Purpose

The requirement to reallocate
funding within the Simplification Pathfinder Pilot programme from
the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government,
following the formal decision to close the Pathfinder Port
Infrastructure project, within the Green Port
Intervention.
 
The funding reallocation was
for the Green Campus, Clock House, Harbour Placemaking, Broad Street, Fishing Facilities and
to Contingency.
 
As the Accountable Body for the
projects within the Simplification Pathfinder Pilot, the council is
the ultimate decision maker.

Decision

Cabinet agreed the following:
 
1. 
To note that confirmation has been sought from MHCLG for the
deadline of using the allocated grant funds will be extended to the
end of the financial year 2026-27, on the basis of the updated
programme following the reallocation of funding;
 
2. 
The reallocation of funding from the Pathfinder Port Infrastructure
project to the following projects:
 

Project

Additional Funding
Allocation

Green Campus

£2,000,000

Clock House

£1,700,000

Harbour Placemaking

£2,000,000

Broad Street

£585,000

Fishing Facilities

£100,000

Contingency

£1,247,603

Total

£7,632,603

 
3. 
That £1,247,603 will be held as a programme wide contingency
fund, to be allocated to any of the projects as required with the
agreement of the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of
the Council;
 
4. 
The continuation of the fishing facilities scheme, with the
required budget in place to deliver the scheme.

Reasons for the decision

The Simplification Pathfinder programme has
faced significant challenges to deliver the schemes due to scope
and subsequent budget constraints. One of the reasons is due to
market inflation. With the grant funding having been awarded in
2019, rising costs of materials and services have impacted the
deliverability of the schemes.
 
On the basis of the decision to close the
Pathfinder Port Project, there was a requirement to reallocate the
funding. On the basis of government guidance, this needed to be to
already identified projects in the Pathfinder programme.

Alternative options considered

· 
Do something - if the projects have to be delivered within their
existing budget and no additional funding is allocated, an
alternative option would be to close some of the projects and focus
the funding on others. This would not deliver the wider long-term
regeneration benefits or the agreed grant funding outputs, which
could jeopardise the funding allocations needed to fund the works.
This option was not recommended.
 
· 
New Project - use the funding from the Port Infrastructure scheme
to deliver a different project in Ramsgate that will provide the
same level of outputs. A Project Adjustment Request and Business
Case with Benefit Cost Ratio would need to be completed in order to
gain MHCLG approval. This would add significant time to the
programme and would make a scheme undeliverable. This option was
not recommended.
 
· 
Do nothing - an alternative option to those selected is to do
nothing, this would result in reduced delivery of these
grant-funded schemes and the necessity to return £7.6m of
grant funding to MHCLG. This option was not recommended.
 
· 
Different re-allocation of funding - Members could decide to alter
the reallocation of funding across the projects, or across the
whole programme, including the Margate schemes.  However, this would not optimise the delivery of
the programme outputs and outcomes, and Cabinet has agreed to keep
the funding in the town it was awarded to. This option was not
recommended.