Decision details

At its meeting of 18th January 2023, Council approved the use of UKSPF funds to deliver the council’s Cultural Strategy.

At the same meeting, Council delegated decision-making authority to the Head of Housing and Health, acting in consultation with the Executive Member for Communities regarding cultural activities.

The grant is being made to Community Alliance Broxbourne and East Herts to fund a feasibility study, that will be conducted between January and March 2025, aimed at understanding and mapping the gaps in service provision for residents in rural areas of East Hertfordshire with regard to accessing cultural and advice services.

The work will see Community Alliance:
• develop a community engagement model which could be used in communities across East Hertfordshire to empower communities, identify community need, facilitate access to services and deliver sustainable change
• carry out a mapping of existing digital skills and financial capability provision across the district, these factors being recognised barriers to accessing cultural and advice services
• identify gaps in service provision and current unmet needs
• make recommendations to ensure that partner organisations are working together to optimise delivery in East Herts
• produce an evaluation report.

This feasibility study will inform longer-term planning to address needs, principally though not exclusively for residents in rural areas. The intention is to use the outcomes / recommendations of this feasibility study as the evidence based for external funding bids to secure longer term benefits of the council’s time-limited UPSPF monies.

Provide a grant of £10,000 to Community Alliance Broxbourne and East Herts to conduct a feasibility study to build on the UKSPF-funded community assets and digital inclusion work to identify the scope of and ways to bridge the gap between residents, primarily in rural areas, and the cultural and advice services available so as to facilitate access.

Option 1 - Not fund the feasibility study. NOT RECOMMENDED because the proposed study builds directly on the previous work funded by the UKSPF to map cultural assets, promote digital sustainability and support communities. In an attempt to safeguard the benefit of this prior investment and develop the work further, it is felt that this feasibility study will provide the joined-up evidence base for future external funding bids.

Option 2 - Provide the grant. RECOMMENDED for the reasons given.