MD3094 Civic Partnership Programme

Introduction

1.1.    The Civic Partnership Programme (CPP) is a proposed £12.91m grant-funding programme, to run from 2023-24 to 2026-27. It will target areas of need where local authority regeneration objectives align with Mayoral priorities to combat long-standing inequalities that have been exacerbated by COVID-19 and further intensified by the cost of living crisis and the climate emergency. 

1.2.    CPP funds will be used by London boroughs and their partners to support the development of place-based regeneration strategies and the subsequent delivery of a small number of infrastructure exemplar projects (no more than six). Exemplar projects will develop, implement and evaluate innovative regeneration approaches through a co-design process involving local communities and businesses.

1.3.    The CPP programme is an evolution of the Good Growth Fund and the High Streets for All recovery mission. The budget for the CPP will be sourced from repayments of loans from projects which were funded by the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP) Growing Places Fund (GPF).

Background

1.4.    Existing Mayoral and LEAP funding of physical regeneration is fully committed and will come to an end in 2023-24. This mainly consists of the following:

•    Circa £75m from the Good Growth Fund approved under cover of MD2163, DD2181, DD2222, DD2278, DD2302, DD2389, and DD2455. This is a key delivery mechanism for a place-based interventions that value existing assets and qualities; support local economies; and create more integrated communities through active citizenship and collaboration at a neighbourhood level. 
•    £4.085m from the High Streets for All Challenge as approved under cover of MD2739, MD2901 and DD2585. This delivers on London Recovery Board objectives by supporting exemplar high street projects in each London borough and knowledge sharing across partners.

1.5.    GLA Economics analysis of the government’s 11 major regional funding initiatives (including the Levelling Up Fund (LUF), the Regional Growth Fund and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF)) shows that London receives by far the lowest amount in England: just £76 per person. This is a fraction of the England average of £384 per person. 

1.6.    To optimise delivery against Mayoral and wider London priorities in a context of reduced national funding we need to be clear about where and why we invest; co-ordinate with other funding streams; and ensure the GLA Planning and Regeneration team’s support offer for London’s communities is adding value. With no continuing regeneration funding, the GLA’s ability to influence the quality of borough-led regeneration projects would also be reduced.

1.7.    In October 2022, the LEAP Board endorsed a proposal to use £12.5m from existing repayment of loans from GPF-funded projects, in order to develop a place-based regeneration fund. This fund draws upon learning from the fully committed Good Growth Fund and effective collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic, and targets places of greatest need.

1.8.    The LEAP Board also endorsed a separate proposal for deployment of £750,000 from the remaining GPF revenue budget, in order to support the ongoing recovery of London’s everyday economy and help address the cost-of-living crisis. Under cover of MD3057 the Mayor had already approved the allocation and expenditure of £340,000. This leaves £410,000 uncommitted.

1.9.    This decision form sets out the proposal to create a budget envelope of £12.91m from the GPF returns and remaining GPF revenue budget for the CPP from 2023-24 to 2026-27. This will include a switch of £100,000 capital to revenue. This will provide:

•    £12.4m capital grant funding as a contribution to the delivery costs of third-party exemplar projects
•    £450,000 revenue grant funding as a contribution to the delivery cost of third-party local regeneration strategies
•    £60,000 revenue for associated operational expenditure and programme support costs, to: support projects in the development of their proposals with targeted expert advice; provide for, and enable, knowledge-sharing opportunities; and procure an independent programme evaluation.

1.10.    This decision form also proposes to delegate authority to the Executive Director, Good Growth, to approve detailed funding allocations in accordance with the principles and priorities set out in this decision form. 
 

Objectives
2.1.    London’s long-standing inequalities have been exacerbated by COVID-19, and further intensified by the cost-of-living crisis and the climate and ecological emergencies. London Datastore information indicates significant challenges in how local places and communities across London are affected.

2.2.    As existing Mayoral and LEAP investments in place-based regeneration, through the Good Growth Fund and the High Streets for All Challenge, come to an end, the Planning and Regeneration team continues to provide engagement and leadership through:

•    a London-wide support offer via the Good Growth by Design programme, which promotes quality, sustainability and inclusion in the built environment; and the High Street Network, which regularly brings together public, private and third-sector partners to share best practice
•    a place-based support offer via area-team-led coordination and engagement, supported by targeted expert input from the Mayor’s Design Advocates (MDAs).

2.3.    While these support mechanisms are valuable in themselves, it is when the GLA can align advice with capital grant funding that we can have the greatest influence to drive up quality, enable innovation, facilitate engagement, lever additional investment, improve outcomes and build capability.

2.4.    The new fund creates a significant investment offer in alignment with the London Recovery Board’s Economic Recovery Framework and the Building a Fairer London Recovery Framework. This is particularly timely as London boroughs consider how to use national funding allocations from UKSPF, and whether to submit applications to Levelling Up Fund round 3. 

2.5.    Responding to the impacts of the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and the climate and ecological emergencies requires concerted action across communities, driving changes in behaviour and new models of collaboration and exchange. The CPP will support exemplar, transformative area-based projects, that deliver a coordinated plan of activity across a range of priorities. 

2.6.    Building on effective cross-London coordination, and in response to feedback from boroughs and London Councils, we will target places of greatest need where local regeneration aspirations align with Mayoral and wider London government priorities. We will use data analysis, engagement and co-design with London boroughs and local partnerships to make our funding decisions.

2.7.    To increase the likelihood of projects creating long-term impact, having certainty around delivery and attracting key partners including anchor institutions, we intend to focus on three to six capital awards in the region of £2m to £4m. This approach also generates benefits in terms of programme resourcing and the ability to make cross policy connections in a given place.

2.8.    Engagement with GLA policy teams and TfL has identified certain objectives that situate Mayoral priorities in the domain of physical regeneration. These provide a framework to create civic exemplar projects within agreed places, supporting local communities and businesses most affected by the challenges facing London more broadly. The objectives are:

•    expanding the public realm – creating open, connected and inclusive public spaces, high streets and green and blue spaces, alongside welcoming social and cultural infrastructure
•    strengthening representation and authorship in physical regeneration – delivering projects for and with the communities they serve, particularly people from Black and minoritised communities, and younger and older Londoners
•    addressing the climate and ecological emergencies – strengthening London's climate resilience and tackling environmental inequalities.

2.9.    These objectives are underpinned by the Mayor’s Good Growth by Design ‘Setting Standards’ workstream. The aim is to implement the principles we established through research on key built-environment issues, including ‘Expanding London’s Public Realm’ and ‘Connective Social Infrastructure’.

Expected outcomes

2.10.    Based on previous experience delivering place-based programmes including the Good Growth Fund, and on the types of projects we are expecting to deliver, a set of output and outcome measures similar to those listed below would be used to track the progress of the proposed funding programme (these measures also align with key metrics in London’s UKSPF investment plan submission): 

•    public realm created or improved (m2)
•    commercial buildings developed or improved (m2)
•    trees planted (numerical value)
•    improved engagement numbers
•    improved perception of facilities/amenities (percentage increase)
•    increased footfall (percentage increase)
•    increased take up of energy efficiency measures (percentage increase)
•    jobs created or existing jobs safeguarded (numerical value)
•    embodied carbon reduced (kg CO2 per kg) 
•    operations energy usage (calculated using TM 54)
•    urban greening (m2).

2.11.    These core metrics will be complemented, on a project-by-project basis, by additional performance indicators agreed in collaboration with delivery partners. All measures will have agreed and consistent definitions and units of measurement, and will be reported to the GLA on a quarterly basis through direct project reporting.

2.12.    Exact programme targets for outputs and outcomes will be confirmed once projects enter into a grant agreement. All successful funding recipients must undertake a self-evaluation of the project, the parameters of which will be agreed at project inception.

How the CPP exemplar projects will be selected and delivered

2.13.    The CPP exemplar project selection process has four distinct stages that ensure the programme delivers value for money: identification; validation and moderation; strategy development and case-making; appraisal and investment decision.

Identification

2.14.    The GLA City Intelligence Unit working with Planning and Regeneration and other teams has developed a mapping tool to identify potential geographical areas of focus within a robust framework through a triangulation of secondary, publicly available data sources. These areas of focus are as follows:

•    targeting need – in light of uneven recovery trajectories the programme will further target communities and places that are in the top quintile of the Indices of Multiple Deprivation and face high climate vulnerability, evidenced by such issues as such as surface flooding and overheating
•    building civic strength – supporting areas in the top quintile with deficiencies in the Civic Strength Index ‘Public and Social Infrastructure’ theme
•    supporting places of change – supporting existing communities in established growth areas experiencing large-scale development and housing growth, based on granted planning permissions and housebuilding starts.

2.15.    We have engaged with London Councils and borough heads of regeneration to test and validate our assumptions for the mapping tool. This has resulted in a longlist of 25 places (as set out at Appendix 1) that fulfil all of the above criteria and will be interrogated further with regard to their potential to align with the CPP programme for delivery of impactful, place-based regeneration interventions. 

Validation and moderation

2.16.    GLA Planning and Regeneration officers, in consultation with other teams – including Environment and Energy, and Culture and Creative Industries – will provide additional scrutiny by interrogating the longlist of places. This will take into account place-specific insights from existing GLA programmes and further engagement with partners including London Councils to address any anomalies that emerge.

2.17.    Drawing on these insights, GLA officers will agree an internal shortlist of eight to ten places where the CPP programme can build on local momentum and buy-in by increasing partnership working; develop more holistic place-based strategies; and translate agreed plans into tangible outcomes.

2.18.    Validation and moderation will also take into account the geographical spread across London, to ensure that only one place will be shortlisted in a borough.

Strategy development and case making

2.19.    Coinciding with the public launch of the programme, each London borough with a shortlisted place will be invited to a GLA-led launch workshop to ensure partners are fully informed about the GLA’s expectations relating to local engagement, sustainability, place strategy development and exemplar project delivery.

2.20.    Each shortlisted place will be offered between £40,000 and £50,000 revenue to convene a local partnership and develop a geographically specific regeneration strategy and business case. The strategy and business case will set out their broad proposals for catalysing the development of the area in line with the objectives stated at paragraph 2.8, above. London boroughs might be a key project partner of the local partnership, or they might lead it, given the scope of the programme and the need to secure local political buy-in.

2.21.    The completed place strategies and business cases will form the applications for the CPP capital funding. Appendix 2 of this decision form sets out the outputs that should be included in the strategy and the business case. 

2.22.    All local partnerships will also be able to use their place strategy development as the basis for local action and for seeking funding from other sources, building a pipeline of schemes to take advantage of future investment opportunities.

Appraisal and investment decision

2.23.    The CPP draws on insights from the Good Growth Fund and lessons from programme delivery across the Good Growth directorate, to ensure effective cross-policy objectives are established, and that the new fund can accommodate a range of multi-faceted activities and work with a range of partners. 

2.24.    The appraisal and investment decision stage will provide a further level of scrutiny and introduce a programme-wide view and assessment process. The aims are to ensure consistency of assessment; scrutinise investment-readiness focused on the detail of proposals; and interrogate whether applicants would deliver high-quality projects and outcomes, and what sort of contribution they would make to the strategic objectives of the programme. 

2.25.    To maximise impact beyond funded projects, proposals should also take account of the need to invest time and effort in peer-exchange and wider dissemination of lessons learned between boroughs, local partner organisations and communities. 

2.26.    Full appraisal details will be included in delegated decision to the Executive Director, Good Growth, for the detailed funding allocations.

Exemplar projects delivery

2.27.    From experience with the Good Growth Fund, we already know that delivery partners require sufficient time to engage meaningfully; build local partnerships and capacity; develop and embed multi-faceted projects; and take these through procurement and delivery. An extended timeline from 2024-25 to 2026-27 is vital and realistic to ensure that the success of the programme is fully realised.

2.28.    Programme delivery will be managed by established staff through area-based officers in the GLA Planning and Regeneration team, building on their experience in delivering significant funding programmes including the Good Growth Fund and the High Streets for All Challenge, and area-based engagement with the boroughs. Area officers will coordinate with relevant leads in other policy units to draw on their skills and expertise as required.

2.29.    Rigorous programme level reporting and monitoring will be undertaken. This oversight activity includes all stages of project delivery from concept to closure, through grant agreements and project monitoring; capturing project outputs and outcomes; and providing support to the wider team on programme and project management and strategy. 

Programme-wide support activities

2.30.    This decision form also seeks approval to provide £60,000 for associated operational expenditure and programme support costs, to: support exemplar projects in the development of their project proposals with targeted expert advice; provide for, and enable, knowledge-sharing opportunities; and enable the procurement of an independent evaluation of the programme. 

2.31.    The proposed revenue-funded support activities will ensure that place-based strategies and exemplar projects are of the highest possible quality, and that the overall programme objectives are met. These activities include the following:

•    Expert advice (£20,000) – to support delivery partners in the development of projects, with targeted advice to shape and influence the delivery of targeted outcomes. Up to four days of support will be made available to projects. Experts will be drawn from the MDAs, and will include specialists areas including: project set-up; evaluation and economics; community engagement; partnership formation and capacity-building; architecture and urbanism; public space and public art; landscape architecture; heritage and conservation; markets; climate-change action planning; child-friendly design and play; cultural curation; business planning and organisational development; property development advice; skills and employability support; business support, community business and enterprise; and planning and licensing incentives. The GLA’s MDA framework agreement provides a mechanism whereby the GLA may procure an MDA’s services by entering into a call-off contract with them. In each case the MDA panel manager in the Planning and Regeneration team will assess the skills requirements and appoint an MDA directly or by a mini-competition. 
•    Engagement and knowledge-sharing (£20,000) – to support a communications strategy for the lifetime of the programme. This will maximise outreach, shared learning and impact through the dissemination of results. It will include programme-wide workshops and networking events. 
•    Independent programme evaluation (£20,000) – to complement these activities, an independent evaluation of the programme should be procured. 

2.32.    All services will be procured or commissioned in accordance with the Contracts and Funding Code and local partnerships will be required to demonstrate compliance with procurement regulation and subsidy control rules in their submissions.

Expenditure breakdown

2.33.    The expenditure breakdown per work strand in the CPP programme is as follows:

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act), as a public authority the GLA must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and any conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act; and to advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. This involves having due regard to the need to remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share a relevant protected characteristic that is connected to that characteristic; taking steps to meet the different needs of such people; and encouraging them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low. 

3.2.    The relevant protected characteristics under section 149 of the Equality Act are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marital or civil partnership status, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Compliance with the duty may involve ensuring people with a protected characteristic are provided with all the opportunities that those without the characteristic would have.

3.3.    The Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy sets out how the Mayor works to create a fairer, more equal, integrated city where all people feel welcome and able to fulfil their potential. Equality, diversity and inclusion are subsequently enshrined within the GLA’s strategies, programmes and activities.

3.4.    As part of its ongoing legal responsibility to have due regard to the need to promote equality in everything it does, including its decision-making, the GLA will ensure the removal of barriers that may prevent those with protected characteristics benefiting from the projects.

3.5.    The selection process for the CPP has made explicitly clear that selected projects should be developed in collaboration with the local community, including under-represented groups such as those with protected characteristics. This will help advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.6.    The core of the CPP prioritises communities that are particularly exposed to inequalities that have been exacerbated by COVID-19 and further intensified by the cost-of living-crisis and the climate emergency. London-wide information from the London Datastore will be used to target local communities of highest need, as set out in paragraphs 2.14 to 2.18 of this decision form.

3.7.    All projects will need to demonstrate in the specification of scope and methodology how they are considering the needs of their local communities, specifically under-represented groups, such as those with protected characteristics. These projects will also need to demonstrate how they will ensure that, as relevant, these needs are included in the design and implementation of local strategies and projects; and how the relevant groups will benefit from them.
 

Key risks and issues

4.1.    The key risks and issues are set out in the table below.

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2.    The funding outlined in this decision form will be used to develop and deliver strategically important projects that contribute directly to the approach that the Mayor has adopted for London’s economic and social recovery – specifically through the London Recovery Board’s Economic Recovery Framework and the Building a Fairer London Recovery Framework.

4.3.    The proposed programme will be closely aligned to Mayoral, LEAP and London Recovery Board priorities, ensuring that the GLA continues to play an influential role in supporting and driving up the quality of physical regeneration across London. Engagement with the boroughs and delivery partners highlights their continued demand for targeted support by City Hall, making the case for the development of an exemplar investment programme to bridge the gap between immediate and longer-term recovery within the framework of current Mayoral priorities. These priorities are:

•    Keeping London Safe – promoting dignity in the public realm
•    Getting London Back on its Feet – recovery, jobs and skills 
•    Supporting Young People – opportunities for young Londoners 
•    Green New Deal – addressing the climate and ecological emergencies and improving air quality
•    Affordable Housing and Physical Delivery.

4.4.    The CPP programme supports cross-cutting recovery principles. Funded projects will be expected to deliver outcomes that address social, economic and health inequalities; deliver a cleaner, greener London; and ensure Londoners are at the heart of recovery by playing an active role in their communities.

4.5.    The proposed expenditure is expected to deliver against multiple objectives included in the London Plan to promote and enhance the vitality and viability of London’s varied town centres; the Mayor’s Economic Development Strategy; the Culture Strategy for London; the 24-hour London vision; and the Healthy Streets agenda. 

Consultations and impact assessments

4.6.    The outline for the CPP has been developed in response to the issues and challenges that partners and stakeholders have raised in our discussions with them. It has been tested with London Councils and representatives from London boroughs.

4.7.    Impact assessments were undertaken for the above-mentioned relevant strategies. As this funding will help deliver the objectives of these strategies, the original impact assessments are still relevant to the programme.

4.8.    There will be appropriate levels of impact assessment and stakeholder consultation in relation to the development and delivery of projects funded through this programme.

Conflicts of interest

4.9.    No GLA officer involved in the drafting or clearance of this MD is aware of any conflicts of interest with the proposed programme.

4.10.    If any conflicts of interest arise during grant-funding process, officers will be required to declare that interest as part of a requirement of the Contracts and Funding Code; and to not take any part in the grant-funding process for that particular project. This process will also be in accordance with the Code of Ethics and Standards for Staff, and accompanying guidance on registering and declaring interests.
 

5.1.    Approval is being sought for expenditure of:

•    Up to £12.4m capital grant funding as a contribution to the costs of delivery of third party exemplar projects
•    £450,000 revenue grant funding as a contribution to the cost of delivery of third party local regeneration strategies
•    £60,000 revenue for associated operational expenditure and programme support costs. 

5.2.    The £12.4m capital grant will be funded from the repayment of loans from projects that were funded by the Growing Places Fund. This proposal has been endorsed by the LEAP Board at its October 2022 meeting.

5.3.    There is currently £10.46m uncommitted funding in the Growing Places Fund and there are further returns due totalling £10.6m resulting in a forecast total of £21.01m returns by March 2027.  Contractual commitments will only be made up to the value of the uncommitted returns banked at that time. It is forecast that by the end of 2023-24 financial year the returns will be sufficient to cover the full funding commitment.

5.4.    The £450,000 strategy development revenue grant will be funded from two sources. £410,000 will be funded from the Growing Places Fund budget within the Planning and Regeneration Unit. Expenditure is subject to final approval of the Mayor’s budget for 2023-24. 

5.5.    The remaining £40,000 for strategy development as well as the £60,000 programme wide support costs will require a switch of funding between capital and revenue as Growing Places Fund Returns are classified as capital funds. Funds have been identified within the Culture and Creative Industries capital programme that can be switched as they are financed via GLA revenue. 

5.6.    It is planned that the expenditure will be incurred across four financial years with an expected profile as shown in the table below:

5.7.    All relevant budget adjustments will be made.

6.1.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

•    the decisions requested of the Mayor fall within the statutory powers of the GLA to do such things as may be considered to further, and or be facilitative of or conducive or incidental to the furthering of, the promotion of economic and social development in Greater London
•    in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:    

(a)    pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
(b)    consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom
(c)    consult with appropriate bodies.    

    
6.2.    If the Mayor is minded to approve the recommendations in respect of which decisions are sought, officers must ensure that the GLA enters into: 

6.2.1.    suitable grant funding agreements as a contribution to the costs of delivery of third-party exemplar projects and to the cost of delivery of third party local regeneration strategies
6.2.2.    suitable arrangements with the Executive Director Good Growth to approve detailed funding allocations in accordance with the principles and priorities set out in this decision form.

6.3.    In taking the decisions requested of him, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector 
Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.
 

7.1.    In designing and delivering the Good Growth Fund, the GLA Planning and Regeneration team engaged in a process of continuous improvement, co-designing and refining the programme in each of its three rounds, in collaboration with partners, particularly London’s local authorities. This same approach will be taken on this new fund, reducing the inefficiencies and waste often incurred by applicants in bidding unsuccessfully for grants. Enhancing the availability of local data and intelligence will enable us to appraise projects and allocate funding more efficiently, and we will use the grant agreement process to leverage maximum social value from every grant award, negotiating clear and specific expectations of delivery partners, whilst supporting them with access to specialist expertise, guidance, and tools. 

7.2.    Engagement with delivery partners will include workshops to ensure the projects are fully informed about the GLA’s expectations relating to project design, delivery and monitoring. The skills and expertise refined over the course of the Good Growth Fund are invaluable assets which can be deployed again, and where possible we will work with internal colleagues like the Opinion, Research and Statistics team to gather feedback from applicants and delivery partners to enable us to make swift and decisive improvements to our working practices.

7.3.    A timetable for the delivery of the programme is shown below: