Decision details

A consortium of ten coastal authorities led by Tendring, Hastings and Rother has been successful in securing £40,000 in Sector Support Grant Funding via the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP). Participating authorities have each agreed to contribute £2,000 in match funding, giving this initiative a total cash pot of £60,000.
The SELEP Strategic Board awarded the funding at its meeting in December 2018 as a tangible demonstration of its ambition to ensure that the South East Coastal Strip performs at the level its geographic location, entrepreneurial businesses, excellent Further and Higher Education and strong international links demand that it should.
The prospectus will be used as a coastal addendum to the SELEP’s Strategic Economic Statement (agreed in December 2018), which will further highlight the coastal strip as an area of strategic priority.
Hastings Borough Council has agreed to be the Accountable Body for this commission and as such will manage the SELEP Grant as well as the funding contributions to be made by the participating authorities. Hastings will also manage the procurement of consultants (via the East Sussex Procurement Hub).
In addition to Hastings managerial/administrative responsibilities, officer representatives of Thanet, Rother, Southend and Tendring Councils will participate in the work of the Client Team overseeing the appointed contractors.
The study is expected to conclude in August 2019.

To contribute £2,000 towards the overall cost (circa £60,000) of commissioning consultants to prepare a South East Coastal Prospectus, and to participate in the work of the Client Team overseeing the commission.
Tendring District Council's contribution of £2,000 will be funded from resources identified in the Council's Regeneration Budget.

Since the SELEP's inception, Coastal authorities have worked together in an effort to identify and promote the challenges and opportunities afforded coastal locations.
This project takes advantage of funding made available via the SELEP to prepare a coastal prospectus with the intention that this becomes an addendum to the SELEP's Strategic Economic Statement. Such work at this time, will better position coastal locations to inform the development of the SELEP's Local Industrial Strategy and the contributions to be made to this by the SELEP's Federated Areas.
Option One: Take advantage of the grant funding available (£40,000)to initiate this work (with matched funding from partners totalling £20,000). This option was considered to present the most productive and cost effective way forward.
Option Two: Reject SELEP's grant funding, and resource the project in its entirety via contributions from the partner authorities. This option was discounted on the grounds of cost.
Option Three: Do nothing. This option was discounted, as such an approach would do little to promote the interests of the SELEP coastal strip.