Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director of City Development setting out the work that has been undertaken to develop an ambitious and visionary bid to the Towns Fund to support a programme of capital regeneration projects in Morley. The report summarises the contents of the Draft Town Investment Plan, a bid document which is intended to be submitted to Government in January 2021, which has been informed through substantial public engagement and consultation.

The Director of City Development submitted a report which set out the work that had been undertaken to develop a bid to the Towns Fund to support a programme of capital regeneration projects in Morley. The report summarised the contents of the Draft Town Investment Plan, a bid document which was intended to be submitted to Government in January 2021, and which had been informed through substantial public engagement and consultation.

Gerald Jennings, Independent Chair of the Morley Town Deal Board was in attendance at the meeting in order to provide Members with an overview of the work being undertaken by the Board together with an update on the progress made to date.

Members welcomed the significant investment which was being made as part of this process and emphasised that they would welcome further investment from the Towns Fund programme into other parts of the city, should it be made available.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the contents of the submitted report, be noted, and that the emerging vision for a Town Investment Plan in Morley and the priority objectives of this funding programme, as detailed, be agreed;

(b)  That on the basis of recommendation from the Morley Town Deal Board, the necessary authority be delegated to the Director of City Development in consultation with the Executive Member for Climate Change, Transport and Sustainable Development and the Chair of the Morley Town Deal Board, to enable the Director to approve the submission of the Town Investment Plan to Government in January 2021;

(c)  That subject to the success of this bid, and on the basis that there will be a brief window for a response to the Government’s assessment of the Town Investment Plan, the necessary authority be delegated to the Director of City Development in consultation with the Executive Member for Climate Change, Transport and Sustainable Development, in order to enable the Director to agree terms of a grant funding settlement;

(d)  That the necessary authority be delegated to the Director of City Development in consultation with the Executive Member for Climate Change, Transport and Sustainable Development to enable the Director to agree partner contributions including in-kind and match funding, or wider arrangements in order to maximise the impact of the Towns Fund bid;

(e)  That in line with the timescales as outlined at paragraph 4.5.4 of the submitted report, approval be given for the resolutions within this minute to be exempted from the Call In process, in order to meet the deadline for submission of the Town Investment Plan to Government and for those reasons as detailed within paragraphs 4.5.4 – 4.5.5 of the submitted report.

(The Council’s Executive and Decision Making Procedure Rules state that a decision may be declared as being exempt from the Call In process by the decision taker if it is considered that the matter is urgent and any delay would seriously prejudice the Council’s, or the public’s interests. In line with this, the resolutions contained within this minute were exempted from the Call In process, as per resolution (e) above, and for the reasons as detailed within sections 4.5.4 – 4.5.5 of the submitted report)