Agenda item

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 a quarterly basis

·       Due to project slippage, output would become more important over the next 2 years. As projects completed their capital works, consideration would be given to how the buildings were being used

·       Aside from the removal of the LSIP project from the programme, no other programme risks had been identified since March 2024. DLUHC were happy with the programme progress and the most recently submission. Feedback received had been positive.

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

Comment: A request had been received from the University for an extension of the programme from March 2025 to December 2025. It was requested that the savings from the project officer post and some savings from other underspend could be used to effectively extend workshops and another business support grant scheme for small scale support possibly be offered. The secretariate had considered the request, had no concerns and supported the request. The delivery was within the time scale needed and additional outputs were expected. It was likely that DLUHC would advise that it was a delegated decision to the Board.

Comment: Were the outputs and outcomes contained within the DLUHC report?

Response: The DLUHC report would be amended so outputs and outcomes were included and would be recirculated to Members of the Board.

RESOLVED that:

1)    The Board approved the request for an extension to the Lincoln Made Smarter Programme and virement of budget, subject to the agreement of the necessary Project Adjustment request from DLUHC.

2)    The Board agreed the contents of the Monitoring and Evaluation Performance Report submitted to DLUHC on 28 May 2024, subject to the correct completion of sections 5 and 6, prior to recirculation to Members.

3)    The contents of the report be noted with thanks.