Issue - meetings

Southport Town Centre - Townscape Heritage Lottery Application

 

 

Meeting: 02/11/2017 - Cabinet (Item 83)

83 Southport Town Centre - Townscape Heritage Lottery Application pdf icon PDF 89 KB

Report of the Head of Regeneration and Housing

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Regeneration and Housing thatsought approval from Cabinet to resubmit the Stage 1 application(of a 2 stage process) to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the Townscape Heritage (TH) funding stream for Southport Town Centre including Lord Street and the Promenade Conservation Areas.

 

Decision Made: That Cabinet be requested to:

 

(1)    agree to the resubmission of a Stage 1 application for Heritage Lottery Funding for Southport Town Centre; and

 

(2)    that subject to approval of the Stage 1 application:

 

a)          the Chief Planning Officer, in consultation with Cabinet Member for Planning and Building Control, is granted delegated authority to Develop  the Project for a Stage 2 application and that;

 

b)          prior to submission of the Stage 2 application, a further report is presented to Cabinet seeking its approval to proceed with the application and setting out the Partnership Funding arrangements and any required Council contribution;

 

c)          £30,000 revenue funding is earmarked from within the Councils Economic Growth Programme to support the application; and

 

d)          Note that based upon the current financial forecast for the £2.3m programme of works, that gap funding of £200,000 currently exists.  In the event that this sum cannot be identified from external sources, the Council will be required to provide for this from its future years capital programme.

 

 

Reasons for the Decisions:

 

At the meeting of 21st July 2016 Cabinet agreed to the initial recommendations above to submit the Stage 1 bid and this was submitted in August 2016. This report rolls forward that authorisation for endorsement by Cabinet once again, to submit via the current and final TH funding stream.

 

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

 

The two Conservation Areas highlighted within the report were selected over others within the borough as they are currently classified as being "at risk" and so are in priority need of investment. The other four Conservation Areas "at risk" within the authority are not located within any Town Centre and do not have the identified need that that would suit the individual eligibility criteria and outcomes required as part of TH funding stream.

 

The TH funding stream was selected as a funding option, as there are currently no other grant funding streams available.

It should also be noted that this is the last opportunity to apply for the TH funding stream, which will be disbanded by HLF following this round of applications