Agenda item

Local Growth Fund, Growing Places Fund and Getting Building Fund financial statement - confirmed spend for 2019/20 and forecast for 2020/21

Report by the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport

Minutes:

28.1     The Lead Member considered a report by the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport, together an amended Appendix 1, set out below.

 

Scheme

Total LGF Allocation all Years

19/20 Final spend

 

LGF Carried forward from 18/19

Grant Drawn Down in 19/20

Transfer to ESCC Capital Programme (mitigation option 4)

Unused funds slipped without mitigation (as mitigated in previous financial years)

North Bexhill Access Road

£18,600,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

Queensway Gateway Road

£10,000,000

£1,066,000

£1,066,000

£0

£0

£500,000

East Sussex Strategic Growth Package

£8,200,000

£350,000

£350,000

£0

£0

£0

Hastings Bexhill Movement & Access Package

12,000,000

£1,316,349

£0

£1,345,000

£28,651

£0

Eastbourne/South Wealden Walking and Cycling Package

£6,600,000

£450,841

£0

£577,000

£126,159

£347,000

Hailsham/Polegate/Eastbourne Movement and Access Corridor

£2,100,000

£472,987

£0

£601,000

£128,013

£0

Eastbourne Town Centre Movement and Access Package

£8,000,000

£749,000

£0

£749,000

£0

£0

Plumpton College – Rural Skills for Business Post Brexit

£2,918,000

£228,906

£0

£384,000

£155,094

£0

Sidney Little Road Business Incubator Hub, Hastings

£500,000

£65,315

£0

£192,000

£126,685

£0

Bexhill Creative Workspace

£960,000

£13,949

£0

£700,000

£686,051

£0

Bexhill Enterprise Park North

£1,940,000

£0

£0

£440,000

£440,000

£0

TOTALS

£65,500,000

£4,713,347

£1,416,000

£4,988,000

£1,690,653

£847,000

 

DECISIONS

 

28.2     The Lead Member RESOLVED to (1)   Note the final 2019/20 spend for the Local Growth Fund programme and the amount of funds re-profiled into the East Sussex County Council Capital Programme;

(2)  Note the final 2019/20 spend for the Growing Places Fund programme and the amount of funds re-profiled into the East Sussex County Council Capital Programme;

(3)        Agree the confirmed scheme spend profiles for the Local Growth Fund programme for the 2020/21 financial year;

(4)  Agree the confirmed scheme spend profiles for the Growing Places Fund programme for the 2020/21 financial year; and

(5)   Agree the confirmed scheme spend profiles for the Getting Building Fund programme for the 2020/21 financial year.

 

Reasons

 

28.3     East Sussex have been successfully delivering across both the Local Growth Fund and Growing Places Fund projects, with some slippage in spend in 2019/20. In most cases this slippage was anticipated to be of a short-term nature with spend occurring in the early quarters of the 2020/21 financial year. However, since, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing restrictions put in place in March 2020, this has had a major impact on the delivery of LGF schemes across the SELEP area.

28.4     Mitigation has been put in place including utilising the SELEP Assurance Framework ‘Option 4’ provision to swap out Local Growth Fund monies for local authority capital programmes; seeking approval to extend spend and delivery beyond the original Growth Deal deadline of March 2021 and; providing interest free flexibility on the repayments of the Growing Places Fund loans.

28.5     Through the Getting Building Fund programme, East Sussex has also been successful in securing much needed investment to the area across eight new projects delivering a diverse array of outputs supporting a much needed boost to the local economic recovery over the next 18 months in particular the creation of over 400 jobs.

 

Supporting documents: