Agenda and draft minutes

RESOLVED that:

1)    The Secretariate be tasked with seeking confirmation of the criteria of a Vice-Chair’s representation, prior to formal agreement and appointment.

2)    The Secretariate be tasked with the amendment of sections 5 and 6 of the Monitoring and Evaluation Performance Report submitted to DLUHC on 28 May 2024, and the recirculation to members of the Board.

3)    The Senior Communications Officer be tasked with the consideration an elevated national/regional piece and applications for future awards as a longstanding action.

4)    The Secretariate be tasked with the amendment of capital figures in relation to the Community Bakery and recirculation to members of the Board.

5)    The Democratic Services Officer be tasked with the circulation of the Microsoft Teams meeting link for the next meeting of the Investment Sub-Committee, due to be held on Tuesday 1 October 2024.

Liam Scully, Chair of the Lincoln Town Deal Board, opened the meeting and warmly welcomed Simon Kirk, Assistant Director, Growth and Development and Councillor Donald Nannestad to their first meeting of the Lincoln Town Deal Board.

The Chair offered thanks to both Karl McCartney and Ric Metcalfe for their hard work and contributions to the Lincoln Town Deal Board and wished Ric well for his retirement.

Apologies for absence were received from:

• Edward Chambers
• Wing Commander Gary Donnelly
• Julian Free
• Nicole Hilton
• Crispin Vitoria
• Nick Worboys

The Democratic Services Officer confirmed the quorum of 6 members.

There were no declarations of interest received.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 8 March 2024 be confirmed as a true record, subject to the following amendment:

Minute 95 in relation to ‘Apologies for Absence’ to read:

‘It was noted that Councillor Metcalfe was first elected as a Councillor for Lincoln in 1982 and had been Leader of the Council for more than twenty years’.

Gill Wilson, Growth Strategy and Funding Manager confirmed that:

• The Democratic Services Officer had requested Declarations of Interest forms from Members whereby one was not held on record
• Lessons learnt feedback had been fed into the Monitoring and Evaluation process
• The meeting of the Board in September 2024 had been cancelled and would take place in October 2024. Project presentation from Lincoln Connected would take place during October’s meeting and the project presentation from the Barbican would take place during December’s meeting.

RESOLVED that there were no outstanding actions or resolutions.

Gill Wilson, Growth Strategy and Funding:

a)    provided the Board with a report on Governance and Board Membership matters. During consideration of the report, the following points were noted: -

·       It was proposed that Councillor Donald Nannestad be permitted to attend Board meetings in the absence of Councillor Naomi Tweddle, Leader of the Council, if required

·       A seat on the Board had been designated to Lincolnshire MP, Hamish Falconer

·       All members of the Lincoln Town Deal Board had been issued with an invitation to welcome their attendance to meetings of the Investment Sub-Committee (ISC)

·       Due to the reduced size of the core ISC membership and the difficulties in the establishment of a quorum at meetings, proposals had been presented for redrafted Terms of Reference of which had received support by Members during the meeting held on 16 July 2024. The proposals aimed to enable Board members’ participation in the decision-making process

·       The current Lincoln Town Deal Board (LTDB) Terms of Reference allowed for the provision of a Vice-Chair. Further to a request for nominees circulated by the Democratic Services Officer in April 2024, only one had been received, Angela Andrews

·       There had been some members that had not attended Board meetings for over 12 months, despite efforts from the secretariate to encourage their engagement and attendance. Following a review of such cases, it was proposed that such members be resigned from the Board and alternative representation sought.

b)    welcomed comments and questions from Members of the Board.

Comment: Was the Vice-Chair of the Board permitted to be a representative from the public sector?

Response: Officers would seek confirmation further to the meeting.

Comment: It was important that the private and public sector mix be retained within the membership of the Board.

RESOLVED that:

1. The proposed amendments to the ISC Terms of Reference, be formally agreed.

2. Members that had not been in attendance to Board meetings for a period of twelve months or longer, be formally stood down and alternative representation sought.

3. The Secretariate be tasked with seeking confirmation of the criteria of a Vice-Chair’s representation prior to formal agreement and appointment.

Angela Andrews, Chair of the Investment Sub-Committee:

a)    provided the Board with a brief update following the most recent meeting of the Investment Sub-Committee, held on 16 July 2024. During consideration of the update, the following points were noted: -

·       Members of the Investment Sub-Committee had considered the reallocation of uncommitted funding, further to LSIP’s withdrawal from the programme

·       The proposed amendments to the Terms of Reference had been supported by members

·       Members had received a progress update on the City Centre Masterplan and a verbal update on UK Shared prosperity Funding (UKSPF)

Angela Andrews encouraged Board members’ attendance to future meetings of the Investment Sub-Committee, as voting members.

RESOLVED that the content of the update be noted with thanks.

Gill Wilson, Growth Strategy and Funding:

a)    confirmed that copies of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) report had been circulated to members of the Board, separately to the meeting agenda

b)    reminded members the City of Lincoln Council (CoLC) were required to submit monitoring returns to DLUHC every six months to cover expenditure, progress, risks, outputs and outcomes

c)    confirmed that the report summarised the last submission to DLUHC on 28 May 2024. The submission date was earlier than the usual June deadline and therefore it had not been possible to report in and receive formal approval from Lincoln Town Deal Board, prior to submission. DLUHC had confirmed that circulation to Board Members was satisfactory on this occasion

d)    provided Members of the Board with a report which covered what had been reported to DLUHC in terms of Progress, Finances, Outputs and Risks for the period 1 October 2023 to 31 March 2024 with any updates from March to date, covering the following main points: -

·       The delivery phase had been completed across 5 projects: the Drill, HEAT Store of Stories, Lincoln City Football Club (LCFC) Community Hub and Lincoln Central Market with a total estimated cost of £11.9M, of which £8.2M was Towns Fund supported

·       LCFC Community Hub and Barbican were on site and due to be completed within the next twelve months

·       Greyfriars had received an approved National Heritage Lottery Fund additional grant of £207K in June 2024. Therefore, tendered costs were affordable following specification and cost adjustment. The contract was to be let imminently and a start on site was expected in September

·       Sincil Bank - Tenders for the highway works were returned at the beginning of July 2024 and all costs were within budget. Work was expected to start on site in September 2024

·       Lincoln Connected and Lincoln Be Smarter Project were reported as being in delivery with only minor issues with programme delays and they would be completed over the rest of the programme. No issues regarding output delivery were expected and it was hoped that the website would go live at then end of September 2024

·       Lincoln Made Smarter - One of the funded project officers had resigned and the demand from local businesses for additional training and grant support had been identified. A request had been received from the University to extend the programme from March 2025 to December 2025

·       At March 2025, there had been approximately £10.5M expenditure against a predicted forecast of £15M, a two year old figure. The programme was well within the 40% DLUHC target threshold and there were no issues

·       Outputs continued to be monitored and were included in the return

·       There was 3 main programme risks – cost, monitoring and evaluation and programme. The maximum risk score reported against was 24. The unmitigated highest score within the programme was 12

·       As progression into the programme continued and most project had been tendered, the risk factor had been significantly reduced

·       Evaluation was monitored on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Kate Ellis, Major Developments Director:

a)    presented a report to members on the allocation of uncommitted funding, covering the following main points: -

·       LSIP had confirmed their withdrawal from the programme. Whilst the project was in a positive position from a capital perspective, there were issues with the revenue side and ongoing support of getting the facility up and running. It required such a subsidy in the initial 12-month period, and it was felt that the risk was too high to proceed

·       The remaining funding within the programme could only be used on existing schemes that added value

·       The proposal was to have a fair process for the allocation of the remaining funding with no advantages which included the opening and closing dates of a call for Expressions of Interest

·       The officer recommendation was that further to ensuring that the Sincil Bank project had sufficient funding, a call was made to remaining projects within the programme that offered additional outputs and outcomes for the remaining surplus funding

·       Focus Consultants had carried out an analysis which looked at the value for money element of the projects within the programme and each were given a BCR value for money rating. In addition, Focus Consultants had put together an expression of interest form

·       The focus of reallocation was to deliver the aspirations within the Town deal Investment plan.

b)    welcomed comments and questions from Members of the Board.

Note: Future reports would refer to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) after the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) had been renamed in July 2024.

Comment: Suggestion for the consideration of the sustainability of projects once Towns Funding ceased. Members did not want for any projects not to function or outputs not to be delivered that had been anticipated and hoped for. It would be positive to incorporate sustainability into the criteria.

Comment: It may be too early to spend the £300K overspend with Sincil Bank. Premature reallocation of funding could cause future problems.

Response: Consideration had been given only to assess if sufficient proposals would be received. In terms of dates for making decisions, when the Sincil Bank project was on site, an update would be released. Proposals at the current stage were to consider what projects may express an interest. It was possible, if expression of interests were to be received, that some may be nominally agreed but not approved until there was certainty on capital projects.

Comment: There had been a request for a full lessons learnt review. The funding of £1.1M could not be lost for Lincoln and it was important for the funding to be sat at the top of the decision-making matrix. Overall, it was disappointing that a project had been lost and it was important to consider the lessons that had been learnt. Discussions would be continued at Agenda Item 18, within Section B of the agenda.

RESOLVED that:

1)    The total of £800,000 from LSIP Hub and £300,000 from Sincil Bank  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Kirsty Cheetham, Senior Communications Officer:

a)    provided the Board with a Communications Update presentation. During consideration of the update, the following points were noted: -

·       A significant occasion for Communications was the opening of the Cornhill Market on 17 May 2024. Coverage of the event had been extensive

·       Lincoln City Football Club (LCFC) Community Skills & Education Hub had opened during the pre-election period and officers had worked with the football club and the Foundation to produce a video

·       The Communications Team had worked with the University of Lincoln to produce a video for the Barbican Creative Hub and there had been considerable coverage on LinkedIn

·       Coverage had taken place on the workshops ran for small businesses by Lincoln Be Smarter. Businesses had been very responsive, and officers would work to promote future workshops with a video

·       Communications activity and engagement regarding the Cornhill Market had been very good. In April 2024, there were 328 followers on Instagram and at the time of the meeting, there were over 1500 followers. There had been over 2000 interactions on Instagram and over 12,000 users on Facebook since April 24

·       Officers would continue to work with individual traders to tell their story

·       The team had worked with Heritage Lincoln on a series regarding Greyfriars, covering the cultural significance and history of the building

·       Future work included UK Shared Prosperity Funding (UKSPF) themed content, Moorland Community Centre coverage and conversations had taken place with Selina from Bubble Kiss in the Cornhill Market, who had taken English lessons at the LCFC Club which enabled her to open her business in the Market.

b)    welcomed comments and questions from Members of the Board.

Comment: It was difficult to tell a story of digital projects; additional engagement with Communications would be positive.

Question: Was there any ambition to move Communications to a national framework?

Response: The new Senior Communications Officer was a specialist in Public Relations (PR) so that would be a focus in the future.

Comment: There must be awards for different sectors. It would be interesting to learn of the nomination process.

Response: The Cornhill Market had been nominated for Regeneration Project of the year.

Comment: Members thanked Kirsty Cheetham, Senior Communications Officer for her work.

RESOLVED that:

1)    Consideration be given to an elevated national/regional piece and applications for future awards as a longstanding action.

2)    The content of the presentation be noted with thanks.

Gill Wilson, Growth Strategy and Funding:

a)    provided the Board with a report on the UKSPF Programme. During consideration of the update, the following points were noted: -

·       The City of Lincoln Council (CoLC) was allocated £2,810,773 UKSPF funding as part of the Government’s levelling up agenda for expenditure April 2022 to March 2025

·       The basis of the award was an Investment Plan, submitted in 2022 which set out how funds would be indicatively spent across the 3 pillars of the fund, Community and Place, People and Skills and Supporting Local Businesses

·       Phase 2 projects, as reported to Board in March 2024, were approved subject to delivery plan sign off, at CoLC’s Executive Committee on 18 March 2024

·       The final project programme and project updates under each of the UKSPF pillars could be seen at Appendix A of the report

·       The scope of the programme was ambitious and aimed to respond to local area needs and gaps identified in provision, particularly in Ermine and Moorland Wards

·       The focus of considerable investment had been on Community Hubs

·       The programme was largely formed of revenue costs however there was a capital element condition to be spent by March 2025

·       The Community Bakery was the only project not currently in delivery. If it was not possible to gain assurances, the funding would be spent elsewhere across the scheme.

b)    welcomed comments and questions from Members of the Board.

Question: Would ‘lobbying’ benefit Lincoln?

Response: A response to lobbying was awaited. Expenditure would be achieved by March 2025 and it was better to do it over a longer time frame as it would be richer and better value.

Comment: It was important to identify the need and to work with the community.

Comment: Lincoln was part of ‘Key Cities’, a group outside of the 8/9 core cities in the county. As a collective, they had written to the Ministry.

Question: Was the MP able to help with the lobbying?

Response: Yes.

Comment: The Community Bakery had experienced a setback at Belmont Street. There was a plan in place at the time, but it did not happen. There was now a new plan however time was running out.

Response: The issue was investing in a longer-term solution as it required a longer lease. Any other building required ongoing revenue funding which had not been secured.

Question: Was the risk in revenue or capital? Required confirmation that there was a £250K capital element with the bakery.

Response: The bakery had a total capital element of £130K. Figures would be amended to reflect the correct capital element and recirculated to Board members.

Comment: When the programme was initially considered, there was a positive map of need. Was there a way of overlaying the projects on a map to demonstrate how it had been targeted?

Response: Yes. Some projects such as Age UK were countywide and future work would demonstrate both where the projects were located and the projects activity also.

RESOLVED that:

1)    The Secretariate be tasked  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Simon Kirk, Assistant Director, Growth and Development:

a)    presented Members with a verbal report on the City Centre Masterplan Progress update covering the following main points: -

·       The previous masterplan was in 2004/2005

·       Officers had worked with Edisons to formulate a refresh of the city centre masterplan and Edisons were currently working on their final reports from stakeholder sessions. Once reports had been completed, the refreshed plan would go out to a wider stakeholder group which Board members would be invited to.

b)    welcomed comments and questions from Members of the Board.

RESOLVED that the contents of the verbal report be noted with thanks.

Liam Scully, Chair of the Lincoln Town Deal Board:

a)    presented Members with a verbal summary of the Boards forward plan which was attached at Appendix A to the report. The forward plan detailed items of business to be considered at future meetings.

b)    welcomed comments and questions from Members of the Board.

Comment: It was necessary that the purpose of the Board’s work and longer-term plan was considered. It would be positive for calibration and conversations with the new leadership.

Response: The intention at the beginning was for the Board to morph into a Place Board. Boards had previously galvanised around funding and often Boards dissipated when the funding was spent. It was important to ensure that did not occur. There was a great more to do within the city that Members, as stakeholders, could do.

Comment: It was important to gain political direction however the vision for the city should be reflected in the Board’s membership.

Comment: A place board for an ambitious city should be in place.

Comment: Shared stakeholder synergy working was fundamental and was more important after funding had been spent.

Comment: It was important to work collaboratively with organisations such as Investors in Lincoln.

RESOLVED that the contents of the forward plan be noted with thanks.

Liam Scully, Chair of the Lincoln Town Deal Board, confirmed that the next meeting of the Lincoln Town Deal Board would take place on Friday 18 October 2024.

It was further confirmed that the next meeting of the Investment Sub-Committee would take place on Tuesday 1 October 2024 via Microsoft Teams.

RESOLVED that the Democratic Services Officer be tasked with the circulation of the Microsoft Teams meeting link for the next meeting of the Investment Sub-Committee.

Date of Next Meeting: Friday 18th October 2024 (10:00)am

Date of Next Meeting: Friday 18 October 2024 (10:00)

You are asked to resolve that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following item(s) because it is likely that if members of the press or public were present, there would be disclosure of ‘exempt information’

RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item(s) of business because it is likely that if members 11 of the public were present there would be a disclosure to them of ‘exempt information’ as defined by Section 100I and Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

The Director for Major Developments updated the Board on the progress of projects and current risks associated with projects identified. The report had been circulated to Members as a supplement, further to the main agenda for the meeting.

RESOLVED that the content of the update be noted, including those identified as amber and red RAG ratings.

The Director for Major Developments updated the Board on the proposed programme and criteria for reassignment assessment. The report had been circulated to Members as a supplement, further to the main agenda for the meeting.

Comment: Thanks expressed to the secretariate for all the hard work that had been carried out.

RESOLVED that the proposed process of the allocation of uncommitted funds and criteria for reassignment, as supported by Investment Sub-Committee on 16 July 2024, be formally agreed.