Decision

Decision to undertake separate awards to
successful applicants in Round Three of the UK Shared
Prosperity/Rural Prosperity Fund Programme. Specifically
including:
Matthew Flinders: Bring Him Home (£35,000)
To promote and progress returning the remains of Matthew Flinders
to Donington – the place of his birth – for appropriate
celebration and reburial. This will be supported by a programme of
events promoting links between South and East Lincolnshire and
Australia, with a focus on trade and the visitor economy.
South Holland: The Land We Forgot (£4,152)
A creative, arts and digital research project with local school-age
pupils in South Holland, encouraging them to explore the
District’s unique local culture and history, resulting in the
production of a series of creative pieces that will be shared
widely.
Spalding Brass Plaque Trail (£8,124)
An expansion of the recently launched successful Spalding brass
plaque trail, delivered with significant additional support from
the Arts Council. The focus is on driving significant additional
footfall (including shoppers) into Spalding Town Centre and
promoting the Town Centre as a place to visit, work and shop.

Reasons for the decision

As part of HMG’s Levelling Up Agenda and
in line with the commitments made by South Holland District in the
UKSPF Prospectus and Investment Plan, we have committed to invest
in high-impact projects across three core themes:
Communities and place - Supporting community groups and investment
in community facilities; enhancing the cultural and heritage offer;
widening the use of community buildings; initiatives to help
support our town centres.
Supporting local business - Helping local businesses invest for
future growth; growing the food processing, horticulture and
logistics sector; encouraging new businesses to establish; helping
the local social and community enterprises to innovate and
grow.
People and skills - Developing skills and employment opportunities
within the fresh food, food processing and logistics sectors;
creating new training hubs; supporting local residents with skills
and access to employment.
These allocations principally meet the objectives that we have
committed to under the Communities and Place and Supporting Local
Businesses Themes and with the projects passing a rigorous
assessment process, we are confident that they can deliver the
outcomes expected from the Programme quickly and substantively.
This has been the basis of the decision.

Alternative options considered

These funds were allocated on a competitive
basis, based on the third round of submitted EoIs to the UK Shared
Prosperity and Rural Prosperity Fund. The alternative would be to
not award the funding, which would bring severe reputational risk
to the Council both with the public and the Department for
Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.