Decision details

Decision to ratify allocations and variations proposed by the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership.

a)         That the grants to projects and the programme management fee, as described in the report and totalling £871k, be approved;

b)         That the Strategic Director (City Development and Neighbourhoods) be authorised to distribute the £1.129m balance of the 2015/16 business rates pool funds, as may be approved by the LLEP Programme Board in the future; and

c)         That the City Barrister and Head of Standards be authorised to enter into the necessary legal agreements.

The LLEP has control of the net levies (or surplus) arising from the county wide business rates pool. The LLEP Board has agreed that the funds can be used to make grants to support project development costs associated with capital schemes, together with implementation costs of schemes in the LLEP’s project pipeline. The Council as accountable body provides the final sign-off of LLEP decisions.

If the Executive does not give the necessary approvals, then the developments and projects are unlikely to proceed and the benefits would not be realised. In addition, the standing of the LLEP and the Council with regards to economic growth and the accountable body role respectively could be impaired.