Minutes:
The Leader made the following announcements:
· At a meeting of the Chief Officer Employment Panel, it had been agreed to appoint Brendan Arnold to the role of Finance Director on an interim basis. He came to the role with a lot of experience, and his arrival would be in time to undertake a handover from the outgoing officer, Christine Marshall, to ensure a smooth transition.
· SHDC had been successful in securing a seat on the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority. The 4 members on the Authority would attend to represent not only their own authorities, but also those of all 7 district councils. The Authority’s first meeting would be held on 6 March 2025 and the Leader advised that he would keep members updated on discussions. He also stated that it was a public meeting and could therefore be viewed/attended by interested parties.
The Portfolio Holder for Corporate, Governance and Communications announced the following:
· The Authority had launched its own WhatsApp Channel before Christmas. He encouraged people to follow it, and he would share information on it after the meeting.
· The Democratic Services Manager had circulated to members a copy of a Government consultation around strengthening the Standards and Code of Conduct framework. He encouraged members to complete the consultation, which ran until 26 February 2025.
The Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing, Conservation and Heritage and Tourism updated members on an issue raised at the last meeting around the creation of a list of important buildings in the area in a poor state of repair. She advised that she had met with Heritage Lincolnshire who had previously run this process however their process was not straightforward and she therefore suggested that the Authority set up its own local list of properties and places and asked members to advise her of suggestions for the list.
The Portfolio Holder for Community Development updated on an issue raised at a previous meeting of Council around details of what support would be provided by the Authority to those residents adversely affected by the removal of the winter fuel allowance. Pension credit was being promoted however, some people fell just short of the threshold. The Communities Team was providing support through Warm Space groups across the district in Gosberton Youth Centre, Cowbit Village Hall, Lighthouse Church in Spalding, Spalding Baptist Church, Gedney Village Hall, Broad Street Methodist Church in Spalding, St Matthew’s Church in Sutton Bridge, Moulton Chapel, Boxes of Hope, Tonic Health in Spalding, Surfleet and Holbeach.
The Portfolio Holder for Finance provided the following update on the UKSPF Programme:
· South Holland’s 2023-5 UKSPF Programme was drawing to a close, and the District had now distributed over 90% of the funds granted by Central Government.
· An announcement would be made next week on the final round of awards through the LCF GRASSroots Scheme, a scheme which had already successfully delivered 26 new or improved community facilities across South Holland District in only 18 months. This Scheme would leverage over £1 million in investment into Parish Councils, Village Halls and community projects.
· When this Scheme’s impact was combined with the wider UKSPF Programme, which had delivered initiatives like the Long Sutton Youth Shed and Pride in Place Volunteer Scheme, it meant that the District was set to handsomely exceed many of its Communities and Place targets. This included the delivery of 464 new volunteering opportunities for local residents.
· The decision, as a Partnership, to create a bespoke sub-regional business support offer, tailored to the needs of South Holland’s key sectors, had paid handsome dividends. This had been led by its Grants4Growth and Advice4Growth offer, which could be considered the ‘jewel in the crown’ of its UKSPF Programme. Grants4Growth had awarded £580,000 in direct grants to South Holland businesses, leveraging a total of just under £2 million in direct private sector investment into the local economy. Through the Advice4Growth offer alone, 111 South Holland businesses had been supported with at least four hours of specialist and non-specialist business growth advice in the last 18 months.
· The business support offer has been bolstered through wider projects supporting Holbeach’s Food Enterprise Zone, business start-ups and the UK Fresh Produce Network. Collaboration with UKFPN saw South Holland businesses pitch to an international audience in the House of Lords at the end of last year. As a result of these projects, 25 South Holland businesses had engaged with new export markets and 46 had reported improvements to productivity, powering growth and jobs.
· While People and Skills had been a shorter, one-year Programme, there was early evidence of success in South Holland. 358 residents had attended training courses, funded by UKSPF. 152 residents now had additional accredited or industry-recognised qualifications as a result of support and the Programme had supported 63 residents from economic inactivity and into employment.
· Overall, the South Holland UKSPF Programme was set to exceed a large number of the targets set within the Investment Plan agreed with Central Government as a condition of receiving the funds. This demonstrated successful end-to-end delivery of this £3.4m fund by the District Council and South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership.