Agenda item

The Executive Member for Regeneration submitted a report for Executive’s consideration.

The purpose of the report was to seek Executive approval for Middlesbrough Council to accept £20.816 million of Levelling Up Partnership (LUP) funding and agree, as the Accountable Body, to deliver and enable local partners to deliver the package of proposed projects.

Having been identified as an area of need by Government, Middlesbrough Council had been working alongside the Department for Levelling Up Homes and Community (DLUHC) to develop a series of projects to be delivered by 31st March 2025, to address Middlesbrough’s greatest areas of need. The funding would be provided under a S31 grant to the authority, and was expected to be provided in two tranches of approximately £9.900m in 2023 -2024 and £10.916 in 2024 - 2025 financial years. The first payment of £9.9m was received in December 2023.

Levelling up partnerships aimed to bring the collective power of Government to provide bespoke place-based regeneration in 20 of England’s areas in greatest need of levelling up over 2023-24 and 2024-25.

Middlesbrough had been selected based on the analysis in the levelling up White Paper which considered places in England against four key metrics: the percentage of adults with Level 3+ qualifications; gross value added (GVA) per hour worked; median gross weekly pay; and healthy life expectancy.

There was up to £20.816m capital resource available for the Levelling Up Partnership in the financial years 2023 - 2024 and 2024 - 2025. Total funding allocated would depend on the policies agreed and subject to business case approvals.

Awarded capital resource could cover expenditure on assets, investment in existing assets and capital grants to third parties, with respect to this programme this would be delivered via capital grant from Central Government which would fund capital costs of delivering bespoke local programmes.

The Mayor was encouraged to see a health offering as part of the proposals and that the partnership overall was a benefit for the town.

ORDERED that Executive:

1.    Approves the Levelling Up Partnership Programme as set out in appendix A;

2.    Approves the acceptance of funding and Council status as accountable body for the funds – on the basis that the formal grant offer letter was in the form of an un-ringfenced S31 Capital grant and funding conditions being achievable; and, formally approved by the Director of Finance (S151); and,

3.    Approves that the submission of any programme amendments / change control processes with DLUHC be delegated to the Director of Regeneration and Culture, and Director of Finance (S151), subject to consultation with the relevant Executive members.

OPTIONS

Do nothing - not accepting the funding would have represented a missed opportunity to provide new facilities, improve existing ones and create new opportunities for Middlesbrough residents.

REASONS

The Levelling Up Partnership funding provided the opportunity to carry out a range of interventions that would not be possible without external funding. Each project had been designed to address an evidence-based need within the town, that would benefit a wide number of residents.