Issue - meetings

[To receive a verbal update on the Towns Fund Programme.]

Michelle Nutt, Assistant Area Director, BEIS provided an update on the National Towns Fund Bid. It was outlined that an offer of £25 million funding had been made to Wolverhampton and any acceptance would need to be made within eight weeks of receipt of the written offer.

It was confirmed that the offer was subject to an indication of which projects would be taken forward and how the conditions outlined in the offer would be met.

Following a query around whether resubmitting the bid may result in the offer being lower, it was confirmed that to resubmit the bid would mean starting the process again from the beginning. The bid would need to go through a repeated process and it may be a different group of individuals considering the bid. There were no guarantees of a higher offer however Michelle agreed to provide further clarification on the potential of a lower offer should the bid be resubmitted.

In response to a question around why the full amount bid for was not awarded, it was confirmed that full funding had only been offered to authorities with exceptional bids to drive growth, such as the update of Blackpool Illuminations for example.

It was acknowledged that £25 million was the average maximum amount and any award above that level would have been a bonus.

Resolved:

That the National Towns Fund Update be noted.

[To receive a verbal update on the Towns Fund Programme.]