Hampshire County Council

Executive Member - Recreation and Heritage Item 11

13 May 2004

The Leigh Park Crafts Initiative, Havant

Report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage

Contact: Michael Fuller Ext:6016 [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The following Decision is sought:

That funding in the Capital Programme for the Leigh Park Crafts Initiative be used in the next four months to pay for work on the Project whilst grant aid from other funders is being confirmed and subject to written agreement from Havant Borough Council to share the risk on a 50:50 basis.

2. Reason

2.1 To allow work to continue on the Leigh Park Crafts Initiative Project so that it can more easily comply with the funding conditions from the other funders which are Arts Council England and South East England Development Agency.

2.2 The Leigh Park Crafts Initiative supports the County Council's Corporate Strategy with achieving economic prosperity and economic well being through the creation of jobs and training people to develop their skills and improve their employability as self employed or with small companies. It also provides access to lifelong learning.

3. Other options considered and rejected - Project options have included not going ahead with the Project, different scales of development and alternative sites across the county with different funding possibilities.

4. Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or other Executive Member consulted - None.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - Not applicable.

6. Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent - Not applicable.

Approved by: Date: (date of decision)

Councillor J. Waddington

................................. ..............................

Hampshire County Council

Executive Member - Recreation and Heritage Item 11

13 May 2004

The Leigh Park Crafts Initiative, Havant

Report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage

Contact: Michael Fuller Ext: 6016

1. Introduction

1.1 The Leigh Park Crafts Initiative has been promised a large amount of funding which if confirmed means a building can be built. However, written confirmation of funding has not been received and so work done now would be 'at risk' if the promises were not honoured. The £40,000 funding within the Recreation and Heritage Capital Programme for this Project can be used to fund the current preparatory work while funding agreements are negotiated.

1.2 At the Decision Day on 17 July 2003 it was decided to allocate £40,000 to be the contribution of Hampshire County Council to the Leigh Park Crafts Initiative project. The report provided at that occasion explained the full detail of the capital and revenue implications of the project and the joint aspirations of the partners, namely, Havant Borough Council, Arts Council England and SEEDA (South East England Development Agency). At the Decision Day on 18 February 2004 it was agreed to provide revenue funding of £20,000 for the LPCI Company to prepare for them running the Project and the building when it is completed.

2. The Proposals at Leigh Park

2.1 The scheme at Leigh Park is being managed by a Project Team comprising Hampshire County Council staff from the Recreation and Heritage, Finance and Property, Building and Regulatory Departments plus one member of staff from Havant Borough Council. Successful applications for funding have been made bringing in £400,000 from Arts Council England and £226,000 capital and £60,000 revenue to cover 2004/05 and 2005/06 from SRB through SEEDA, being the Single Regeneration Budget and South East England Development Agency. Applications have also been made to two charities. Matching capital funding had also been requested from Havant Borough Council but has been turned down, although the Borough Council has confirmed that it will contribute the value of the land estimated at about £140,000.

2.2 The current ambition for the facility comprises two classrooms for practical craft education work and seven craft workshops to be let to professional craft workers. It will be sited on the car park to the rear of the Leigh Park Community Centre adjacent to the new Sure Start Centre and the Apex Centre. A programme of consultation is currently underway to appraise local people of the impact and the opportunities available in the new building which could be open in December 2005. If work stopped until confirmation of funding was received then opening would be delayed until March 2006 and the building has to be open by then to draw down the SRB capital funding.

2.3 The two main funders have different but linked conditions behind their funding. The SRB funding requires further confirmation by SEEDA as the request includes £60,000 of revenue support and takes the sum over the maximum that SRB is allowed to agree on its own. The Leigh Park SRB Board has set one condition that all funding must be confirmed by 30 June or else the offer would be withdrawn. However, the decision from SEEDA might not be expected until late June. The Arts Council England funding was agreed in 2003 for a larger scheme and negotiations are underway to obtain their agreement to the smaller scheme currently being planned which could be expected at the end of June at the latest.

2.4 A bid for funding is in the process of being made to the Henry Smith charity to cover the shortfall of £84,000. Initial discussions indicated that the charity would look favourably on such an approach but it is likely that a decision will not be known until the end of June.

2.5 For these reasons the funding currently in place is not fully confirmed. The Project Team need to continue with their planning work so as to ensure that the project complies with the SRB/SEEDA conditions on timescale but without the certainty of future funding. Also delays mean that costs rise without increased funding and thus reduce the scale of the project.

3. Capital Funding

3.1 The current Capital Programme contains a sum of £40,000 in 2004/05 as the County Council's contribution to the LPCI Project as was agreed at the Decision Day of the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage on 17 July 2003. This sum is therefore available for use as suggested in this report.

4. Financial Implications

4.1 The total scheme is being estimated at £750,000 at outturn costs. This is being found from Arts Council England (£400,000), SRB/SEEDA (£226,000), Hampshire County Council (£40,000) and other fundraising (£84,000). This is proving a very good value scheme for the Councils involved. The ongoing revenue costs have been calculated at no more than £40,000 per year after the settling down period. Half of this sum has been found from within the Recreation and Heritage budget for the current year. The request made to Havant Borough Council for their pledge to match this over the future years of the Project has been met with a commitment to pay £20,000 per year using funding from other SRB projects. This money would be paid to the independent company set up to run the facility. As explained in the report of July 2003, an independent company is set up to run the Project and to manage the building once it is completed and handed over.

4.2 The issue at this moment in time is that capital funding from other sources is not fully confirmed and expenditure is currently 'at risk' as the confirmations might not eventually be made. The future work which would use the funding within the Capital Programme would be undertaken by the County Council's own architects. As outside funding is expected to be confirmed by the end of July at the latest the risk is that the expenditure by Architects would be wasted if the funding were refused. There is no indication of the cost of this work but it would certainly be less than half of the funding in the budget. This report requests that Hampshire County Council takes the risk and supports the work on the Project to be done through the next few months to a limit of £40,000, subject to sharing the risk with Havant Borough Council on a 50:50 basis.

5. Legal Implications

5.1 The County Council is able to utilise broad powers under the Local Government Act 1972 to provide financial support for the arts. In particular, Section 145 of the Act enables the Council to contribute towards the expenses of doing anything necessary or expedient for any of a number of purposes, including the provision of entertainment of any nature, or the provision of a theatre, concert hall, dance hall or other premises suitable for entertainment. The powers include the ability to contribute towards the expenses of maintaining a band or orchestra and towards the development and improvement of the knowledge, understanding and practice of the arts.

6. The Views of the Local Members

6.1 The centre of Leigh Park falls into the Battins and Bondfields Ward where the elected member is Councillor Bill Wheeler. Councillor Allbright is the appointed member on the Leigh Park Crafts Initiative Trust and has also been contacted. Councillor Wheeler has expressed his full support for the scheme and wants to be kept informed of its progress.

Recommendation

That funding in the Capital Programme for the Leigh Park Crafts Initiative be used in the next four months to pay for work on the Project whilst grant aid from other funders is being confirmed, subject to written confirmation from Havant Borough Council that they will share the financial risk on a 50:50 basis.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

N.B. the list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents that disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

TITLE LOCATION

Notice of funding, Arts Council England Arts Office file

Notes of meeting of SRB board Arts Office file