Decision details

To seek approval to award a capital grant of up to £900,000 to the M.R.C Pension Trust Limited towards the costs of refurbishment of 33-35 Fargate. The grant will result in job creation and contribute to delivering the objectives of the ‘Front Door Scheme’ intervention funded by the Future High Streets Fund.

That the Executive Director of Place in consultation with the Director of Finance and Commercial Services, the Director of Legal and Governance and the Co-operative Executive Member for Finance approves grant funding to M.R.C Pension Trust Limited (M.R.C) under the amended terms of the grant funding agreement.

On the 25th August 2021 the Leader of The Council approved the inclusion of the £5.1m ‘Front Door Scheme’ FHSF intervention to the capital programme as part of the Month 3 Capital Approvals. The template grant agreement had been drafted and was summarised within the Month 3 Capital papers. The intention was and still is that each organisation will be issued with the same grant agreement, and it was not envisaged that these would be amended materially. However, for any amendments that are needed to the grant agreement prior to each grant agreement being entered into a delegation was approved to the Executive Director of Place, in consultation with the Director of Finance and Commercial Services and the Director of Legal and Governance to agree the final grant agreement terms.

This decision addresses the above and approves grant funding to the landowner, which will secure private sector investment in the buildings refurbishment creating commercial space for new uses and jobs on Fargate.

Do Nothing

Without grant assistance the building is likely to remain vacant and/or underused. A key objective of the Future High Streets Fund is to address this issue by supporting imaginative repurposing of vacant and underused buildings to introduce new uses that will support remaining retail and businesses