Agenda item

Salford City Council - Record of Decision

I, Councillor Tracy Kelly, Deputy City Mayor, in exercise of the powers contained within the City Council constitution do hereby:

1.    Note the allocation of £13,170,933 funding from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund for the delivery of Salford Rise.

2.    Note that a Memorandum of Understanding between the City Council and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is in place.

3.    Give delegated authority to the Strategic Director Place, City Solicitor and Chief Finance Officer to negotiate and finalise all future financial, commercial and contractual arrangements in respect of the Levelling Up Funding provided to the Council.

4.    Approve Salford City Council entering into a grant funding agreement with English Cities Fund (ECF) for the provision of onward funding of the maximum sum of £13,170,933 in relation to the above funding.

5.    Authorise the City Solicitor to enter into and complete all necessary agreements or documents to give effect to the above recommendations.

The Reasons are Salford City Council have secured £13.17m of funding from the Governments Levelling up Fund for delivery of Salford Rise - a catalyst project for the Crescent Innovation Zone focused on removing barriers between the Innovation Zone and local communities, improving connectivity across the Innovation Zone and changing perception of place.

The Levelling Up Fund is being administered by Government via Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with Local Authorities and the MOU for Salford Rise has now been signed by the Councils S151 officer. As appointed development partner for the Crescent, the English Cities Fund (ECF) have designed and will deliver Salford Rise.

In order to transfer the funds to ECF, a grant funding agreement is now required between the Council and ECF who will manage and deliver the project.

Options considered and rejected:            n/a

Assessment of Risk: medium

The source of funding: Salford City Council have successfully secured a levelling up grant £13.170m, which must be spent by March 2025.

The fund is being administered via a Memorandum and Understanding (MOU) which was signed on 8 February, and sets out the following grant payment terms: 

·         2021-22 £176,174

·         2022-23 £6,356,343

·         2023-24 £6,638,416

Legal Advice obtained: Lauren Armstrong, Shared Legal Service

Financial Advice obtained: Natalie Birchall, Senior Accountant

Procurement Advice obtained: Deborah Derbyshire, Category Manager, Level 2

Climate Change Implications obtained: Dan Welsh, Principal Programme Manager

The following documents have been used to assist the decision process.

• Report submitted to Property/Regeneration Briefing on 28 March.

·         Report of Strategic Director for Place to The City Mayor’s Property and Regeneration Briefing on 25 January 2021 - Approval of the Crescent Development Framework 2021.

·         Report of Strategic Director for Place to The City Mayor’s Property and Regeneration Briefing on 26 April 2021 - Approval of the Crescent Strategic Master Programme and Delivery Plan.

Contact Officer:       

Dan Welsh - Principal Programme Manager                  Tel No:  0161 793 2360

Kurt Partington - Head of Development                           Tel No:  0161 779 4913

*           This decision was published on Monday 28 March 2022                                              

*           This decision will come in force at 4.00 pm on Monday 4 April 2022                                     unless it is called-in in accordance with the Decision-making Process Rules.