Agenda item - Cabinet Members' Items - Report of the Economic Growth, Regeneration & Tourism Portfolio Holder - A.6 - Levelling Up Fund and Capital Regeneration Projects - Progressing the Projects to Planning Permission

To consider the next steps for the Levelling Up Fund (LUF) Project in Clacton-on-Sea and Capital Regeneration Project in Dovercourt and to draw down £1,898,421 from the £2.295m LUF budget for the procurement of professional services to progress the respective project plans through to the submission of applications for planning permission.

RESOLVED that Cabinet -

a) endorses the revised programme delivery method for the Carnarvon Terrace and Homes for Dovercourt schemes, as a change from the previous Cabinet decision, which results in the Council managing these projects directly and not Essex County Council led partners, and recognises the need to allocate resources from total project funding available to these schemes;

b) approves the allocation of up to £1,898,421 from the Council’s remaining Levelling Up Fund Budget of £2.041m to procure professional services in order to deliver the projects through to planning submission, with expenditure from this allocation being in line with the bid submission;

c) requires that any changes to the projects be made by Officers, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism;

d) authorises the Corporate Director (Place and Economy), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism, to procure appropriate resources and commission a project team to carry out the associated work including for the design briefs;

e) approves the necessary exemptions from the Council’s Procurement Procedure Rules in order to enable the Corporate Director (Place and Economy) to enter into an agreement with the relevant Employment Agency to extend the engagement of the Capital Programme Manager; and

f) delegates the agreement of the final design brief and subsequent planning application submission to the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration & Tourism.

Cabinet considered a report of the Economic Growth, Regeneration & Tourism Portfolio Holder (A.6), which sought its consideration of the next steps for the Levelling Up Fund (LUF) Project in Clacton-on-Sea and the Capital Regeneration Project (CRP) in Dovercourt. The report also sought Cabinet’s approval to draw down £1,898,421 from the Council’s £2.295m Levelling Up Fund budget for the procurement of professional services to progress the respective project plans through to the submission of applications for planning permission.

Members recalled that it had been announced on 19 January 2023 that the Council’s bid to round two of the Government’s Levelling Up Fund (LUF) for Clacton Town Centre, the ‘Clacton Civic Quarter’, had been successful and awarded £19,958,224. In addition, on 15 March 2023 it had been announced that a £6.65m bid for projects in Dovercourt Town Centre had been approved, under the Government’s Capital Regeneration Scheme. The schemes were comprised of the following:-

· Clacton Hub (LUF)

· Carnarvon Terrace (LUF)

· Kingsway Improvements (CRP)

· Homes in Dovercourt (CRP)

· Learning and Library Project (CRP)

Cabinet was reminded that the Council had chosen the projects from the Council’s plans as set out in the documents ‘Love Clacton’ and ‘Dovercourt Revisited’. Those projects responded to some of the key challenges for the District, including increasing skills, driving economic growth, supporting vibrant town centres, and meeting local housing need, and aimed to improve the quality of life for residents of Clacton and Dovercourt. The projects also aligned with other Council projects, including the Orwell Terrace scheme in Dovercourt, and the recruitment of a Town Centre Manager.

Cabinet recalled further that, on 17 March 2023, it had considered a report entitled ‘Financial Performance Report - In Year Performance against the Budget at the end of Quarter 3 2022/23 and Long Term Financial Forecast Update’. In addition to accepting Government funding for the Clacton Civic Quarter LUF scheme, through that report Cabinet had allocated £250,000 of Tendring District Council’s match funding allocation for the above bids to support the development of the scheme for Clacton.

Members were reminded that, on 23 June 2023, Cabinet had considered a report entitled ‘Clacton Civic Quarter Levelling Up Fund (LUF) Bid, Dovercourt Town Centre Improvement Corridor Capital Regeneration Project (CRP) Bid’. In addition to accepting Government funding for the Dovercourt scheme, through that report Cabinet had allocated usage of the £250,000 which had been drawn down in the March 2023 report, towards early preparations for the CRP scheme and had agreed proposals for delivery of the respective projects in partnership with Essex County Council (ECC).

Cabinet was aware that its June report had further set out that the Council was the responsible authority for both the LUF and CRP projects. As such, the Council would programme manage the overall schemes, reporting to the Officer-led LUF Delivery Programme Board, thence on to the Member-led Regeneration Board, and ultimately to DLUHC and Government. Both Boards had joint membership from the Council and ECC. Furthermore, the report had proposed that this Council would commission the two projects where it owned the land and ran services, namely Carnarvon Terrace (Clacton LUF), and Homes for Dovercourt (Dovercourt CRP).

It was reported that, following a review of that delivery method, it was now proposed that the Council would manage those projects directly. This approach provided good value for money and enabled the procurement of the professional delivery team to take place within the Council. It would allow the Council to retain control and effectively manage the associated risks. Delivery would take place under the oversight of a Capital Delivery Programme Manager, and recruitment had also taken place for a Project Manager to support delivery. The proposed delivery team would consist of:

TDC Governance [including Corporate resources]

TDC – Capital Programme Management [Across all 5 sites]

· CDM Coordinator

· Local Authority Building Control

· Public Consultation Advisor

TDC Owned Sites [across both sites]:

· Employer’s Agent/QS Cost Management – Lead Consultant

· Civil & Structural Engineer

· Mechanical, Electrical and Public Health Engineers

· Fire Consultant, Highways, etc. [other Design Team members]

Each site would then have their own Architects. It was anticipated that the ECC-led sites would have a similar delivery structure.

Cabinet was informed that the LUF and CRP schemes had a combined overall budget of £37,532,319, of which £2,295,060 was a match funding contribution from TDC. Previously, £3,600 of this budget had been spent on procuring footfall data as part of the Government’s required monitoring and evaluation process for the bids, and £250,000 had been allocated for project development, as mentioned above. This report recommended drawing down a further £1,898,421 from the remaining match funding of £2,291,460 to commission a project team and allow for the development of the pre-construction information (including surveys, advisors and project design and delivery teams as set out in the finance section). This would develop the LUF and CRP funded schemes up to submission of detailed planning applications for the relevant sites. This structure was considered the most effective method of successfully delivering the projects, whilst managing the accompanying risk.

Members were advised that the estimated budget for the professional team for the duration of the projects had been developed from a high-level indicative cost-model for each scheme to establish overall budgets, which would fund their procurement up to the submission of Planning Applications for the projects.

It was felt that for the Council to effectively oversee the projects, manage the associated risks and budgets, there was a need for strong leadership, experience and technical skills in programme and construction management. As such, the Council intended to extend the services of an experienced programme manager through an agreement with an employment agency and to allocate funding to acquire sufficient specialist legal and financial support.

As previously agreed, the Council would sign funding grant agreements with ECC to commission and deliver the three remaining projects where ECC owned the land and ran services, which were Clacton Hub (Clacton LUF), Harwich Library, and Kingsway Improvements (Dovercourt CRP).

Cabinet was told that a further report would be submitted for its consideration on the detailed projects, and its approval to develop technical designs to the level of detail required to go out to the market for procurement of main build-contracts.

In order to:-

(1) ensure sufficient funding was allocated to procure a professional team to deliver the LUF and CRP projects up to, and including, the submission of detailed planning applications; and

(2) ensure the Council was able to adequately oversee the projects and manage the subsequent risk effectively by funding a Capital Programme Manager and Project Manager until completion.

It was moved by Councillor I J Henderson, seconded by Councillor Placey and:-