Issue - meetings

The Council is committed to town centre regeneration and has been allocated funding by Government to support a long-term plan for Clacton Town Centre and a pilot high street accelerator project in Harwich and Dovercourt.

This report updates Cabinet on progress and welcomes funding associated with these two schemes and delegates approvals on spending.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)    welcomes and acknowledges receipt of the Grant Determination Letter awarding the second tranche of Long Term Plan for Towns capacity funding in the sum of £200,000 to support the development of the Long-Term Plan, including additional community engagement activity;

(b)    allocates up to £30,000 of the funding in (a) above to support community engagement and consultation in support of the development and implementation of Clacton’s Long Term Plan for Towns;

(c)    delegates the authorisation of the spending of the remaining Long Term Plan for Towns Capacity Payment of up to £220,000 (as set out in the report) to the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration & Tourism following recommendations from the Town Board on how best to use this money, in line with Government’s Guidance, to support the development of their Long-Term Plan;

(d)    subject to (c) above, any such decisions will require a report in support explaining the projects and will be made following consultation with the Chief Executive and the Section 151 Officer, taking into account the latter’s responsibility to submit a Statement of Grant Usage and an Assurance Letter to DLUHC;

(e)    welcomes and acknowledges year 2 (2024/25) of the High Street Accelerator (HSA) Funding offered by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to the value of £187,000 to support improvement of the town centre in Harwich and Dovercourt;

(f)    delegates the authorisation of the spending of that money in (e) above to the Leader of the Council, in consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holder for the specific projects, and the decisions will identify the impact on resources to delivery across the Council;

(g)   welcomes and acknowledges receipt of the Grant Determination Letter received 8 May 2024 awarding £500,000 funding (£450,000 Capital, £50,000 Revenue) for the financial year 2024/25 to spend in line with the expression of interest in support improvements to green space in Harwich and Dovercourt; and

(h)   delegates the authorisation of the spending of that money in (g) above to the Leader of the Council, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm; and further delegates entering into a Memorandum of Understanding for this funding to the Corporate Director (Place and Economy), in consultation with the Section 151 Officer.

Earlier on in the meeting as detailed under Minute 4 above, Councillors I J Henderson and M E Stephenson had both declared an Other Registrable Interest in that they had both been appointed to the Clacton Town Board on behalf of the Council. The Monitoring Officer (Lisa Hastings), following the principles within Section 33 of the Localism Act 2011 and in accordance with Paragraph 9.1 and paragraph 6 of Appendix B of the Tendring District Council’s Members Code of Conduct, had decided that it was appropriate for these Cabinet Members appointed to that board to have a dispensation to be able to present the item, take part in the debate and vote on the item.

Cabinet considered a detailed report of the Economic Growth, Regeneration & Tourism Portfolio Holder (A.3), which updated it on progress and welcomed funding associated with the two schemes and which sought delegated approvals on spending.

Cabinet recalled that, at its meeting held on 15 December 2023, it had considered a report titled: Government Funding Opportunities for Tendring. That report had provided further information on the Long Term Plan for Towns Funding and the High Street Accelerator Programme. Those opportunities for the District complemented the ongoing Levelling Up Fund and Capital Regeneration Project schemes in Clacton and Dovercourt, and future potential funding from the Levelling Up Partnership.

Clacton long term plan for towns

The Cabinet had previously approved the acceptance of the £20m Long Term Plan for Town Funding from Government and had delegated entering into agreement with DLUHC to the Corporate Director (Place & Economy) in consultation with the Section 151 Officer, and had delegated the formation of the Clacton Town Board to the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration & Tourism, including the appointment of an independent chair. George Kieffer had been chosen as the chair of the Clacton Town Board on 1 March 2024 and the Board had been formed on 15 March 2024 and had held its first meeting on 21 March 2024. Membership of the board was drawn from the Clacton community, business and public sector members including Tendring District Council. Draft Terms of Reference had been approved by the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism on 15 March 2024 and by the Clacton Town Board on 21 March 2024.

It was reported that the Government had not yet entered into a Memorandum of Understanding, but had asked for the submission of information at the start of April 2024 to demonstrate progress on governance arrangements in advance of the release of the first £200,000 in 2024/25. DLUHC officials had responded positively to the progress made in Clacton in setting up the Board, and the Council had received the Grant Determination letter dated 30th April 2024 confirming that Government would release the £200,000 capacity funding. This was in addition to £50,000 already received. Such funding could be used to support public engagement (for example residents, visitors, community groups, young people and businesses) as well as for the delivery of projects. An indicative  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10