Agenda item

The Council is requested to consider the report and make the following resolutions:

1.     That Council approves that an application to the Levelling Up Round two (LUF(2)) is submitted and that delegated authority is approved for Chief Executive, Director for Corporate Services and the Director for Growth and Place to submit the application in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Leader of the Opposition.

2.     That Council approves that a UK Shared Prosperity Investment Plan is submitted, and that delegated authority is approved for Chief Executive, Director for Corporate Services and the Director for Growth and Place to submit the Investment Plan in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Leader of the Opposition.

Cllr Lintill proposed the recommendations which were seconded by Cllr Taylor.

Cllr Lintill introduced the report and invited Mrs Shepherd to provide more information. Mrs Shepherd explained that the timetable for submissions is extremely tight and emphasised the importance of the Council agreeing to support the recommendations in order to allow officers to work on the bids. She added that the Levelling Up bid up to three projects could be submitted but  had to be linked and all bids must meet four main criteria:

·         Be characteristic of Place

·         Be a strategic fit

·         Be a local priority

·         Be able to demonstrate an economic case

Mrs Shepherd explained the process is highly competitive and only 26% of Category 2 applications were successful in the first round of levelling up.

Cllr Oakley asked all party leaders to raise the timescale of the projects within senior members of their parties. He asked whether there had been a procurement process for the consultants. He also requested that the long and short list of projects be made available. Cllr Lintill confirmed that she had fed back comments on the timescale to the local MPs. Mr Bennett confirmed that officers had followed the Exception to Tender process.

Cllr O’Kelly asked whether the prosperity bid with its later timescale could be brought back to July Full Council. Mrs Shepherd explained that due to the very short timetable this would not be possible and the Council was being asked to approve the delegations set out in this report.

Cllr Brown gave his support to Cllr Oakley’s comments on the timescale. He agreed to support the proposal.

Cllr McAra also gave his support to Cllr Oakley’s comments. He asked that consideration be given to bids outside of the city. Mrs Shepherd confirmed that there were bids outside of the city on both the long and short lists.

Cllr Moss explained that he was pleased to work on the project and explained that he would be seeking views from the minority party leaders.

Cllr Purnell asked whether the local agriculture and horticulture could be considered.

Cllr O’Kelly asked if and when the process would be made public. Mrs Shepherd explained that the bids are made public but she had not been given a timescale to date. She added that she would share the information publicly that the Government permitted.

In a vote the recommendations were agreed as follows:

1.    That Council approves that an application to the Levelling Up Round two (LUF (2)) is submitted and that delegated authority is approved for Chief Executive, Director of Corporate Services and the Director for Growth and Place to submit the application in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Leader of the Opposition.

2.    That Council approves that a UK Shared Prosperity Investment Plan is submitted, and that delegated authority is approved for the Chief Executive, Director for Corporate Services and the Director for Growth and Place to submit the Investment Plan in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Leader of the Opposition.