Issue details

This report sets out the arrangements for Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC) to access the £20m grant funding allocated to the Council by the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) for the delivery of part of Phase 1 of The Strand Re-purposing Programme (the Programme).
The funding has been awarded to SMBC based on the bid submitted by the Council to DLUHC in Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund (LUF) process in summer 2022. SMBC was not one of the councils successful in that LUF process but when further DLUHC funding became available in 2023, through the Capital Levelling Up Fund (CLUF), SMBC’s bid was chosen amongst a small number of others to be awarded the full amount that had been bid for from LUF.
This report follows the Cabinet Report approved on 5 January 2023 for approval of the Strand Business Plan for the period 2022/23 to 2024/25, which included the recommendation that Phase 1 of the Programme should continue to be progressed.
This report relates to the approvals required for the Council to sign the DLUHC issued Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which is NOT legally enforceable but describes an understanding between SMBC and DLUHC in relation to how the grant funding is to be used. Signing this MoU will secure the availability of the funding for SMBC to access when works commence on Phase 1, scheduled for February 2024.
Prior to commencing works and starting to defray the grant funding, a further Cabinet Report with a full business case for delivering Phase 1 of the Programme will be submitted to Cabinet for approval.
In the event that Phase 1 did not proceed then the grant funding would not be drawn down and the MoU would be withdrawn.