Purpose

Proposed
decision
 
The Cabinet Member for Highways
& Transport is asked to give approval to accept the Active
Travel Fund Grant (ATF5) and take the projects through their
various stages of scheme development and delivery as listed
below:
 
1.   
APPROVE the acceptance of the Active Travel Fund (ATF5) Grant award
and the deployment of the grant funding in accordance with the
grant conditions to take the ATF5 projects through their various
stages of scheme development and delivery.
 
2.   
DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment
and Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Highways
and Transport and the S151 Officer to agree to enter into the
necessary grant agreements.
 
3.   
DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment
and Transport to deploy and manage the grant allocation funding to
take the ATF5 projects through their various stages of scheme
development and delivery.
 
4.   
DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment
and Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member and S151
Officer, to accept and deploy future years funding allocations of
the grant, providing it is on similar terms.
 
5.   
DELEGATE authority to Director of Infrastructure to progress and
complete all relevant construction property and Compulsory Purchase
Orders as necessary to deliver the schemes.
 
6.   
DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment
and Transport to take other necessary actions, including but not
limited to entering into contracts or other legal agreements, as
required to implement the decision. 
 
 
Reason for the decision
A key decision is
required to seek approval to accept the Capital & Revenue Grant
because it is over the £1m threshold (£1,671,054m
Capital & £215,011 Revenue totalling £1,886,065)
and to deploy and manage the grant in accordance to grant funding
conditions.
 
Background – Provide brief additional context

Kent County Council has been awarded a Capital and
Revenue Grant totalling £1,886,065 by Active Travel England
to develop and construct active travel schemes across the county.
This funding is based on Kent's population size and its capability
rating in delivering active travel projects, which influences
future government funding.

Local authorities are rated from Level 0 to Level 4
based on leadership, support, and network development for active
travel. KCC is at level 2 indicating visible local leadership and
an emerging active travel network
 
Options
Not to accept the
direct grant. KCC would not be able to fund active travel projects
that areshown to have health, environmental,
accessibility, community and economic benefits for Kent
residents.
 
How the proposed decision supports the

Framing Kent's Future
- Our Council Strategy 2022-2026
Infrastructure for
Communities – The schemes that will be delivered with
the funding are consistent with principles of accelerating the
delivery of key transport infrastructure and enhancing leverage of
external infrastructure investment within the districts and
boroughs from central government. The scheme will also contribute
towards providing viable and attractive travel options that focus
on both road and active travel modes.
 
How the
proposed decision supports Securing Kent’s Future 2022
-2026:
Securing Kents Future
- Budget Recovery Strategy.pdf
 
The schemes will be
solely funded by the Active Travel Grant awarded, therefore the
scheme will not compromise Objective 1. No funding is required from
the Council’s feasibility reserve which is relevant to
Objective 2. The close alignment of the scheme to Framing
Kent’s Future is therefore consistent with Objective
3. 
 

Decision

As Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport I
agree to:
 
 

APPROVE the acceptance of the Active
Travel Fund (ATF5) Grant award and the deployment of the grant
funding in accordance with the grant conditions to take the ATF5
projects through their various stages of scheme development and
delivery.

DELEGATE authority to the Corporate
Director of Growth, Environment and Transport in consultation with
the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport and the S151 Officer
to agree to enter into the necessary grant agreements.

DELEGATE authority to the Corporate
Director of Growth, Environment and Transport to deploy and manage
the grant allocation funding to take the ATF5 projects through
their various stages of scheme development and delivery.

DELEGATE authority to the Corporate
Director of Growth, Environment and Transport in consultation with
the Cabinet Member and S151 Officer, to accept and deploy future
years funding allocations of the grant, providing it is on similar
terms.

DELEGATE authority to Director of
Infrastructure to progress and complete all relevant construction
property and Compulsory Purchase Orders as necessary to deliver the
schemes.

6.   
DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment
and Transport to take other necessary actions, including but not
limited to entering into contracts or other legal agreements, as
required to implement the decision