Agenda item

To seek approval from The Council’s Executive for entering into a contract with Historic England to deliver a High Street Heritage Action Zone for Lincoln, including the creation of a High Street Heritage Action Zone Officer post

Decision

That authority be delegated to officers to enter into a contract with Historic England for the implementation of a Heritage Action Zone and to add the High Street Heritage Action Zone Officer post onto the establishment.

Officers had initially secured some internal match funding (£60k from the Sincil Bank revitalisation programme and approximately £90k from in-kind staff resource) and were set to submit a bid to Historic England for the creation of a PSiCA (Partnership Scheme in Conservation Areas) for a total scheme value of circa £300k. This would have meant the council would act as the responsible body for allocating grants of up to 80% to individual shop owners that qualified for historic shop front renovations within the defined area. However, Government then announced the Future High Streets Fund with around £45m of this fund being allocated to Historic England (HE) for them to allocate to heritage led projects across the country. Following this announcement officers met with the Regional Director of Historic England and the council was encouraged to expand this scheme into a High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ)

Whilst there had, and continued to be, a number of successful outcomes delivered in the city centre and Sincil Bank area, for some time the quality of the environment of the lower High Street had been a concern to the Local Planning Authority. Many of the changes that had occurred did not need planning permission, so the council had been largely powerless to intervene. Whilst the vibrancy and diversity of the area was to be applauded and encouraged, there had been a marked deterioration in the appearance of the frontages of many of the shop units in particular, having a negative impact on the character and appearance of the area.

Following the announcement by the Government of the Future High Streets Fund, which allocated around £45m to Historic England (HE) for them to allocate to heritage led projects across the country, officers met with the Regional Director of Historic England and the council was encouraged to expand this scheme into a High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) which included all of the PSiCA scheme plus an area expanded to include Sincil Street to the north and further south to Sibthorpe Street (to include St. Mary’s Guildhall).

This scheme worked on the same grant funding basis but went beyond shop fronts and could include residential conversions of upper floors, feasibility studies and possible grant towards developing gap sites and some elements of public realm provided they all delivered heritage outcomes.

The City Council would act as the lead partner for the scheme and would Chair the HSHAZ Board however ultimately the Board itself would make the final decision about whether to issue individual grants over a set threshold of £20,000. Any grants below this would be issued under a delegated arrangement to the City Council (Assistant Director – Planning) to qualifying schemes that delivered heritage led regeneration and were within the defined area. The scheme required the appointment of a HAZ Officer as the day to day operational lead and this would be funded from the grant itself.

A range of partners had already agreed to form part of the scheme

The HAZ project replaced the PSiCA within the Remarkable Place strand of Vision 2020 and remained a key project within that strand in Vision 2025. A tight submission deadline at the end of 2019 meant that a concerted effort was required in order to submit a robust bid to Historic England by the end of December, but with the hard work and dedication of the Heritage Team this was achieved. In April 2020 the City Council received the news that its bid was successful, and a formal offer of funding was made of £1.682m. This funding was allocated to the three strands of the programme with approximately £200k for the Cultural and Community Engagement strands including public art, exhibitions and events and approximately £1.4m for physical interventions such as historic shop front reinstatement, public realm and masterplanning for gap sites.