Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2021

b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2021 were agreed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Report of the Director of Business, Investment and Culture

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Business, Investment and Culture which sought approval to the acceptance of grant funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund towards the project to transform St Mary’s Guildhall.

In February 2020, Cabinet approved up to £3 million capital support for a £5.6m project comprising improvement works to St Mary’s Guildhall and the associated planned improvements to interpretation and public engagement activities.

The funding was approved to be financed through prudential borrowing to bridge any gap after other fundraising had been undertaken. The Council has since successfully achieved £1.6m funding received from the Get Britain Building Fund and raised £2.2m funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The Council was successful in its Stage One application for £78,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which enabled officers to develop a Stage Two application for revenue and capital funding. The Council has now been offered the full amount requested from the National Lottery Heritage Fund of £1.423m, reducing the need for borrowing.

The report sought to approval to accept the national Lottery Heritage Fund grant, to support both the capital and revenue elements of the project, along with the delegations necessary to implement this decision.

The Cabinet Member and Members present welcomed the grant funding as it would support the restoration project and help to transform St Marys Guildhall into a heritage asset for the city. In addition, they commended officers for the work undertaken to gain this incredible opportunity to secure the funding. The Cabinet Member also thanked all the partner agencies involved with this transformation project.

In accordance with the Constitution, Councillor N Akhtar, Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee attended the meeting for this item and agreed the need for urgency so that call-in arrangements would not apply. The reason for urgency was that Cabinet was scheduled to meet the day after the grant agreement needed to be signed off under its expiry date.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities:

1.  Accepts the award from the National Heritage Lottery Fund for £1.423m towards the St Mary’s Guildhall capital project and operational plan, together with the terms and conditions attached to the grant.

2.  Delegates authority to the Director of Business, Investment and Culture, following consultation with the Director of Law and Governance, and the Director of Finance to negotiate, complete and seal such legal documents as are necessary to give full effect to the decision.

There are no outstanding issues

There were no outstanding issues.

There were no other items of public business.