Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director of City Development which provides an update on the current position regarding the Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund and seeks approval of the submission of the proposed bids, as detailed. In addition, the report seeks approval regarding related expenditure.

Further to Minute No. 138, 20^th April 2022, the Director of City Development submitted a report which provided an update on the current position regarding the Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund (LUF). In addition, the report also sought approval of the submission of the proposed bids, and also sought approval of related expenditure, as detailed.

In introducing the report, the Executive Member provided an overview of the actions taken to date which had led to the proposed round 2 LUF bids, as detailed within the submitted report. The Executive Member thanked those officers who had progressed the proposed submissions to this stage in what had been a limited timeframe.

Members noted the approach which had been taken towards the bids in terms of the number of bids proposed and the broad range of projects that they covered.  Responding to a Member’s enquiries both on that approach and also on whether there was a prioritisation of the bids, it was noted that when submitted, each bid would be assessed in its own right and whilst the Council had not been asked to prioritise the bids, should a request be received from Government in relation to this, it was undertaken that a process would be established, as appropriate.

In conclusion, Members noted the role of the constituency MPs in the respective bids, the fact that it was unknown whether there would be any further LUF funding rounds in the future, that Government feedback on LUF bids whether they be successful or otherwise, would be welcomed, and that Leeds had been allocated ‘priority status’ for this second round, which had afforded the Council the opportunity to submit a bid for each constituency.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That agreement be given for the projects as listed in paragraphs 5-10 of the submitted report to be submitted as the Council’s bids under Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund, and that the necessary authority be delegated to the Director of City Development to enable the Director to undertake the necessary work to finalise and refine the bids in order to ensure submissions by the deadline of 6^th July 2022;

(b)  That agreement be given for the use of the Council’s Capital Programme contingency funds as a source of match funding to the LUF bids and/or that agreement be given to use such funds to underwrite the unknown outcome of other external funding bids relating to the LUF projects, as set out in paras 24-30 of the submitted report;

(c)  That in the event of bid success, agreement be given for the Director of City Development to undertake the further work necessary to progress all required planning and other statutory approvals that will need to be in place to enable delivery of the LUF-funded projects, in consultation with the Executive Member for Infrastructure and Climate and the Executive Member for Public Health and Active Lifestyles, as appropriate and as relevant in each case;

(d)  That the decisions taken in relation to this report be exempted from the Call In process, due to the risk that the deadline for bid submission on the 6th July 2022 is missed, as further detailed in paragraphs 34 – 35 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 (d) above, and for the reasons as detailed within sections 34 - 35 of the submitted report)