Agenda item

Gill Wilson, Growth Strategy Funding Manager:

a)    provided the Board with a presentation on the programme/progress status and risk as of 30 September 2024. During consideration of the report, the following points were noted: -

·       The construction phase had been completed across five projects by September 2024; the Drill, HEAT, Store of Stories, Lincoln Central Market and LCFC Community Hub which represented an estimated cost of £15M, of which £9.113M was Town Fund supported

·       The Barbican, Sincil Bank Environmental improvements and Greyfriars were reported on site, with a total investment value of £9.829M and Town Deal Grant of £5.238M. Completion was expected in 2025

·       The Lincoln Connected Project and Lincoln Be Smarter Project were continuing with delivery and reported as continuing to the end of the programme. The projects had a total value of £4.23M and Town Deal support to the value of £2.77M

·       It was reported that Town Board had agreed the delivery and completion of Tentercroft and Wigford Way feasibility studies be aligned with the City Centre Masterplan programme and that Town Board were informed by the Project Lead in March of the formal withdrawal of the LSIP project from the programme

·       The expenditure as reported was within the acceptable tolerances against original approved financial profiles

·       Key outputs/outcomes highlighted included:

o   The programme had delivered 107 temporary full-time jobs, 31 full time permanent jobs and safeguarded 2 permanent jobs

o   Supported 87 enterprises with both non-financial and grant support

o   Delivered 4 new community/public facilities, two of which involved the restoration of 2 heritage buildings, one of which was derelict and one that included green retrofitting

o   Increased capacity for training purposes, improved the amount and quality of office space provision and repurposed over 300m2 of floorspace

o   Over 30,000 visitors per quarter to the new community food supermarket, which was estimated to support over 1800 children at risk of food poverty per annum

·       Risk assessments were reported to DHCLG as part of the return for both programme and individual projects. Risks were rated using a scoring matrix of between 1-24, on a pre-mitigated and mitigated basis

·       The top three programme risks reported were:

o   The risk of underspend as a result of LSIP being withdrawn from the programme. The risk was mitigated through reallocation of funds across the programme to projects with deliverability strength

o   The ability for projects to properly resource project reporting/monitoring and evaluation risk. The risk was mitigated through quarterly monitoring reporting and meetings with projects as required

o   The risk of programme slippage risk was mitigated through quarterly project monitoring & increased review meetings with projects as needed

·       A full description of the current status of all projects was included within the restricted progress report however key progress highlights since September 2024 included:

o   The Barbican construction phase was practically complete. A new Director was appointed in December 2024 and tenancies were currently being secured.  An opening event was being planned for May/June 2025

o   Greyfriars continued to progress with the refurbishment and consideration of the Management Business case. All conditions identified at due diligence stage had been signed off

o   Threshold Studios who lead the cultural programme part of the Lincoln Connected Project, held a ‘Lincoln Lights’ event on the 20^th -21^st February2025 which was positively received and successful in generating footfall numbers. The event evaluation would be fed into the project outputs/outcomes reporting

o   Sincil Bank Highways works had been progressing and would be completed in mid-March. Progress with the gateway and green elements had progressed slowly; proposals had to be scaled back due to risks identified by the Local Highway Authority and feasibility restrictions in respect of existing services. All designs were now with the highway authority for checking, with a view that works could be priced and instructed by the end of March 2025

·       All projects were expected to be completed and Towns Fund allocation spent by the 31 March 2026, with the exception of projects at potential risk as reported within paragraph 2.3.2 of the report 

·       A recent internal audit review had been completed. No risks were identified regarding management, financing and monitoring of the programme. Some recommendations were received in regard to the presentation of the Town Deal through the website. The recommendations were minor, and the audit review was positive.

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

The Chair offered thanks to Gill Wilson for the update and welcomed comments and questions. Members of the Board discussed the content of the update in further detail and the following questions and comments emerged:

Question: How many full-time jobs were in the pipeline over the next two years?

Response: The standard of evidencing was set by Government. To claim a full-time equivalent job, there was a requirement that the employee had to be employed for two years. There was a natural lag on when that could be reported. The forecast would be contained within the spreadsheet and the target was 68.4 full time equivalent jobs, across the programme.

Comment: All projects were on target.

Comment: Projects had been left, through their reporting mechanisms, to inform the secretariate if there were any issues. Projects had reported that they would hit targets. Future employment outputs were expected from the Barbican, Lincoln City Football Community Hub and Greyfriars. There was a period of three years post programme to be able to report outputs.

Comment: Risk management was important to ensure targets continued to be met. The position was comfortable however it was important to for a pipeline view to be maintained and shared with Members in order that if there were any issues in the future, it did not become too late to rectify. It would be positive to create a template to demonstrate to the Board what was tracked, to ensure positive trending, carried out a macro level.

Response: An extra column could be added to the output table to demonstrate what outputs were expected to have been achieved by a specific point within the programme to enable tracking. The results of the audit would be circulated to Board members after it was presented to Audit Committee.

Comment: Proactive key performance indicators were useful.

Comment: It was good to know we were trending in the right direction and early intervention could take place if needed.

RESOLVED that:

1)    An extra column be added to the output table to demonstrate what outputs were expected to have been achieved by a specific point within the programme to enable tracking.

2)    The results of the recent audit review be circulated to Board members after presentation to Audit Committee.

3)    The LSIP funding reallocation across the existing programme, be approved as reported.

4)    The Town Board delegate to Investment Sub-Committee, consideration and decision, subject to due diligence checks and approval from DHCLG, that the priority 1 works identified for Greyfriars be funded from any confirmed underspend from the Sincil Bank Project.

5)    That the programme extension and project options proposed, be noted and approved.

6)    That the November 2024 DHCLG submission, as circulated and reported, be noted with thanks.