Agenda item

The Leader of the Council presented the report that provided information on the closure of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund for 2022-24 and also provided an update on the funding position for 2025-26.

All monies received had been spent for purposes designed for and no funding was due to be given back to Government. Funding received had been spent on the majority of villages and towns across the District.

Examples of projects was outlined in Appendix 2 of the report and specifically related to energy efficiency and climate change. Other projects related to the arts, for example, a mural in Deepings St James at Jubilee Park.

Officers were ensuring the appropriate final claims and return submission were made to close down the previous scheme and were working on investment plan delivery, bidding and award process for allocating the 2025/26 funding to ensure the funding is fully allocated within the agreed MCCA timelines.

Members were pleased to see that all UKSPF funding had been spent by the deadline and congratulated Officers for their hard work.

It was requested that funding for 2025/26 and project updates would be brought back to the Committee. A query was raised on the timescale of when the plan would be finalised.

The Leader of the Council encouraged Parish Councils and organisations to manage their expectation of projects as a sense of urgency, projects would need to be in place prior to the deadline in September 2025.

It was noted that if the criteria of projects did not meet the UKSPF guidelines, other schemes such as the Community Fund were available.

One Member shared the success of Hive FM radio station, which had the potential to reach over 80,000 people as a result of UKSPF funding.

One Member noted that money had been saved on funding energy efficient projects and questioned how long it would take to see the financial benefit of those projects.

The Leader of the Council confirmed the general payback of solar PV was around 8–10 years but varied on the price of solar energy.

It was noted that the Council were able to deploy up to 4% of the total allocation towards monitoring and administration. Concern was raised that a postponed board meeting in March 2025 meant that organisations may have missed out on opportunities to receive the funding at a late stage.

The Chairman highlighted the board meeting in March 2025 was postponed due to no applications being put forward.

UKSPF had been created to replace the funding lost via the European Social Fund. The Government was placed under political pressure to replace the funding after the decision to leave the European Union. UKSPF funding would be distributed through the Mayor and the Combined Mayoral Authority, and the September 2025 deadline had been imposed by them.

The Leader of the Council felt that good administration of distribution of funding enabled the money to go further and be spent in the correct manner in conjunction with the deadline.

Some projects may not receive a visible financial payback. However, certain projects such as Destination Lincolnshire working on tourism trails and ways to encourage footfall in towns would bring a benefit to the town.

The Assistant Director of Finance clarified the 4% spent on administration was a maximum amount allocated and a figure that could be claimed back through the fund.  It was felt the Council had spent more than 4% of time on UKSPF as a whole, however, the Council could only claim back the maximum amount of 4%.

One Member outlined certain lessons learnt in relation to publicity of the programmes, a suggestion was made that workshops take place for Members to understand criteria. It was felt the criteria of schemes could be stricter in future.

The Assistant Director of Planning and Growth raised concern on the timescale of completing applications, however, the idea of Member workshops would be considered.

MHCLG provided guidance around UKSPF funding on outcomes and outputs. The Council were not responsible for selecting the options of criteria for projects, due to Government administering the funding.

It was confirmed the Council would be seeking expressions of interest initially by the end of May 2025 to understand projects prior to applications.

The Chairman highlighted a typographical figure on page 16 of the report and requested it to be rectified.

The Committee:

Noted the contents of this report