Governance
UK Shared Prosperity Fund
UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF)
Ashfield has been allocated £3,192,135 from the UKSPF to fund local projects for three years from 2022/23 onwards. In addition, Nottinghamshire County Council will receive £4,255,273 from the government’s Multiply programme to support adults to improve their numeracy skills.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will replace European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs) such as the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) which supported a range of job creation, innovation and skills programmes.
Investment priorities
The primary goal of the UKSPF is to build pride in place and increase life chances. The fund will improve the place people live in, and support individuals and business.
The investment will focus on three priorities:
1.Communities and place
Enable places to invest to restore their community spaces and relationships and create the foundations for economic development at the neighbourhood-level. The intention of this is to strengthen the social fabric of communities, supporting in building pride in place, activities that enhance physical, cultural and social ties and amenities, such as community infrastructure and local green space, and community-led projects.
- Building resilient, safe and healthy neighbourhoods, investment in quality places through targeted improvements to the built environment and innovative approaches to crime prevention.
2.Supporting local business
Supporting local business investment priority will enable places to fund interventions that support local businesses to thrive, innovate and grow.
- Creating jobs and boosting community cohesion, investments that build on existing industries and institutions, support for starting businesses to visible improvements to local retail, hospitality and leisure sector facilities.
- Promoting networking and collaboration, bringing together businesses and partners to share knowledge, expertise and resources, and stimulate innovation and growth.
- Increasing private sector investment in growth-enhancing activities, targeted support for SMEs for new-to-firm innovation, productivity-enhancing, energy efficient and low carbon technologies and techniques, and start or grow exports.
3.People and skills
To help reduce the barriers some people face to employment and support them to move towards employment and education. Places can also target funding into skills for local areas to support employment and local growth. From 2024-25 onwards, unless projects meet the voluntary sector considerations (due to existing EU funding) UKSPF will be the main source of funding to support employment provision for economically inactive people. Local areas should ensure investment in employment support is tailored to local needs and facilitate the join-up of mainstream provision and local services, through the use of keyworker support and community interventions, including engagement with integrated care systems.
What's next?
Our next step is to develop and submit an investment plan by 1st August 2022 to be approved for the funding.
To help inform and develop the investment plan for Ashfield, we will be hosting stakeholder workshops on Wednesday 22nd June:
Workshop 1 – Communities and Place Arrival from 9am with a start time of 9:15am until 12pm
Workshop 2 – Supporting local businesses / People and Skills Arrival from 12.45pm with a start time of 1pm until 3.30pm.
For further information and/or to register to attend please email discoverashfield@ashfield.gov.uk
More information
Read more about the UKSPF at GOV.UK.
Please note
All the above information may be subject to change upon receiving further government guidance.
Towns Deal Board
The Discover Ashfield Board has agreed to act as the Town Deal Board following approval from board members and Ashfield District Council’s Cabinet. A Town Deal Board is required to oversee the Towns Fund to ensure that there is involvement and engagement with a wide range of people and organisations.
The Board membership has been expanded to include the local MPs, additional community representation and the Integrated Care Partnership. The board will serve an advisory function to the Council with regards to the Town Deal funding.
Our formal documents:
Towns Fund sub-group - Terms of Reference
Board Constitution and Terms of Reference
Board Membership
Board Structure
Code Of Conduct
Declaration of Interests
Roles and Responsibilities