Agenda item

Report attached.

Members considered a report of Councillor Steven Smithson, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services, informing the Cabinet of progress in relation to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) funding bid relating to Memorial Park in Great Harwood.

In the absence of Councillor Smithson, the Leader of the Council introduced the report.  Councillor Miles Parkinson reported that the successful bid was good news for Great Harwood and for the Friends of Memorial Park who had been involved in an earlier unsuccessful bid for refurbishment of the park.  The Council was continuing to rejuvenate many of its parks.  This was the first phase for Memorial Park and additional opportunities for funding would be sought to regenerate the sports pavilion and to carry out levelling of the sports pitches.  The overall improvements to parks would help residents to become more active and would be delivered in conjunction with activity by local schools and the Council’s investment in other sports provision, such as tennis courts.  The Council remained committed to investing in Great Harwood, including the repurposing of Mercer Hall.

Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP welcomed the report and noted that the current proposals built upon work by the previous political administration to make repairs to parks.  The Leader acknowledged that there had been good work undertaken to improve the Borough’s parks over the last 20 years.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

In 2008, the Parks & Cemetery Service had started working with the Friends of (FO) Memorial Park to explore the possibility of applying for funding administered via the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) to refurbish Memorial Park in Great Harwood.  An initial bid had been submitted to the then Heritage Lottery Fund, but this had been unsuccessful.

In 2021, the outcome of a consultation with the local community had showed that residents would like to see the refurbishment of park facilities, better use of the Biological Heritage Site (BHS) in the park, better access into the BHS, refurbishment of the war memorial and gardens, interpretation, sustainable horticultural improvements and footpath improvements.

In addition to the refurbishment work, there was a desire to have more activities in the park post capital works to encourage participation and develop the audience of people who would use the park.

Before submitting the NLHF bid, enquiries had been made with the NLHF and their preferred way forward was for the Council to work with a partner organisation who had the appropriate skills and abilities to enable a first class project to be delivered.  Proffitts CIC were a community interest company who had expertise in green space improvement projects and audience development.

Cabinet had agreed on 21 March 2018 for the Council to work with Proffitts CIC to secure NLHF funding for Memorial Park in Great Harwood and had noted the proposal to appoint Proffitts as project manager should the funding bid be successful.

The Council had received news that the NLHF funding bid relating to Memorial Park in Great Harwood had been successful.  The project had been allocated £248,650 for the delivery stage of the project by the HLF.  The total value of the project including funding from landfill tax and the Council, plus gift in kind work, was £338,650.

The funding secured for this project would allow for:

(i)         Replacement of damaged boundary railings;

(ii)        Repairs to the war memorial and memorial grounds;

(iii)      Repairing stone tree pits;

(iv)      Tree management work;

(v)       Upgrading paths and installing boardwalks in the woodland;

(vi)      Installing bins/seating;

(vii)     Installation of bird box camera;

(viii)    A programme of activities and engagement with the local community.

As Memorial Park in Great Harwood would be the beneficiary of the grant funding from NLHF, it had been agreed with NLHF that the Council would act as accountable body for the project because the Council as landowner and grant recipient would need to abide by their terms and conditions.

ProffittsCIC were the applicant on behalf of the Council in relation to the successful NLHF funding bid and had detailed knowledge of the project.  To ensure consistency in the delivery phase it was proposed the Council should waive its Contract Procedure Rules to continue to work in partnership with Proffitts CIC to implement and complete the Project.  It had been agreed with NLHF that Proffitts CIC would act as project manager for the delivery phase of the project.  The costs relating to Proffitts CIC undertaking this work had been set and agreed with the NLHF and would fall within the overall project budget.

The delivery stage work would commence on site once all permissions had been finalised and secured.

Alternative Options considered and Reasons for Rejection

Not to continue with the delivery stage of National Lottery Heritage Fund funding award and try to undertake improvements to Memorial Park via a piece meal approach.  This was not recommended, as grant funding had now been secured and this work could be undertaken as one project.

Resolved                                    -    That Cabinet:

(1)    Continues to support the refurbishment and improvement of Memorial Park as outlined in the report (“the Project”) and welcomes receipt of the National Lottery Heritage Funding.

(2)    Agrees to the Council being accountable body in respect of the Project and in accordance with the HLF’s terms and conditions in connection with the Project

(3)    Delegates authority to the Executive Director (Environment) to take all reasonable steps to implement and complete the Project, including entering into the necessary agreement with the NLHF, engaging consultants and contractors as required to deliver the Project and obtaining all necessary permissions and consents.

(4)    Recommends that the Council supports the Project and allocates £50,000 from the Council’s 2023/24 capital programme as match funding, subject to approval of the Council’s budget for 2023/24.

(5)    Agrees to waive the Contracts Procedure Rules and grants delegated authority to the Executive Director (Environment), following consultation with the Executive Director (Legal and Democratic Services), to agree the terms of the agreement to appoint Proffitts CIC as set out in Paragraph 3.10 of the report.