Agenda and minutes

Liam Scully

Lord Cormack

Julian Free

Group Caption Lorryman - Hughes

Leo Scott Smith

Peter Neil

Charlotte Goy

Valerie Johnson

It was noted that the following apologies had been given:

-       Liam Scully

-       Lord Cormack

-       Julian Free

-       Group Captain Lorriman-Hughes OBE

-       Leo Scott Smith

-       Charlotte Goy

-       Valerie Johnson

-       Professor Scott Fleming

-       David Lewis

-       Mick Lazarus

-       Nicole Hilton (and her substitute, Will Mason)

-       Councillor Richard Davies

-       Karl McCartney MP

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Board held on 18 March 2022 be confirmed as a correct record.

Gill Wilson (Growth Strategy and Funding Manager) provided a brief update on behalf of Mick Lazarus (DLUHC):

• Project adjustment requests (PARs) for Lincoln’s LSIP, Barbican. Store of Stories and Lincoln City Foundation projects had been submitted which included the reinvestment of the £1m that was previously allocated to the HIVE project.

• The LSIP project, given its scale, was at risk of exposure to additional rises in inflation and the Board and local partners were keen to secure approval for the proposed changes to avoid any further delays.

• As part of the Project Adjustment Process, Minister O’Brien had asked to see details of change requests for all levelling up funds, including Town Deals, before notifying places of any decision. Change requests for LSIP, Barbican, Store of Stories and Lincoln City Foundation would be included in the next approvals submission which would shortly be submitted to the Minister. A decision could take up to 3 weeks.

• Five of Lincolns eight remaining projects had passed the DLUHC internal review process and had now entered the payment stage where they were subject to finance checks. These projects were:

-       Wigford Way Feasibility Study

-       Greyfriars

-       Hospitality Events & Tourism Institute (HEAT)

-       Lincoln Connected

-       Lincoln Made Smarter

RESOLVED that the progress on project adjustment be noted.

Gill Wilson (Growth Strategy and Funding Manager) provided a presentation to the Board on updates to the project Programme.

Twelve of the thirteen Programme Projects had achieved Business Case Assurance by 31March 2022 and all Stage 2 summary documents submitted for these, as per the condition set out in the Heads of Terms and Grant Offer latter dated 20 August 2021. One project, the Hive Project had been withdrawn from the Programme and a Programme Adjustment option had been requested and was currently under consideration.

The twelve approved projects had progressed with the sign off of the outstanding assurance pre contract conditions to enable a Grant Funding Agreement to be completed.

One project, The Drill, had now completed the development phase and been paid all Town Fund Grant of £1m. This project would continue with the monitoring and evaluation phase, which involved quarterly reporting on progress against the identified outcomes and outputs. The Board would be updated on the monitoring and evaluation status at future meetings.

Seven projects had satisfied all pre-contract condition stages with the Grant Funding Applications either being finalised or finished. These projects were:

-       The Drill

-       Central Market

-       Tentercroft Street

-       Lincoln City Foundation

-       Lincoln Made Smarter

-       Store of Stories

-       Wigford Way

Five projects were yet to complete the Pre-Contract Condition sign-off, but these projects were continuing to develop/progress delivery as far as possible in parallel to finalising the Town Fund Contract, minimising the risk to the programme. These projects were:

-       Lincoln Connected

-       HEAT

-       Barbican

-       Greyfriars

-       Sincil Bank

Caroline Killeavy (YMCA) commented that the role of the Board would change as Projects complete delivery and monitor the monitoring and evaluation phase. It was agreed that the role against the Terms of Reference be reviewed and that a programme of Project presentations and review be considered for future meetings.

Action: GW to invite Lincoln College to present an update on the Drill and HEAT at the next meeting.

RESOLVED that the project programme update be noted.

Gill Wilson (Growth Strategy and Funding Manager) explained that there was a requirement to report progress to DLUHC twice a year. The first report had been submitted at the beginning of June 2022 which had included updates on progress, expenditure (actual and forecast), outputs and outcomes and any risks.

Caroline Killeavy (YMCA) provided an update to the Board from the Communications Sub-Group, which had been set up to oversee the Engagement Plan.

It was advised that Charlotte Goy was leading on a piece of work reviewing the ‘Be Lincoln’ brand.

It was reported that there had been significant progress in the Communications team at the City of Lincoln Council, as a Senior Communications Officer had been appointed and was due to start on 4 July 2022. It was reported that 50% of this officer’s time would be spent on the Town Deal Fund and 50% on the Western Growth Corridor.

The ‘Be Lincoln’ Twitter account had been re-launched for key project milestones and would provide photo opportunities for ministers.

Work on the Lincoln Central Market had been advertised to the public with monthly photography taking place to keep the public up to date with progress.

Thoughts were welcome from the Board regarding how pledges that were within the communications plan for the Investment Plan were completed.

The Board thanked Caroline Killeavy for all of her work and time spent on the Communications Sub-Group.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

NOTE: Angela Andrews and Councillor Ric Metcalfe left the room for this item as they declared an interest due to the City of Lincoln Council being relevant landowners.

Jacqui Bunce (NHS) took the Chair

Levelling Up Fund (LUF)

Gill Wilson (Growth Strategy and Funding Manager) explained to that Lincoln was a priority 1 area for the Levelling Up Fund (LUF). A bid had been submitted in June 2021 for the City Centre, which comprised of phase 2 of the Transport Hub (replacement bridge over the railway for train passengers and public moving between Sincil Bank and the City Centre) and the delivery of the Wigford Way public realm works (feasibility funded by Town Deal). This bid was unsuccessful but had received positive feedback. The main issue was that there was no information available in time to enable a strengthened bid to be submitted.

Nationally 400 bids had been submitted with around 100 that were supported.

A second Levelling Up Fund bid was to be submitted by the end of June 2022 and it was proposed that it would be for £20m for a bridge on Tritton Road to open up the eastern side of the Western Growth Corridor. A wide range of support has been shown from local residents, Lincolnshire County Council, Stagecoach and GLLEP. This bid would deliver a range of benefits including:

-       Faster journeys for all users from a congested part of Lincoln where access to the city centre was hampered by the rail level crossing.

-       Key piece of infrastructure that accelerated a sustainable urban extension and directly unlocked 300 new homes, plus enabled a further 2,200 new homes and employment land providing a much-needed boost to the economy.

-       Strengthened the case for Home England funding for the connecting spine road and development investment to accelerate delivery of the whole.

The Board noted the bid and were generally supportive of the application for investment in the City but needed more details of the scheme to be able to provide any further comment.

In response to the unsuccessful 2021 bid for the Wigford Way and Station improvements including the pedestrian railway bridge, the Board highlighted that this was still a priority for the City as outlined in the Lincoln Transport Plan and recognised that the Town Fund investment in the feasibility Study for Wigford Way was the next stage in developing this project.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF)

Francesca Bell (Assistant Director Growth & Development) explained to the Board what the UKSPF was and that the City of Lincoln Council must submit a compliant Investment Plan by 1 August 2022 to secure an allocation.

Francesca Bell asked the Board for its input as follows:

-       Act as the interim Partnership Board until a new Place Board for Lincoln was established in early 2023 as part of the UKSPF delivery approach.

-       Individual Board members and their organisations to continue to be part of the shaping on the Investment Plan for submission to government by 1 August 2022  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

None.

Friday 21^st October

Location: The Drill

It was agreed that the date of the next meeting would be Friday, 21 October 2022 and the meeting would take place at The Drill, Lincoln.

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

Programme Risk Assessment Paper 2

The Board received an update on the Programme Risk Assessment.

RESOLVED that the Programme Risk Assessment Paper 2 be noted.