Scrutiny Committee uphold decision to shortlist 29 applications for share of £25.6 million worth of funding
The decision by Denbighshire County Council’s Cabinet to shortlist 29 applications for funding from the UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) has been upheld by the Council’s Partnerships Scrutiny Committee.
The UKSPF is part of the UK Government’s Levelling Up agenda, providing funding for local investment across the UK until March 2025. £25.6 million worth of funds have been made available for projects across Denbighshire.
Denbighshire Council received 110 applications from community, business and enterprise projects across the county, requesting nearly four times the amount that has been allocated to Denbighshire from the UKSPF. Unfortunately, this meant that a majority of the projects could not be shortlisted to progress to the next stage of the application process. However, support has been made available from the Council to help unsuccessful applicants explore other funding avenues for their projects where possible.
The decision to shortlist 29 applications made by Cabinet on the 25th of April 2023 was called in by five Councillors due to concerns regarding the decision-making process for shortlisting applications.
The matter was debated at Scrutiny level by the Council’s Partnerships Scrutiny Committee on the 18th of May 2023 where members concluded that they were satisfied with the Cabinet’s original decision, noting that the process was robust and transparent enough to be upheld by the committee.
Recommendations for improvements to processes within the Council, including communication and engagement with Councillors, will be passed on to the Cabinet at their next meeting.
Council Leader, Cllr Jason McLellan, said: “We are glad that the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee have reviewed this matter and have determined that the decision made by Cabinet on the 25th of April should be upheld.
“We are pleased to now be able to move forward with the next stage of the application process for Shared Prosperity Funding in Denbighshire and look forward to the commencement of these projects in the near future.”
For more information about the Shared Prosperity Fund in Denbighshire, head over to the Denbighshire County Council Website: https://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/community-and-living/uk-shared-prosperity-fund/uk-shared-prosperity-fund.aspx
