Agenda and draft minutes

Liam Scully, Chair of the Lincoln Town Deal Board, opened the meeting and welcomed attendees.

Apologies for absence were received from Tim Chambers, Lord Cormack and Nicole Hilton.

The Democratic Services Officer confirmed the quorum of 6 members.

It was noted that Ursula Lidbetter no longer represented Lincolnshire Co-Operative due to her retirement.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Lincoln Town Deal Board held on 13 January 2023 be confirmed as a true record.

Officers confirmed that matters arising further to the Board meeting of 13 January 2023 had been actioned. Future Town Board Meetings had been aligned to provide an opportunity for Members to view and comment on proposed reports to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) prior to submission in June and December.

Ursula Lidbetter requested further information on Governance and the constitutional aspect of new duties further to the Board meeting of 13 January 2023. The request was noted and would be followed up further to the meeting.

Town Deal Board Member Karl McCartney, MP (KM) raised the following queries in respect of the minutes of the Board meeting of 13 January 2023:

• Minute Number 25, final bullet point, ‘Lincoln Connected’ – Who were Threshold? How much was the total budget? How much was spent by Lincoln BIG? What would remain and what would pass to Threshold?
• Minute Number 26, bullet point 4 – Had works begun on Greyfriars?
• Minute Number 26, bullet points 9 & 10 – Had updates been circulated and if not, when could they be expected?
• Minute Number 27 – A request for comments to be attributed to individual Members

The Chair and Officers confirmed a response to matters arising would be received further to the meeting.

Angela Andrews, Chair of the Investment Sub-Committee:

a)    provided the Board with a brief update following the most recent Investment Sub-Committee meeting held on 7 February 2023. During consideration of the update, the following points were noted: -

• The Investment Sub-Committee convened on 7 February 2023 in order to consider and scrutinise projects funded under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF)
• There was a total of 48 project proposals submitted for UKSPF with a combined value of over £10M. The UKSPF allocation for Lincoln was £2.8M and therefore, the programme was significantly oversubscribed
• Projects proposals received independent assessment to evaluate if projects met both the Government and Programme criteria for funding
• The Sub-Committee were presented with ten projects that scored highest against the criteria and were asked to consider if projects met the needs of the City as identified by evidence, would it make a difference and were there any gaps identified
• The Sub-Committee identified that of the project proposals considered, there were a number of closely aligned projects that would deliver similar outcomes
• It was concluded that projects offered value and a commission of collaborative work would be beneficial and provide better synergy and value
• The Sub-Committee identified gaps within the programme. These included holiday support aimed at young school aged children and the older generation which included social isolation and engagement of the older generation in community projects.

b)    welcomed comments and questions from Members of the Board

The Chair thanked Angela Andrews for the Investment Sub-Committee update.

Question: Did the ten projects presented to the Sub-Committee total the full allocation of £2.8M?

Response: The ten projects presented to the Board did not total the UKSPF allocation of £2.8M however they scored highest against the criteria. It was concluded that further projects may present over the next two years.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

Francesca Bell, Assistant Director, Growth and Development:

a)    presented a report to the Board on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) covering the following main points: -

·       The key aims of the UKSPF centred around the UK Government’s flagship £4.8billion levelling up agenda

·       There were three UKSPF investment priorities and projects would sit within three key pillars. These were:

o   Communities and Place

o   Supporting Local Business

o   People and Skills

·       The levelling up agenda gave everyone access to equal opportunities to prosper, to improve life chances, to narrow the gap on health inequalities, to improve public services, restore a sense of community and local pride and to boost productivity, pay, living and job standards

·       The total funding allocation for Lincoln was £2.8M and the investment plan was derived further to consideration of evidence which demonstrated that there was a high level of deprivation within the City

·       Six key areas of deprivation were identified geographically, in particular the Ermine area to the North of the City. In addition, deprivation in the Sincil Bank area and Abbey Ward.

·       Through partnerships discussions and consideration of evidence that we held as a City Council such as national data around indices of multiple deprivation, key challenges identified included:

o   In work poverty including food poverty

o   Challenges around skills and training levels

o   Health

o   Barriers to accessing City centre offerings e.g. transport

o   Lack of functioning Community Hub

o   Community Engagement

o   Support for Businesses

o   Retention of Skills of Employees

·       The key issues identified within Lincoln fell under the pillar of ‘Communities and Place’. As such, £1,787, 433 had been provisionally allocated which totalled 64% of the total UKSPF allocation for Lincoln

·       The totality of investment for the ten highest scoring projects was £1,128, 725 which left £1,682, 048 of the total allocation

·       The identification of the key issues within the City formed the basis of the key priorities detailed within the Investment plan submitted to Government

·       Focus Consultants were procured to provide reporting on:

o   Initial project scoring alignment with the UKSPF interventions

o   Geographical targeting

o   How the project responded to local deprivation

o   Outputs and outcomes and how they aligned with the Investment plan

o   The transformative potential

o   Additionality

o   Prospective projects previous experience with delivery and risk/s

·       It was important to note that the project scores received from Focus Consultants did not consider:

o   Local Knowledge

o   Value for Money

o   Knowledge of the providers

o   Sustainability

o   Added Value

o   Collaboration Opportunities

o   Conflict and/or duplication with other projects

b)    presented a summary of the report received from Focus Consultants which had been circulated to Members of the Board. The report covered analysis of the projects with the highest scoring within the three key investment priorities.

Communities and Place

The Lincoln UKSPF Investment Plan identified specific allocation for Cost of Living Support and a Community Grant Scheme

Cost of Living Support – Lead Organisation (subject to change) City of Lincoln Council

• Funds allocated within the Investment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

Liam Scully, Chair of the Lincoln Town Deal Board, informed Members of a vacancy within the membership of the Investment Sub-Committee. Nominations could be sent to members of the Team for consideration.

Liam Scully, Chair of the Lincoln Town Deal Board, informed Members that the Communications Sub-Committee had met the objectives that the Sub-Committee was initially set up in order to achieve. It was proposed that the Communications Sub-Committee be dispersed.

Caroline Killeavy, YMCA, added that the Communications Sub-Committee was convened for strategic direction of which had been admirably achieved.  The City Council Communications Team now had strengthened resource. The Sub-Committee could be reformed if a new or additional strategic direction were to be identified.

RESOLVED that the Communications Sub-Committee be disbanded.

Date of Time of Next Meeting: Friday 9 June 2023 at 10:00