Issue - meetings

To recommend that Cabinet set aside £1m to pay for a Project Delivery Unit for two years to increase the capacity of the Council to progress the significant number of project workstreams it has underway.

To update Cabinet on progress with one of the Council’s most significant new work-streams, the Levelling Up Partnership, and recommend that Cabinet approves the principle of the Council entering into the Partnership with Government. The current partnership approach is to deliver projects through the Council being the Accountable Body, working with partners to achieve place-based regeneration in Clacton and Jaywick.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)    notes the increased capacity requirements on the Council’s resources to deliver a number of projects and schemes highlighted in the report, in addition to responding to the Council’s existing functions and responsibilities.

(b)    subject to (a) above, and the allocation of £1.000m of funding set out within item A.9 elsewhere on the agenda,  a Project Delivery Unit is agreed to be established for an initial period of 24 months from the date of the first officer starting in role;

(c)    accepts:

(i)      £90,000, made available by the Government as capacity funding to support the Levelling Up Partnership Project

(ii)     a sum of £86,000 made available by the Government as capacity funding to support the Levelling Up Capital Project in Clacton;

(d)    subject to (a) to (c) above, transfers both the £90,000 and £86,000 above to the funding of the Project Delivery Unit, bringing the total initial funding to £1.176m;

(e)    notes the Chief Executive will undertake the activities required to recruit the necessary capacity within the Project Delivery Unit, as Head of Paid Service (being non-executive functions);

(f)     recognising the impact on the Council, supports the Council acting as the Accountable Body for the Partnership to the benefit of Clacton and Jaywick, delegates entering into any agreements with Partners to the Corporate Director (Place and Economy), in consultation with the Section 151 Officer, and where necessary by entering into funding agreements with partners to do so;

(g)    recommends to Full Council to approve that Tendring District Council act as the Accountable Body for the Partnership (or alternative relationship determined by Government in revised policy), which forms part of the Council’s Corporate Plan 24-28, ‘Our Vision’ and therefore, within the Policy Framework;

(h)    subject to (g) being approved by Full Council, the delegation by Cabinet in December 2023, can be exercised by the Corporate Director (Place and Economy) in consultation with the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer to enter into any agreements with MHCLG for this Partnership;

(i)     subject to (g) being approved by Full Council and Cabinet, and Government approving business cases for funding, the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism be required to report to Cabinet the scope and details of the individual Partnership Projects together with the relevant Portfolio Holders taking the lead on delivery prior to implementation;

(j)     notes that the Chief Executive has nominated the Corporate Director (Place and Economy) as the lead officer for the Partnership; and

(k)    notes the Levelling Fund and Capital Regeneration Projects Portfolio Working Party terms of reference will be extended to include this Partnership and Town Board matters.

Cabinet considered a report of the Economic Growth, Regeneration & Tourism Portfolio Holder (A.3), which:-

(a)    recommended that Cabinet set aside £1m to pay for a Project Delivery Unit for two years to increase the capacity of the Council to progress the significant number of project work-streams it had underway; and

(b)    updated Cabinet on progress with one of the Council’s most significant new work-streams, the Levelling Up Partnership, and recommended that Cabinet approved the principle of the Council entering into the Partnership with Government. The current partnership approach was to deliver projects through the Council being the Accountable Body, working with partners to achieve place-based regeneration in Clacton and Jaywick. 

Cabinet was aware that the Council was responsible for the delivery of tens of millions of pounds of capital projects funded by Government, partner and its own resources. Projects included:

·      £30.743M Levelling Up Fund: The Clacton Hub, Dovercourt Library and the Kingsway Improvements.

·      £9.036M Capital Regeneration Projects. The Council was the Accountable Body for three projects delivered by Essex County Council: In addition, the Council was directly delivering Carnarvon Terrace in Clacton and Milton Road and Victoria Street in Dovercourt.

This was in addition to two major Housing Revenue Account Schemes:

·      £2.40m Spendells House redevelopment. A former sheltered housing scheme being brought back into use as temporary accommodation.

·      £3.250m Honeycroft scheme. Redeveloping the site of a former sheltered housing scheme with 13 one and two-bedroom bungalows to provide accommodation for those in the area seeking to downsize from a larger property.

And there were further projects in the pipeline:

·      £20M Long Term Plan for Towns, with £5m to be delivered by March 2027.

·      £20M Levelling Up Partnership.

·      £500,000 Green Spaces fund for High Street Accelerator.

Members were also aware that the Council was committed to identifying £3m of on-going revenue savings, which would also require additional invest-to-save projects to be brought forward, like the installation of pool covers recently completed within the leisure centres. The level of resources required to not only develop the long term forecast but to deliver the required savings, was not to be underestimated, especially when set against other existing commitments such as those mentioned above and the Freeport East project. There therefore needed to be a clear focus on the timely development of associated plans whilst managing competing resources over the coming months.

In addition to the above, the Council currently delivered projects including major capital schemes within Services, which were primarily responsible for day-to-day service delivery. The Council recognised that increasing project management capacity would enable it to deliver projects more effectively, and as a result, had thepotential to reduce overspends and bring major capital schemes in on budget and on time.  

In order to increase its project delivery capacity, the Council proposed to set aside £1 million to support a new Project Delivery Unit for two years.  The proposed team, subject to approval of the funding and restructures being undertaken, would sit within the Economic Growth, Sport and Culture Directorate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32