Agenda item

UK GOVERNMENT LEVELLING UP FUNDING – CLWYD SOUTH CONSTITUENCY

RESOLVED that Cabinet delegate authority to the Corporate Director: Economy and Public Realm and Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services in consultation with the Section 151 Officer, Head of Legal, HR and Democratic Services and the Leader, to agree a bid to be submitted to the UK Government from Denbighshire County Council in partnership with Wrexham County Borough Council for the Constituency of Clwyd South.  This will be following discussions with local Dee Valley Members.

The Leader confirmed the following matter requiring urgent attention –

UK Government Levelling Up Funding – Clwyd South Constituency

The urgency of the report was due to the tight timescales for submission of the bid to enable the Dee Valley to benefit from the significant funding opportunity.

The Leader presented the report (previously circulated as a supplement to the agenda) seeking Cabinet approval to delegate authority for the purposes of agreeing a bid for Levelling Up funding to be submitted to UK Government from Denbighshire County Council in partnership with Wrexham County Borough Council for the Clwyd South Constituency (following discussions with Dee Valley Members).

The purpose of the regeneration funding, which would be delivered through local authorities, was to invest in infrastructure projects.  Bids were based on MP constituency areas of which Denbighshire had three: Vale of Clwyd, Clwyd West and Clwyd South.  There was an initial deadline of 18 June 2021 to submit a bid although other deadlines would be published in due course.  The current report related to Clwyd South with the largest part of the constituency in Wrexham County Borough Council (WCBC) and work had been ongoing to develop a joint bid, with WCBC keen to submit a bid by 18 June 2021. Due to the extremely challenging timescales delegated authority was sought to approve the final bid for submission.  Bids for the Clwyd West and Vale of Clwyd constituencies would be submitted at a later deadline and a Council Briefing would be arranged to consider how best to maximise the funding opportunity and how members could engage in that process.

The Leader elaborated on discussions with Simon Baynes MP and ongoing work to develop the joint bid with WCBC and identifying potentially eligible projects within the Llangollen and Corwen areas.  It was accepted that the process involved a new way of working with officers having to adapt their approach in order to maximise the benefits of the funding opportunity.  The Corporate Director Economy and Public Realm provided an overview of the Levelling Up Funding and implications for Denbighshire, particularly given the constituency based approach and need to work with WCBC on a joint bid for Clwyd South and Conwy County Borough Council for Clwyd West.  Each constituency area could bid up to a maximum of £20m capital funding and the amount of funding would be determined on a competitive basis against a scoring mechanism.  Part of the process involved demonstrating that the bid had both local support and the support of the MP.  £120k revenue funding had been allocated to each local authority to support the development of the bids.  In terms of Clwyd South, WCBC had a long running project for the Trevor Basin and surrounding area which formed part of the World Heritage Site (WHS) and Denbighshire was starting to develop their proposals for the Dee Valley area with confidence that the deadline of 18 June 2021 could be met.  The Public Protection, Regeneration and Economic Development Manager explained that the joint bid focused on the WHS and overarching project ‘Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal WHS and Dee Valley Corridor Tourism Regeneration Scheme’ which included three projects (1) (entirely WCBC) Trevor Basin Masterplan, (2) (Llangollen) visitor movement element within the eleven mile WHS, and (3) (Corwen) visitor movement and providing new entry points to the Dee Valley and WHS.

Dee Valley MAG had discussed the matter and the Leader sought the views of local members.  All local members welcomed the huge opportunity for the area and were fully supportive of the recommendations.  Councillor Graham Timms highlighted a number of potential projects identified, including the Four Great Highways Project, and Councillor Melvyn Mile referred to other projects which also had merit.  Councillor Alan Hughes referred to projects under consideration for Corwen in order to make the area more attractive to visitors and boost tourism together with the potential redevelopment of the former pavilion site and upgrading transport links.

Cabinet welcomed the opportunity to bid for funding to invest in the county, particularly during the current financial climate, and was fully supportive of the recommendations to progress the bid.  It was noted that the current report related to Clwyd South only and that there would be further opportunity to develop bids for the Vale of Clwyd and Clwyd West constituency areas.  There was some disappointment regarding the tight timescales involved in the bid submission and assurance was sought that the submission of an earlier bid for Clwyd South would not prejudice subsequent bids for the other constituency areas and that there was sufficient capacity and resource to develop the project proposals and bids.  Further comments and questions were raised regarding the success criteria and scoring mechanism for bid submissions together with the need for robust project management going forward, particularly for developing the Vale of Clwyd bid.

In response to Cabinet’s questions and comments the Leader and officers –

·         provided assurances in terms of parity of approach across all constituencies and local authorities and there was no indication that earlier bids would be treated more favourably or that later bids would be disadvantaged in any way.  The UK Government guidance was clear that there would be a number of opportunities to submit bids.  It was expected that a further opportunity would be available towards the end of the year and the intention was to submit bids for the Vale of Clwyd and Clwyd West at that time with both MPs supportive of that timeframe

·         confirmed that, whilst it would be challenging, officers were confident that there was sufficient capacity to meet both current and future deadlines with existing staffing structures being adapted in order to respond appropriately to the new funding opportunities.  The UK Government was also providing £120k revenue funding to each local authority to support the development of bids.  The enthusiasm and commitment of officers involved within that process to deliver future investment within communities was also highlighted

·         the bid submission to UK Government would be signed off by local authorities as applicant; in the case of Clwyd South it would be Denbighshire and Wrexham.  The application process included clear requirements to demonstrate local engagement and support for the bid, including the support of the local MP

·         UK Government had yet to release a formal criteria or scoring matrix for assessing bids but the criteria in the guidance on what bids should contain included deliverability of the projects within the timescale set, projects fitting strategically with local priorities, and ensuring value for money.  UK Government was also looking for a geographical split and thematic split for projects and there would be a prioritisation criteria which had not yet been made available

·         future bid submissions for the Vale of Clwyd and Clwyd West would benefit from lessons learned developing the current projects/bid with staffing resources adapted in order to respond to that and future work.  It was agreed there was a need to ensure appropriate resources were in place as part of both project management and project development and assurances were provided that both elements would be progressed and robust bid submissions would be made.

The Leader opened up the debate to non-Cabinet members and there was general support for the report and recommendations to progress the bid for Clwyd South and positive responses to the progression the two other constituency bids going forward.  In response to questions the Leader and officers advised that –

·         the Levelling Up funding would be a cash grant which would not need to be repaid.  There would be elements of match funding required which may involve prudential borrowing but would mainly be from other grants and funding streams

·         agreed that the timing had been opportune for WCBC given that they already had a regeneration masterplan for the area but projects had been identified in Llangollen and Corwen as highlighted by the local members and there was confidence those projects could be sufficiently developed to meet the deadline – Simon Baynes MP had also been very keen for the investment in Denbighshire

·         elaborated upon the timescale of the bidding process with the initial UK Government funding announcement in March, and provided an overview of the discussions since then, with the MPs covering the constituency areas, work with WCBC as lead authority to develop the joint bid, meetings with officers across various services and with local members to identify potentially eligible projects within the Llangollen and Corwen areas

·         in terms of future bids the priority would be to engage with local members through the Member Area Groups but there would also be engagement with local community groups and Town/Community/City Councils as appropriate

·         any adaptation of existing services to develop the projects and funding bids would be an operational decision in responding to the new ways of working – if any additional funding or resource was required as part of that process it would be subject to the council’s usual decision making processes

·         with regard to the Clwyd South bid submission the total bid for WCBC was approximately £10m and for Denbighshire between £4/5m amounting to some £15m against a potential maximum bid of £20m for each constituency.

Following the lengthy debate on the merits of the report the Leader reiterated the significant potential investment for Denbighshire and he thanked members for their input and positive response to the report and recommendations.

RESOLVED that Cabinet delegate authority to the Corporate Director: Economy and Public Realm and Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services in consultation with the Section 151 Officer, Head of Legal, HR and Democratic Services and the Leader, to agree a bid to be submitted to the UK Government from Denbighshire County Council in partnership with Wrexham County Borough Council for the Constituency of Clwyd South.  This will be following discussions with local Dee Valley Members.

At this point (11.20 am) the meeting adjourned for a short break.