Decision details

Background:

On 10^th June 2020, the Government made a call to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) for shovel-ready schemes which were able to spend in the next 18 months, as a way to stimulate economic recovery and help mitigate the impact that COVID-19 has had on employment levels.

Consequently, the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP), via the Kent and Medway Economic Partnership (KMEP), wrote to local stakeholders (including KCC) asking for their shovel-ready scheme suggestions. All forthcoming proposals were then submitted to Government, via SELEP, on 18^th June 2020. The accumulated total of these SELEP suggestions equalled £573m.

On 3^rd July 2020, the Government informed the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) that it would receive £85million of ‘Getting Building Fund’ (GBF) to deliver ‘shovel-ready’ schemes. GBF is capital grant funding.

The Government asked SELEP to prioritise its original scheme suggestions for inclusion within the £85m funding envelope. The SELEP Strategic Board met on 16^th July 2020 to make its decision.

The SELEP Strategic Board confirmed seven Kent projects to be included within the £85m ask of Government. Four of these projects are to be delivered by third-party promoters and are covered by Decision 20/00086. Three projects are to be delivered directly by Kent County Council. These KCC schemes are:

Project Title

The approval of Ministers to SELEP’s £85m list is awaited.

If Ministerial approval is granted, the business cases for these KCC projects will be presented to the SELEP Accountability Board in September, October or November 2020 for their approval of the funding award.

Subject to the necessary approvals being granted, SELEP will require Kent County Council to enter into a grant agreement with Essex County Council (which is SELEP’s accountable body) for all schemes awarded GBF by SELEP within KCC’s administrative boundary.

This key decision is therefore required to enable grant agreements to be entered into, so that additional Government funding may be secured for these Kent County Council projects from the Getting Building Fund.

Options (other options considered but discarded)

If Kent County Council were to choose to not enter into a grant agreement for the GBF projects selected by the SELEP Strategic Board, the GBF funding could be either (i) retained by central government or (ii) reallocated to other projects by the SELEP Strategic Board, not necessarily within Kent and Medway.

It is not clear at the time of writing if the project would be in Kent’s geographical area, or from another area of the SELEP.

As Leader of the Council I agree to:

Accept the Getting Building Funding under the SELEP terms and conditions.

Agree that the Getting Building Funding (GBF) will be used to support the already approved KCC projects that the South East Local Enterprise Partnership’s Strategic Board prioritised to receive GBF at its board meeting on 16 July 2020.

Delegate management of the funding and arrangement for the additional GBF money to the Corporate Director for Growth, Environment and Transport, in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member.