Agenda item

Good Growth Fund - Connecting Wood Green

[Report of the Interim Strategic Director for Planning, Regeneration and Development. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Economic Development. Social Inclusion and Sustainability.] The report will be seeking authority to enter into a grant agreement with the GLA, subject to successful grant application.

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Sustainability and Social inclusion introduced the report, which detailed the Council’s submission of a Good Growth Fund bid called “Connecting Wood Green” and was seeking authority to enter into a grant agreement with the Greater London Authority (GLA) in the event of the bid being successful.

 

The Cabinet Member advised that the Council were still awaiting final confirmation on whether the grant had been successful, although Members were asked to note that officers have been advised that should the application be successful the funding will be 100% grant, so instead of £700k grant and £200k loan Haringey will be awarded a £900k grant.

This did not change the recommendations in the report, but Members were asked to note the following updates to the report:

-          Para 4.2 –  The Connecting Wood Green bid was for a £700,000 grant plus a £200,000 loan to contribute to projects with a total value of £2.2m, but the GLA have advised that they are minded to award a 100% grant and so that funding will be a £900k grant and no loan.

-          Para 8.1- Reference to the loan agreements (second bullet point) with third parties can be omitted

-          Para 8.2- The Connecting Wood Green bid was for a £700,000 grant plus a £200,000 loan to contribute to projects with a total value of £2.2m, but the GLA have advised that they are minded to award a 100% grant and so that funding will be a £900k grant and no loan.

-          Para 8.3 – Table of finances to be amended so that the £200k loan element of the project for The Gas Works Project is omitted and the grant for The Gas Works Project is increased from £300k to £500k.

-          Para 8.7 - Finance comments about the loan and having in place adequate controls for its repayment can be omitted

-          Para 8.8- Reference to the loan agreements with third parties can be omitted

-          Para 8.12 – Legal comments about the loan can be omitted

 

RESOLVED

 

  1. In the event of the “Connecting Wood Green” application to the GLA’s Good Growth Fund being successful, to give delegated authority to the Strategic Director of Regeneration, Planning and Development and the S151 Officer, after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Social Inclusion and Sustainability, to approve the Good Growth Fund grant agreement with the GLA.

 

  1. In the event of the “Connecting Wood Green” application to the GLA’s Good Growth Fund being successful, to give delegated authority to the Strategic Director of Regeneration, Planning and Development and the S151 Officer, after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Social Inclusion and Sustainability, to approve grant agreements with third parties using the sources of funding as set out in the Connecting Wood Green bid proposal, up to the maximum amount of grant funding for each of the three projects as set out in the proposal, subject to compliance with State Aid legislation.

 

Reasons for decision

 

Haringey made two Stage 1 applications for the Good Growth Fund in autumn 2017, one for Wood Green and one in partnership with local enterprise Fashion Enter. Both bids were successful in getting to Stage 2 and Stage 2 bids were submitted on 5 January 2018. The GLA will be notifying successful candidates in the week commencing 5th March 2018. 

 

The Connecting Wood Green bid is for a £700,000 grant plus a £200,000 loan to contribute to projects with a total value of £2.2m. The proposal comprises three capital projects:

 

·              The Gas Works Project (Olympia Trading Estate)

·              The Library Hub Project (Post Office Unit)

·              Public Realm Interventions (including Penstock Tunnel)

If the bid is successful, then the GLA will require Haringey to enter into a grant agreement by the 31 March 2018. The decision to enter into the grant funding agreement is an executive function as the value of the grant is above £500,000.

 

At the time of writing this report it is not known whether the bid has been successful or not, but in order to meet the deadlines it is necessary to seek conditional approval that, in the event of the bid being successful, Haringey can enter into a grant agreement with the GLA.

 

Alternative options considered

 

In January 2018, Cabinet agreed to adopt the Wood Green Strategic Regeneration Framework (SRF), which sets out the overarching vision and objectives for Wood Green. Officers have developed a Development Infrastructure and Investment Funding Study and Delivery Plan, which will set out projects and priorities for the short, medium and long term.

 

There are a number of projects and priorities in the Wood Green SRF and draft Delivery Plan. All of the projects in the Connecting Wood Green proposal sit within this framework. The projects in the GGF “Connecting Wood Green” application have been proposed because there is a specific opportunity (in the form of a vacant or underused building) or funding already secured which has been used to lever in additional grant from the GLA.

 

If Cabinet does not agree to enter into a grant agreement with the GLA then some projects can still progress but with less funding and some projects will not be able to progress until alternative funding is secured:

 

The Gas Works Project can still go ahead but with less funding. There is a risk that the scheme may become unviable.

 

The Library Hub project can still go ahead but with less funding. There is a risk that the scheme may become unviable.

 

The Public Realm Interventions could not proceed until alternative funding is secured except the Penstock Tunnel refurbishment, which could proceed, but with a reduced scope using secured s106 and TfL funding.

 

If the funding is approved and Haringey enters into a grant agreement with the GLA then it will be necessary to enter into back-to-back grant agreements with third parties as set out in the proposal. The report recommends that delegated authority is given to the Strategic Director of Regeneration, Planning and Development to finalise the grant agreements, this is in order to ensure that the grant agreements can be made by the required deadline of 31 March.

 

The alternative option would be to go back to Cabinet in June 2018 with the final grant agreements, which would not be acceptable as this is after the grant agreement deadline.

 

 

Supporting documents: