. A Local Partnership Group was established as a means of consulting on the UKSPF and REPF programme and to support the implementation of the original UKSPF Investment Plan. It will be continued into the transitional year and will meet to consider the proposals for 2025-26. |
Recommendations
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Recommendations
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Reasons for recommendations
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This recommendation is being made in order to deliver the UKSPF transition programme within the one-year timescale
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Background papers
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UKSPF Technical Note: UK Shared Prosperity Fund 2025-26: Technical note - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) UKSPF Prospectus: UK Shared Prosperity Fund: prospectus - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) |
Wards affected |
All North Norfolk wards |
Cabinet member(s) |
Councillor John Toye, Portfolio Holder Sustainable Growth |
Contact Officer |
Jenni Jordan, Economic Programmes and Funding Manager jenni.jordan@north-norfolk.gov.uk Stuart Quick, Economic Growth Manager stuart.quick@north-norfolk.gov.uk
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Minutes:
Cllr J Toye, Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth, introduced this item. He explained that the Government had announced the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) funding allocations to local authorities in December 2024 for a ‘transition’ year of funding, with anticipated new models of funding from 2026/27. NNDC would receive a total allocation for the next financial year (2025-26) of £405,095, composed of £330,302 of revenue and £74,793 of capital funding. The one-year allocation of UKSPF funding would continue to support businesses and communities in North Norfolk to address identified local challenges. This would be achieved through the development of business and community support schemes and would seek to complement existing business and community support. He added that a review of the previous funding would come to Overview & Scrutiny Committee in April. He drew members’ attention to the focus on collaboration and said that this would be continued.
He said that the successful initiatives to reduce fuel poverty and carbon reduction in households would be continued. The majority of the funding would go towards working with local stakeholders to identify and deliver projects that foster local economic growth and support the vitality of the district’s towns.
The Chairman thanked officers for their hard work on this scheme and the excellent outcomes that had been achieved so far. He expressed disappointment that the level of funding had effectively been halved but said that the Council would focus on achieving the best possible outcomes with the allocated funding. He said it was hoped that further information on the Rural England Prosperity Fund would be received soon.
Cllr Toye added that through collaborative working, more than the headline figure would be delivered by leveraging in additional support.
Cllr V Holliday welcomed the funding and asked if there were business cases underpinning the projects that would be supported by the scheme. Cllr Toye replied that there was a basic outline in the report of the high-level schemes. The detail would then be worked up and then, depending on the schemes applying for grant funding, they would go through a robust application process before funding was allocated. The Assistant Director for Sustainable Development added that a report was going to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee in April outlining the delivery of the programme for the previous three years. A dissemination of the grant funding for this would be provided in this report. He said that it was hoped to be able to also outline what would be coming up for the next year. He reiterated that the Council was still waiting to hear about the future of the Rural Prosperity Fund which contained the grants to businesses.
It was proposed by Cllr J Toye, seconded by Cllr W Fredericks and
RESOLVED
Supporting documents: