In relation to procurement of a Tendring4Growth Website and the ongoing maintenance costs and to re-allocate the £8,000 in the Economic Growth Teams Enabling fund , the Portfolio Holder for Business and Economy approves the following:
a)That the Council procures an appropriate provider to design and build a Tendring4Growth Website to be funded by UKSPF.
b)To agree to repurpose the Economic Growth Teams enabling fund of £8,000 that was originally set out to fund an IDOX searching tool, and repurpose this to fund the ongoing annual maintenance of the proposed Tendring4Growth business support website.

Tendring4Growth Website:
£10,000 has been allocated through UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This is to be used to fund the design and build of the site.
An Executive Decision has been published for this allocation:
https://tdcdemocracy.tendringdc.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=12803
Through continued growth of Tendring4Growth, we have identified a need for a dedicated space to house important information for Tendring businesses.
Currently, the Tendring District Council website is overwhelmed with information from across the council, making it unsuitable to hold necessary information. Feedback from businesses indicates difficulty in accessing funding information due to the site’s complexity.
This approach effectively provides local businesses with the necessary resources in one place and demonstrates the council’s commitment to encouraging growth in the local economy.
Repurposing of funds in the Enabling Fund:
£8,000 was allocated to fund a Grant searching tool through IDOX. This is no longer a system which is used by the team due to technological advances deeming this tool redundant for the needs of the department.
By repurposing these funds, this will allow for ongoing annual maintenance of a Tendring4Growth Website, this would allow the site to run for roughly 8 years (Based on soft marketing quotes received).
The department ceased using this tool after 2021, meaning the £8,000 is currently unused.

If the allocated UKSPF funding is not spent and the project is not completed by March 2025, this will need to be returned to UK Government.
To not design and build a Tendring4Growth website. Continuing to use the TDC site.