The Head of Place informed Members that a new national funding stream had been announced, which carried on from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) but was reduced in scope to three new objectives; Community Spaces, Public Spaces and Highstreet or Town Centre revitalisation. The Council had been awarded £1.5 million from this Pride in Place Impact Fund to be used in 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years for capital purposes only.

The Head of Place suggested that as the new focus of the fund spanned over multiple service committees, the Policy and Resources Committee might be the appropriate Committee to agree the projects to be funded.

Given the experience of the Member Working Group responsible for overseeing UKSPF, the Head of Place also suggested it could be an appropriate body to develop proposals for allocating the £1.5 million awarded to Swale, to feed into the Policy and Resources Committee (noting it was currently outside its Terms of Reference).

The Vice-Chair agreed that this was a sensible approach and proposed that a report be brought to a future meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee, rather than the Economy and Property Committee, to enable the funding to be granted as quickly as possible. The Vice-Chair added that the Economy and Property Committee should maintain a direct input through the existing Member Working Group and could keep abreast of how the funding programme progressed.

Resolved:

(1)   That the Forward Decisions Plan be noted.