Enterprise Commissioning Prospectus
This report will be sent to follow.
Minutes:
The Board received a report setting out recommended projects to be funded under the Enterprise Commissioning Prospectus, covering the Board’s ABG allocation for 2009/10 and 2010/11. The prospectus was agreed at the March meeting of the Board and published on 10 March 2009, with a closing date for applications of 3 April 2009.
The Board were advised of heavy oversubscription against the £2.145m of funds available, with 86 applications received totalling £10.1m. Applications were technically scored by the Economic Regeneration team and approved by the Enterprise Board Appraisal Panel. The Board were advised that a number of projects had been scaled down and that a series of reserve projects and a contingency fund of 10% had been identified.
The Board expressed concern regarding the relatively low scoring of most projects in comparison to the maximum score available. The Board were advised that low scores reflected the large scope of some of the applications, which were then subsequently focused down and also existing knowledge regarding the capacity of companies to deliver. The Board requested that further consideration be given to the scoring process for future allocations including setting a threshold and establishing a policy for potential scaling down of projects to avoid determination on an arbitrary basis.
Concerns were expressed regarding the town centre projects and the level of outputs demanded. Confirmation was provided that organisations to be funded served as advocacy organisations for town centres and that additional work would be undertaken in centres in addition to ABG funded approaches. The Board requested that selection criteria for town centre projects be evaluated for the next allocations and that the Board consider the Town Centre strategy as part of the workplan.
RESOLVED:
That the recommended projects be progressed as the basis of the ABG 2009-11 programme.
That the Economic Regeneration team contact all applicants to inform them of decisions and commence contract/delivery plan negotiations with recommended projects.
That the Appraisal Panel would reconvene to consider any appeals against decisions.
That the Economic Regeneration team undertake a review of the Enterprise Commissioning Prospectus process and associated processes and that the Board receive a report to be used as a basis for developing policies for the next funding allocations.