Issue - meetings

This report requests Cabinet approval to award a maximum grant of £225,000 for the conversion of unutilised retail space into nine units of residential accommodation at 17 – 19 High Street, Grantham, NG31 6PN.

Purpose of report

This report requested Cabinet approval to award a maximum grant of £225,000 for the conversion of unutilised retail space into nine units of residential accommodation at 17 – 19 High Street, Grantham, NG31 6PN.

Decision

That Cabinet:

1.    Approves a grant award of a maximum of £225,000 under the Grantham Future High Streets - Upper Floor Grants Scheme.

2.    Delegates authority to the Deputy Chief Executive to sign and approve the legal agreement.

Alternative options considered and rejected

Significant progress had been made with the delivery of the Future High Streets Fund (FHSF).  It remained key for the development and promotion of Grantham that the Upper Floor Grants Scheme was delivered. Therefore, the option to not award the grant funding was not recommended.

Reasons for decision

In 2021, South Kesteven District Council was awarded £5.56 million funding through the Future High Streets Fund by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). The funding allowed the ambitions for Grantham town centre to be realised and intervened directly in repurposing properties to deliver a more diverse high street offer that was fit for the future, including town centre living and reimagined vacant retail space. This was achieved through the conversion of under-utilised upper floor retail and commercial space.

£550,000 was allocated for the provision of upper floor grants; the grant scheme would provide up to 50% of the commercial conversion costs of vacant upper floor accommodation to a maximum of £25,000 per residential unit created.

The FHSF programme had recently been extended to March 2025. Monitoring of the programme by DLUHC required the Council to report on the private sector match funding delivered through the grant process; the matched funding target was £929,000, but based on expressions of interest to date the matched funding amount was £986,000.

The FHSF would provide infrastructure improvements to help unlock the potential of Grantham and assisted in the promotion of the town as a place to live, work and visit.

There were four applications to the scheme that had passed the ‘expression of interest’ phase (inclusive of this application). If successful a further 20 residential units in Grantham town centre would be delivered.

The Finance and Economic Overview and Scrutiny Committee received updates on the wider FHSF programme and the most recent report was heard on 15 January 2024.