Agenda item

(1)    To request Cabinet’s endorsement to the Council submitting two Levelling Up Fund bids, one for Clacton and one for Harwich & Dovercourt each requesting up to £20m from the Government.

(2)    To approve an allocation of £2.295m from funding already set aside by the Council for Town Centre Levelling Up in order to provide match funding to the bid.

(3)    To authorise the Leader of the Council to approve the final bids for submission by the 6 July 2022 deadline.

RESOLVED that Cabinet -

a)     endorses the principle of submitting two Tendring District Council led town centre bids as set out in the Portfolio Holder’s report;

b)     approves allocating the entirety of the funding set aside by the Council for Town Centre Levelling Up (£2.295m) to support the bids, should it be needed once the financial cases are complete;

c)      authorises the Leader of the Council, in consultation with the Section 151 Officer, to give the final approval for both Tendring District Council led Levelling Up Fund final bids for submission to the Government by the deadline of 6 July 2022, including a decision on the final level of investment required to support the bids; and

d)     notes and supports the submission of the Essex County Council led transport bid.

Cabinet considered a detailed report of the Business & Economic Growth Portfolio Holder (A.3) which:-

(1)    request Cabinet’s endorsement to the Council submitting two Levelling Up Fund bids, one for Clacton and one for Harwich and Dovercourt, each requesting up to £20m from Government;

(2)    sought Cabinet’s approval to allocate £2.295m from funding already set aside by the Council for Town Centre Levelling Up in order to provide match funding to the bids; and

(3)    sought Cabinet’s approval that the Leader of the Council be authorised to approve the final bids for submission by the 6 July 2022 deadline.

Cabinet was aware that the Government’s Levelling Up Fund (LUF) aimed to support local economic growth and investment in communities across the UK. The £4.8 billion fund had been designed to be released across a number of funding rounds, and would support town centre and high street regeneration, local transport projects, and cultural and heritage assets.

Members were reminded that the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Spring Statement on 23 March 2022 had confirmed the scope and submission deadline for the second round of bids to the LUF.

It was reported that, working in partnership with Essex County Council (ECC), Essex Housing, Essex Highways, and an external consultant (Volterra), Tendring District Council (TDC) intended to submit two bids to the LUF namely one for Clacton Town Centre, and one for Dovercourt Town Centre. That Town Centre focus reflected the Government’s levelling up aspiration to increase pride in place, and specifically aimed to increase people’s satisfaction with their town centre and engagement in local culture and community by 2030. The projects comprising the bids reflected local priorities as drawn from the Clacton Future High Streets Fund plans, and the Dovercourt Masterplan Revisited. The government deadline for final submission of the bids was 6 July 2022.

Volterra was supporting the technical aspects of the business case development for the bids through the financial and economic cases. Until that work was complete, the final financial case for the bid and the detail of investment required by the Council would not complete. However, given cost inflation, the full £2.295m was expected to be required.

Cabinet was informed that there were two projects to be included in the bid for Clacton-on-Sea namely:

(1)    Redevelopment of the Carnarvon House, Carnarvon Road,  TDC owned site

The intention of this project was to provide up to 28 new homes, car parking, electric charging points, and start-up business units, with the potential for public sector use. The financial costs in the bid were under quality review and subject to change, but were currently £21 - £22m in total project costs, with a requested grant from Government of £14m - £15m. The project was planned to be delivered by TDC with consultant delivery partners and contractors, with the option to explore ECC-led delivery through Essex Housing. There was the potential for 40 per cent of those homes to be allocated for social or affordable housing, given the demand for one and two bedroom flats in the town.

(2)    Redevelopment of the ECC Library site in Station Road

The aim of this project was to make provision for a new library and Adult Community Learning centre with additional flexible office space as part of a public sector hub. This project would be delivered by the County Council and Essex Housing if the bid was successful. Costs were currently under review, with total project costs currently £9m and the grant requirement from Government yet to be determined.

Discussions were underway with public sector partners on the potential for a public sector hub with health and skills providers. The University of Essex had also expressed an interest in a teaching space in the area. The hub could be located in the expanded library, or on the ground floor of the Carnarvon House development.

The projects forming the Clacton bid had been taken from unsuccessful bids to the Future High Streets Fund in 2020, and Round One of the Levelling Up Fund, in 2021. Feedback from assessors on those bids had encouraged a resubmission in the second round of Levelling Up funding, and their specific feedback had been incorporated into the bid.

The bid had also been revised in the light of deliverability and significant cost inflation. The earlier Round One bid had included an events space in Clacton town square and covered market/starter units and an under-cover walkway, which had been reliant on the demolition of the Marks & Spencer’s building, which was no longer feasible. The earlier bid had also included public realm and highways works including the transport infrastructure between the town centre and Jaywick Sands, which had not been included in this Round Two bid, as those works would have resulted in a loss of car parking in Clacton.

Cabinet was made aware that there were three projects included in the bid for Harwich and Dovercourt Town Centre, namely:

(3)    Development of the Milton Road site

This project would include nine homes, tree planting and public parking bays. The financial costs in the bid were under quality review and subject to change, but were currently £3m total project costs, with a requested grant from Government likely to be about £1.5m. The project would be delivered by TDC with consultant delivery partners and contractors, with the option to explore Essex County Council led delivery through Essex Housing. There was the potential for those homes to be social or affordable housing as part of the Council’s or a Housing Association stock.

(4)    Refurbishment of Harwich Library

This project would increase the current mezzanine space, which would, in turn, facilitate the re-introduction of Adult Community Learning to Harwich and Dovercourt and provide additional, flexible space for the co-location of services and community uses. The project would be delivered by Essex County Council.

(5)    Public realm improvements from Dovercourt station to Kingsway

This project included the realignment of the road space with footway build-outs, formalisation of the station parking, and the provision of a new pedestrian crossing and a direct pedestrian connection across the space from Station Road into Kingsway. The project would be delivered by Essex County Council, through Essex Highways.

The projects for Harwich and Dovercourt were taken from the Dovercourt Masterplan Revisited.

Cabinet was advised that the benefit-to-cost ratio in the economic case of each bid was an important part of the decision making process for funders, with the number of homes, economic floor space, and sustainable transport providing benefits, against the Government’s financial risk. The previous Clacton bids had had significantly more flats than the current proposals, 129 compared to 28. This reduction had been due to cost inflation, whereby build costs had increased ahead of home sales values, making each flat less viable. Fewer flats also required a smaller scale multi-storey carpark, and freed up space for commercial, community and public sector uses. The Harwich and Dovercourt bid had nine homes, skills provision, and public realm improvements. The consultants would advise the Council ahead of its bid submission of any changes required to make the bids fundable in terms of the benefit/cost ratios.

It was reported that, alongside the two Tendring District Council led bids, Essex County Council’s Sustainable Transport team intended to submit a Transport bid for up to £50m, subject to technical assessments. This was the connection between the A133 and the A120, which would enable a right turn from the A133 towards Harwich, and a left turn from the A120 towards Clacton, thereby joining up the District’s two largest towns and enabling travel from Clacton to the Freeport, once it was operational. In addition the bid would include cycle-ways within Harwich to complement the District’s bid, and improve transport links between Dovercourt and Bathside Bay, which was currently cut off by a rail line and a road.

Officers expected that the Council would hear whether it had been successful in the Autumn, likely in November 2022 based on past experience.

It was considered that these two bids should be supported for the following reasons:-

(i)     both bids, if successful, would allow TDC to implement improvements to support Town Centre economies in the District;

(ii)    the projects proposed in the Clacton bid would allow for joined up provision of public services in a convenient town centre location for residents, whilst also being easily accessible from Clacton Railway Station. There would also be an offer of housing, and start-up business units with flexible use. The presence of Essex University would bring an additional further education presence into Tendring, with a complimentary offer to Anglia Ruskin University’s existing Into University programme.

(iii)   the projects proposed in the Harwich and Dovercourt bid would revitalise the area around the railway station and create a new public space with a better gateway to the town and seafront, and an improved transport interchange. The proposals for the High Street and Kingsway would encourage footfall and ‘dwell time’, with the amendments to the library allowing Adult Community Learning to establish a presence in the area. There was also potential for complimentary provision from Colchester Institute, which would allow residents to attend courses virtually, without having to travel outside of the locality.

(iv)   when feedback had been received on the first round LUF bid for Clacton, the Council had been encouraged to resubmit a revised application when the second round of Levelling Up Funding became available.

It was thereupon moved by Councillor Newton, seconded by Councillor G V Guglielmi and:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet - 

a)     endorses the principle of submitting two Tendring District Council led town centre bids as set out in the Portfolio Holder’s report;

b)     approves allocating the entirety of the funding set aside by the Council for Town Centre Levelling Up (£2.295m) to support the bids, should it be needed once the financial cases are complete;

c)      authorises the Leader of the Council, in consultation with the Section 151 Officer, to give the final approval for both Tendring District Council led Levelling Up Fund final bids for submission to the Government by the deadline of 6 July 2022, including a decision on the final level of investment required to support the bids; and

d)     notes and supports the submission of the Essex County Council led transport bid.