Agenda and minutes

1.1  Member apologies for absence from Cllr Narcross and Cllr Smyth.

1.2  Member apologies for lateness from Cllr Walker and Cllr Nicholson.

1.3  Councillors virtually in attendance were Cllr Kennedy and Cllr Nicholson.

2.1  There were no urgent items, and the order of business was as laid out in the agenda.

3.1  There were no declaration of interest from the Commission membership.

4.1  The Chair introduced the item and explained that the Levelling Up funding (LUF) was announced in November 2020 as part of the 2020 Spending Review.  The Government’s funding for this work has totaled £4.8 billion. 

4.2  Levelling up’ is a government-wide approach to reduce geographical inequality in a broad range of economic and social measures across the UK. 

4.3  The purpose of this funding is to invest in “local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities and to support economic recovery.” 

4.4  The first two funding rounds focused on three investment themes – transport, town centers, high street regeneration and cultural investment.  The areas funded were determined by an index that ranked local authorities.

4.5  Following the 2 rounds of funding 834 bids were submitted, of which 216 were successful.  156 of the awards were made to local authorities in England, with a value of £3 billion (78% of the total funding).  The funding awards made to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland across the two rounds totaled £798 million.

4.6  Local authorities were eligible to submit at least one bid, up to a value of £20 million.  In round 2 Hackney successfully secured a bid for just over £19 million for renovating public spaces in Hackney Central.  The town hall square, new creative workspace and Hackney Central Library.

4.7  The Commission asked for information about the Council’s plans and spending for the £19 million funding / investment in Hackney Central (HC).

4.8  The information covered:

1.  Hackney Central regeneration

2.  Community engagement, identified challenges and priorities in Hackney Central

3.  The LUF program (aims, outputs and outcomes)

4.  Community involvement in the LUF program and LUF project delivery.

4.9  The Chair welcomed to the meeting Suzanne Johnson, Assistant Director - Regeneration and Economic Development and Robert Offord, Area Regeneration Manager from London Borough of Hackney (LBH).

4.10  The discussion item commenced with a presentation from the Area Regeneration Manager from LBH.  The presentation covered:

·  Wider regeneration in Hackney Central

·  Community Engagement process – challenges and priorities identified

·  LUF program aims, outputs and outcomes

·  Community involvement in the LUF program and project delivery.

4.11  The main points from the presentation were outlined as follows. 

4.11.1  The officer explained that Hackney Central had been identified as a regeneration area by the Council (in its local Plan) and by the Greater London Authority (GLA).

4.11.2  In 2020 Hackney Central was elevated to a Major Town Centre status recognizing its role in the borough as providing services to residents and the opportunity for wider growth.

4.11.3  In line with the council’s approach to regeneration the aim, by Area Regeneration and Economic Development, is to deliver the wider corporate strategies relevant to the service area.

4.11.4  Detailed work at the town center information level was undertaken to understand how the corporate strategies related to the circumstances and needs of Hackney’s residents.  This work fed into the development of the Hackney Central Town Centre Strategy that was adopted earlier in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1  This item covered:

1.  Background to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund

2.  LB Hackney allocations for each theme

3.  What LBH will deliver:

a.  Supporting Local Businesses

b.  Communities and Place

4.  Approach to the Business Support Programme

5.  London-wide UK SPF funding plans.

5.2  The Chair asked Michael Toyer, Economic Development Manager from LBH to commence his presentation.  The Economic Development Manager recapped on the information in the presentation and advised that his update would focus on the information about supporting local businesses and the approach to the business support programme.

5.3  The Economic Development Manager from LBH commenced his presentation and made the following main points.

5.3.1  The officer recapped on the background to the funding.  Highlighting that £185 million was given to the GLA from the Government to cover the period 2022-2025.  The fund became available from 2023 so there will be approximately 18-20 months of delivery.

5.3.2  This funding is significantly lower than it was previously under the European funding arrangements.  Under the previous funding on average London received £90 million a year. 

5.3.3  In consultation with Central London Forward, London Councils and other sub regional partnerships the GLA decided to allocate £78 million to London Boroughs.  An sum of £30 million was held back for the GLA to deliver and commission programs themselves.

5.3.4  In Hackney across the 3 themes he allocation is as follows:

supporting local businesses (£441k);

communities & place (£1.36m);

People and skills(£870k) received a direct allocation of 1.8 million. 

The spend for each theme in brackets.

5.3.5  Subject to the agreement, it is anticipated that some of the people and skills funding will go to sub regional partnerships and some to the council. 

5.3.6  The council is hoping to address some of the local issues by applying for the London wide £30 million funding pot. 

5.3.7  The officer pointed out that although applications can be from a single borough or large provider; The guidance encouraged consortiums, groups of boroughs or larger providers to deliver on a pan London basis or sub regional basis.

5.3.8  LB Hackney engaged in 3 groups discussions and 2 of them were successful.  The unsuccessful bid was in partnership with Islington Council, and this was focused on supporting co-operatives and social businesses.

5.3.9  The bid was written by an organisation in Islington that supports co-operatives.  The officer’s observation is that they might have been less experienced at writing bids than the two other orgqanisations that were successful.

5.3.10  In relation to the two successful bids, one was an existing partnership group of boroughs supported by a consultancy team.  The other was related to legacy activity at the Olympic Park by an organisation called SHIFT that focuses on innovation in and around the park.  The idea is that the Park and adjacent communities will trial innovative approaches to address some of the challenges in society - transition to net zero, public health and getting around a city.

5.3.11  The officer pointed out the council supported these  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.1  The minutes from the previous meeting on 20^th November 2023 were noted ad to follow and will be available at the next SEG meeting.

7.1  The Chair referred to the work program document in the agenda and highlighted that it is a working document that is regularly updated.

7.2  The next meeting would be on 17^th January 2024.

Item 1 on the agenda was Planning Policy and Heritage Buildings.  This meeting would cover how the council can and will use its borough planning powers to nudge retrofitting for existing and heritage buildings owned by the Council and private landlords.  To support the council’s commitment to achieve the climate action plan.

The Chair advised the Commission that the guests who have agreed to attend for this item would be.

·  Historic England

·  Westminster Council Retrofit Task Group

·  Local Hackney Case study (Lynch Architects)

·  London Borough of Hackney Planning Team.

Item 2 on the agenda was Library Services.  This would be an update on the staffing restructure implemented 12 months ago.  The Commission promised to review it 1 year post implementation of the new structure.  Implementation was due on 1^st April last year.

7.3  The Chair pointed out that the Library of Things item was moved to the SEG March 2024 meeting date.

7.4  Members asked about the meeting lost due to the local Mayoral elections in November 2023 and asked what happened to those discussion items.

The Chair informed the Commission that these items were being rescheduled to the first meeting of the municipal year.

7.5  In response Members asked if the discussion about the consultation process for LTNs could be moved earlier in the work program because having it in the new municipal year was a long time after the consultation.

The Chair advised that she would consider this especially if there were further consultations planned by the council.

8.1  None.