Agenda item

UK COMMUNITY RENEWAL FUND (CRF) MATCH FUNDING

Summary:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Options considered:

This report seeks authorisation from Cabinet to confirm and allocate the match funding requirements for the recently submitted Community Renewal Fund (CRF) bids for both Fakenham and North Walsham.

 

The total funding being requested for the Fakenham bid is £800k, with £600k being requested from the CFR and £200k (25%) being sought from the Council’s own resources, giving a total budget allocation of £800k.

 

As with Fakenham, the total funding being requested for the North Walsham bid is also £800k, with £600k being requested from the CFR and £200k (25%) being sought from the Council’s own resources, giving a total budget allocation of £800k.

 

This means that the combined match funding requirement from NNDC is £400k, with funding requests from the CRF totalling £1.2m, which combined would see an overall funding package of £1.6m.

 

It is recommended that the match funding element is provided from the Delivery Plan Reserve.

 

The Council could have taken the decision not to submit any bids for the recently announced Community Renewal Fund (CRF). However, having been identified by central government as one of the 100 ‘priority areas’, with potential access districtwide to a funding pot of £3m, it was considered opportune to submit 2 applications, one focussed around Fakenham and the other around North Walsham, to try to secure some of this funding for the area.

 

While there was no specific requirement to provide match funding the bid scoring guidance was clear that projects with match funding in place would be viewed more favourably, hence the request that is before Members within this report.

 

Conclusions:

 

Having been recently identified by central government as being one of the 100 ‘priority areas’, the Council has taken the decision to submit 2 bids to the Community Renewal Fund (CRF). The match funding being sort to support these bids will strengthen the potential for them to be approved and allocated funding when the bid submissions are assessed by central government.

 

Recommendations:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reasons for

Recommendations:

 

That Cabinet resolve the following;

 

  1. To release match funding of £200k for the Fakenham CRF bid and £200k for the North Walsham bid subject to the bids being approved by central government.
  2. The match funding element to be released from the Delivery Plan Reserve.

 

To support and strengthen the CRF bids for both Fakenham and North Walsham which in turn will help to realise opportunities to secure UK Government funding into North Norfolk to support investment in projects which meet priorities outlined in the Council’s Corporate Plan as they relate to provision of housing, economic growth, environment and climate change and quality of life.

 

 

 

LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW

(Papers relied on to write the report, which do not contain exempt information and which are not published elsewhere)

 

 

               

Cabinet Member(s)

Cllr S Bütikofer – Leader of the Council

Ward(s) affected

Lancaster North, Lancaster South, North Walsham East, North Walsham Market Cross and North Walsham West

 

Contact Officer, telephone number and email:

Duncan Ellis, Director for Resources, 01263 516330, Duncan.ellis@north-norfolk.gov.uk

 

Decision:

DECISION

Resolved:

 

 

  1. To release match funding of £200k for the Fakenham CRF bid and £200k for the North Walsham bid subject to the bids being approved by central government.
  2. The match funding element to be released from the Delivery Plan Reserve.
  3. To recommend to Full Council the establishment of new capital budgets for the North Walsham and Fakenham schemes of £800k each, with each scheme being funded through the CRF bid (£600k) and the balance (£200k) as match funding from the Council

 

Reason for the recommendations:

 

To support and strengthen the CRF bids for both Fakenham and North Walsham which in turn will help to realise opportunities to secure UK Government funding into North Norfolk to support investment in projects which meet priorities outlined in the Council’s Corporate Plan as they relate to provision of housing, economic growth, environment and climate change and quality of life.

Minutes:

The Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Cllr R Kershaw, introduced this item. He said that he wished to propose the following additional recommendation:

‘To recommend to Full Council the establishment of new capital budgets for the North Walsham and Fakenham schemes of £800k each, with each scheme being funded through the CRF bid (£600k) and the balance (£200k) as match funding from the Council’.

 

Cllr Kershaw then explained that the timescales for submitting the bids had been extremely short and he thanked officers for all their hard work in pulling them together. Both bids had been backed by the local MPs and the final decision was now in the hands of MHCLG, with a response expected by the end of July.

 

Cllr Cushing thanked everyone on Fakenham Town Council for their hard work in support of this.

 

Cllr Rest also thanked everyone for the work that had been done so far. He made reference to the second bullet point on page 51 and said that although he welcomed the proposal for a walking and cycling route between Pensthorpe and Fakenham, he felt that it would be hard to achieve. He added that there was a lot of discussion within the town about proposals for a lido and that this was likely to be a priority for the town in coming months.

 

It was proposed by Cllr R Kershaw, seconded by Cllr S Butikofer and

 

DECISION

Resolved:

 

 

  1. To release match funding of £200k for the Fakenham CRF bid and £200k for the North Walsham bid subject to the bids being approved by central government.
  2. The match funding element to be released from the Delivery Plan Reserve.
  3. To recommend to Full Council the establishment of new capital budgets for the North Walsham and Fakenham schemes of £800k each, with each scheme being funded through the CRF bid (£600k) and the balance (£200k) as match funding from the Council

 

Reason for the recommendations:

 

To support and strengthen the CRF bids for both Fakenham and North Walsham which in turn will help to realise opportunities to secure UK Government funding into North Norfolk to support investment in projects which meet priorities outlined in the Council’s Corporate Plan as they relate to provision of housing, economic growth, environment and climate change and quality of life.

Supporting documents: