Purpose

South
Cambridgeshire District Council has been awarded an allocation of
£200,000 from the UKSPF Shared Prosperity Fund to deliver the
Improving the High Street grant scheme. At the meeting on 25
September 2024, the Grants Advisory Committee considered the
proposal to set up the Improving the High Street grant scheme as a
policy of the Council, laid out in
the Committee report, with
officers delegated authority to assess applications and award
funding. The proposed operational delivery of the scheme is as
follows:

i)              
Will consist of a Policy Criteria

(Appendix B)

ii)             
Will proceed to a full Application Form

(Appendix C)

iii)            
An Officer Panel will review eligibility of every
application using a scoring matrix. Once deemed eligible,
applications will be approved by through officer delegated
responsibilities.

iv)            
Due diligence will be carried out on all
applications and will include a range of fraud checks, ensuring
businesses are registered on Companies House and are registered and
operate in South Cambridgeshire. We are also working with
colleagues from the internal audit and fraud teams to ensure that
all due diligence is carried out on both business and community
group applications.

v)             
There will be no requirement for match funding
however this will be welcomed.

vi)            
The scheme will be opened in October 2024 for
applications and will be operated on a rolling basis until the
funds are allocated.

vii)          
As the scheme will not make awards above the level
2, and as outlined by the Constitution Part 3, table 3, 1.2, a
grant scheme can be established with officers delegated authority
to make awards.
 
Following consideration, the Grants Advisory Committee
recommended to the Lead Cabinet Member for Resources that the
proposed Improving the High Street grant scheme be adopted as a
policy of the Council, as laid out in the Committee
report.

Content

To
accept the recommendation of the Grants Advisory Committee (see
above). An amendment is made to the Policy Criteria listed in
‘Appendix B’ of the report to allow all Parish Councils
to apply to the fund, removing the limit on the size of Parish
Councils that can apply.