Agenda item

            The Members were reminded that the newly established Local Investment Fund had been designed to support the delivery of key regeneration projects and neighbourhoods and also as a way for Elected Members to connect with local communities.  The Director of Finance and Resources explained that one of the key roles of the newly formed Member Area Working Groups would be to prioritise and monitor Capital Projects on a local basis and to make recommendations thereon to the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee.  As had been agreed by the Committee at its meeting on 23rd March, there would be a minimum level of investment through the Local Investment Fund of no less than £15,000 and that support of any one project was unlikely to exceed £250,000 in order to ensure a spread of investment across the City.  At present the North, South, East and West Groups had been allocated £1,127,500 each with £490,000 being earmarked for the Shankill Area.

            He stated that the first meetings of the Area Working Groups in May would focus on the following:

(i)   overview of Local Investment Fund;

(ii)  overview of Governance Arrangements;

(iii)Prioritisation Framework;

(iv)overview of indentifying projects and initial “sift”; and

(v)  next steps.

            He indicated that Members had stressed the need to test robustly the future sustainability of any investments made under the City and Local Investment Funds and any future revenue implications, as well as a capacity to deliver “quality of life” outcomes as described in the Council’s Corporate Objectives.  To ensure that occurred and to help inform and support the first meetings of the Area Working Groups, officers had drafted a number of supporting documents in relation to the Local Investment Fund.  Those would aid Members in their decision-making in relation to local projects and would ensure that there was a consistency of approach and transparency in the decision-making process.  The documents had been circulated for the information of the Members and included:

·         Local Investment Fund guidance note for Members and officers – this provided a high level overview of the purpose of the fund, the types of organisations that could receive funding and what types of project could and could not be funded;

·         Project Proposal Form – Each project would be required to complete a Project Proposal Form so that there was a consistent level of information upon which Members could make informed decisions.  Officers from the Council would work closely with local groups to complete those forms;

·         Prioritisation Matrix – once Project Proposal Forms had been completed and been deemed eligible and prioritised by Area Working Groups, they would be assessed, via a Prioritisation Matrix, against the key criteria which had been agreed by the Committee the previous month, which included:

-   affordability, including consideration of available match funding;

-   deliverability;

-   feasibility; and

-   sustainability, including consideration of complementarity, deprivation and need.

            The Director pointed out that the supporting documents were currently in draft form and would need further refinement and testing.  However, Members had previously emphasised the need to move swiftly to implementation of the Investment Programme and delivering quick wins across the City.  Therefore, they would be discussed in greater detail at the first meetings of the Area Working Groups and would be brought back to the Committee in June to be agreed formally.

            The Committee noted the contents of the report and the details in the draft supporting documents for the Local Investment Fund and that these would be resubmitted to the Committee in June to be formally agreed following further discussion at the first meetings of the Area Working Groups.