Agenda item

The Leader of the Council presented the recommendations in the Executive report of 10 January 2023, regarding the East Herts UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Rural Prosperity Fund. She said that this funding replaced the various funds from the European Union and East Herts had been allocated over £1 million to be spent over a three-year period.

Councillor Haysey said that the council had engaged with the local community and the local MPs as to where the money should be spent and some of the money needed to be spent by March 2023 so the council had identified projects that were ready to go.

Councillor Haysey proposed that the recommendations in the report be supported. Councillor Fernando seconded the proposal.

Councillor E Buckmaster said he was happy to support the recommendations and said that the Cultural Strategy was really important and some of the funding would go towards carrying out asset mapping across the district to find out what activities were already taking place. He also said that the Climate Change strategy was important and said the projects were admirable things to support.

Councillor Goldspink said that the Liberal Democrat group supported the recommendations in the report but said she was surprised that it had taken such a long time for the government to put forward these grants considering the Brexit vote was in 2016. She said she was shocked that the Council was required to make a decision and spend the money by March 2023.

Councillor Curtis said that there was a lot to be celebrated in the report. He said that business support was crucial and said the council could learn a lot from its colleagues in Harlow and Broxbourne who had allocated land for business use. He said that it was important to speed up the process for determining planning applications so that businesses look to invest in the district.

Councillor Kaye said he welcomed that East Herts had one of the highest allocations in the country. He referred to Councillor Goldspink’s point about having to spend the money quickly but highlighted that was only for this year’s allocation and there were two more financial years to come where decisions can be more considered.

Councillor Crystall also welcomed the funding and said it was good news for the district. He thanked the officers involved in the report on behalf of the Green Group. He referred to Appendix B and the funding to measure footfall in the town centres and asked if it was possible for Members to receive regular reports on it.

Councillor Goodeve confirmed this would be possible.

Councillor Deering referred to Councillor Goldspink’s earlier comments about the slowness of the funding and said it was the credit of the Conservative government that the district was getting the money.

Councillor Wilson said he also welcomed the funding, especially the funding to the Bishop’s Stortford Pride event. He said he had spent time speaking the with LGBTQ+ community and they felt that they were being neglected so hoped the funding would go some way to them getting recognised. He said there had been an overall reduction of 40% from the EU Funding to the UK funding and asked how the size of the funding differed.

Councillor Haysey said she would find out the details for Councillor Wilson. She said that she used to chair the LEP and said there were advantages in this scheme in that it was simple to administer and easy to pick own projects and monitor what was needed in the district. She said that the EU funding required massive amounts of paperwork and assessments to be completed and it was used for larger infrastructure projects as opposed to local ones.

Councillor Kemp said that although the announcement of this fund was relatively recent, it had been on the horizon for some time so the council was to be commended on their advanced planning of projects that could be recognised. He referred to Councillor Curtis’ point about land for business and employment use and said that the 2018 District Plan set aside land for that purpose.

The motion to support the recommendations having been proposed and seconded was put to the meeting and upon a vote being taken, was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – That (A) the following amounts from the East Herts UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and the Rural Prosperity Fund (RPF) be agreed:

-             up to £290,000 allocated from the UKSPF for delivery of the Cultural Strategy

-             up to £566,000 allocated from the UKSPF for delivery of the Climate Change Strategy

-             up to £630,000 allocated from the UKSPF and up to £236,421 from the RPF for delivery of town and village centre improvements

-             up to £287,000 allocated from the UKSPF and up to £236,421 from the RPF for delivery of business support activity

(B) the award of UKSPF and RPF funded grants and/ or contracts to deliver:

-             Cultural Strategy objectives be delegated to the Head of Housing and Health acting in consultation with the Executive Member for Communities

-             Climate Change Strategy objectives be delegated to the Head of Housing and Health acting in consultation with the Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability

-             Town and village centre objectives be delegated to the Head of Communications, Strategy and Policy acting in consultation with the Executive Member for Planning and Growth

-             Business support objectives be delegated to the Head of Communications, Strategy and Policy acting in consultation with the Executive Member for Planning and Growth.

(C) this year’s (2022-23) UKSPF allocation of £215,186 be allocated to the projects set out in Appendix B.