Decision details

South Cambridgeshire District Council has been awarded an allocation of £200,000 from the UKSPF Shared Prosperity Fund to deliver the Improving the High Street grant scheme. At the meeting on 25 September 2024, the Grants Advisory Committee considered the proposal to set up the Improving the High Street grant scheme as a policy of the Council, laid out in the Committee report, with officers delegated authority to assess applications and award funding. The proposed operational delivery of the scheme is as follows:

i)               Will consist of a Policy Criteria (Appendix B)

ii)              Will proceed to a full Application Form (Appendix C)

iii)             An Officer Panel will review eligibility of every application using a scoring matrix. Once deemed eligible, applications will be approved by through officer delegated responsibilities.

iv)             Due diligence will be carried out on all applications and will include a range of fraud checks, ensuring businesses are registered on Companies House and are registered and operate in South Cambridgeshire. We are also working with colleagues from the internal audit and fraud teams to ensure that all due diligence is carried out on both business and community group applications.

v)              There will be no requirement for match funding however this will be welcomed.

vi)             The scheme will be opened in October 2024 for applications and will be operated on a rolling basis until the funds are allocated.

vii)           As the scheme will not make awards above the level 2, and as outlined by the Constitution Part 3, table 3, 1.2, a grant scheme can be established with officers delegated authority to make awards.

Following consideration, the Grants Advisory Committee recommended to the Lead Cabinet Member for Resources that the proposed Improving the High Street grant scheme be adopted as a policy of the Council, as laid out in the Committee report.

To accept the recommendation of the Grants Advisory Committee (see above). An amendment is made to the Policy Criteria listed in ‘Appendix B’ of the report to allow all Parish Councils to apply to the fund, removing the limit on the size of Parish Councils that can apply.

The adoption of the proposed scheme would allow for the funding awarded to South Cambridgeshire District Council from the Shared Prosperity Fund. The delegation to officers of the assessment of applications and awarding of funding would allow funding to be released promptly and within the required timeframe.

To not accept the outline proposal, and not proceed with the scheme.