Agenda item

The Committee considered an update report on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) within Carmarthenshire which had received a total sum of £37m out of the total fund sum of £138m. It was noted the report also contained, for information, an application form and assessment criteria for the Anchor and Standalone projects and that a guidance document to assist applicants was currently being prepared and would be made available shortly.

The Committee was advised that the Cabinet at its meeting held in October 2022 had approved the delivery model for implementation of the fund between Anchor, Standalone and Commissioned Projects with the following themed anchor projects having been approved:

Community Anchor – providing a third party grant to support the development and creation of activities aligned to the following themes.

·       Poverty

·       Circular Economy

·       Wellbeing / Leisure

·       Access to Services

·       Environment and Green

·       Tourism, Culture / Heritage

·       Community Engagement

Rural Anchor -  consisting of 3 elements:

·         Ten Towns Initiative

·         Rural Innovation Fund

·         Hwb Fach y Wlad

Place Anchor: - supporting town centres through a Vacant Property Fund, a Town Centre Events Fund and a package of support to deliver key projects identified in our Town Centre Recovery Plans to address the ongoing challenges.

Supporting Local Business Anchor: offering financial support to local businesses to support them in all stages of their development through Business start-up and Growth Grants, a Business Renewable Energy Fund and also a Property Development Fund.

In addition, a key focus will be supporting Carmarthenshire businesses to benefit from public procurement spend

Employability & Skills Anchor: New streamlined employability programme was being developed and there would be a focus on activity outside the remit of the RLSP and the Swansea Bay City Deal Skills and Talent project.

The working budgets for the themes in Carmarthenshire were as detailed below. However, those may change as the programme commenced and flexibility would be required to enable virements both within and amongst each of the themes to deliver the Investment Plan’s requirements

The following questions/issues were raised on the report;

·       It was confirmed the Multiply theme related to the new adult numeracy programme whereby the Council was working with Coleg Sir Gar and wider stakeholders on its delivery. Consideration was also being given to whether the theme could be extended to include digital skills.

·       It was confirmed the Shared Prosperity Fund was currently progressing through the democratic process of the four constituent authorities of the Swansea Bay City Deal being, Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Powys and Swansea and it was hoped to have a co-ordinated launch in the week commencing 27^th February.

·       Reference was made to the requirement for 2022/23 funding to be utilised by March 23 and to whether there were any risks associated therewith. It was confirmed that whilst previous reports had indicated spending would occur in the current financial year, delays by the UK Government had meant it would not be possible to achieve the required spend by March. Accordingly, the UK Government had allowed for flexibility to move the funding to the next financial year, subject to justification, and no funding would be lost. It was also confirmed funding would be up to March 2025.

·       It was confirmed the Ten Towns Initiative formed part of the Rural Anchor and that any projects for funding would need to be submitted via the approved application process. Officers from the department would also be liaising with the ten towns teams on the submission of projects for funding.

·       It was confirmed that in addition to the ten towns initiative, there were opportunities for all town and community councils within Carmarthenshire to apply for funding and engagement thereon would be made with the clerks of those authorities

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund update report be received.