Agenda item

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 including:

o   Receiving and commenting on the Draft Investment Plan when it is ready for circulation later in July; and

o   Responding to a virtual process for offering support for the final Investment Plan

In response to the questions put to the Board the following was resolved:

·         The Board was supportive of an application for investment form LUF2. The Board noted the submission and awaited further updates.

·         The Board was happy to act as the Interim Partnership Board to UKSPF.

Action: FB to draft and circulate the corresponding terms of reference.

·         The Board agreed to contribute in the development of the UKSPF Investment Plan and given the time pressures, agreed that this be undertaken virtually.

NOTE: At this point in proceedings, Councillor Ric Metcalfe and Angela Andrews returned to the meeting for the remainder of the business.

Councillor Ric Metcalfe took the Chair