Decision

Following Cabinet delegating authority of the High Street Accelerator ‘Green Space’ budget to the Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm, this decision approves the following:
a)That the Leader of the Council, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm authorises expenditure of £41,415 from the High Street Accelerator budget to pay for signage in Dovercourt; and
b)Subject to (a) above, to use this funding to contract with Esign Visual Communication following a procurement exercise to deliver new heritage and wayfinding signage.

Reasons for the decision

On 24 May 2024, Cabinet considered a report titled
‘PROGRESS WITH TOWN CENTRE REGENERATION THROUGH THE CLACTON LONG TERM PLAN FOR TOWNS AND DOVERCOURT HIGH STREET ACCELERATOR.’
Through that report, Cabinet delegated authorisation of this spending of the High St Accelerator Green Space Budget of £500,000 to the Leader of the Council in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm.
The spending recommendations for the High Street Accelerator budgets are put forward by the ‘High Street Accelerator’ partnership, which is formed from a variety of organisations who are representative of the town centre and wider community. This project has been agreed by the partnership and now awaiting formal authority from the respective Cabinet Members to progress.
A formal tender exercise to allocate the remainder of the £500,000 of Green Space funding has been commissioned. Once tenders are evaluated and an extension agreed by the High Street Team within the MHCLG, a full report on the outcome will be prepared for consideration by the Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm. This commission will raise awareness and support regeneration of the High Street, which is a key objective of the programme.
The small scheme agreed through this decision is to supplement the wider project referred to above and will improve existing wayfinding in the town, and improve connectivity between key visitor locations and the town centre.
The original deadline for committing these funds was June 30, 2025 but flexibility on the timeline has been granted and on the 15th August 2025 the High Street Team within MHCLG agreed the £41,415 spend on Maps, Signs and History Boards with Esign Visual Communications.

Alternative options considered

To not procure and miss the opportunity to maximise the offer to Dovercourt and not providing the best value.
To not progress the green space projects or scale them down, returning money to MHCLG therefore not requiring this support.