MD2871 Future Neighbourhoods 2030– Allocation and expenditure for 2021

1.1. Future Neighbourhoods 2030 (FN2030) is a three year £7.5 million programme which will support the delivery of between two and four exemplar, transformative Future Neighbourhoods to tackle environmental challenges in areas of high deprivation and climate vulnerability, and in areas disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic between 2021-24. They will act as exemplars of what a zero carbon, zero waste, zero pollution city could look like at a local level. The selected Future Neighbourhoods will be announced before COP26 in October 2021.

1.2. The FN2030 programme is aligned to the priorities of the London Recovery Board’s Green New Deal mission. It represents an important mechanism for driving action in relation to the mission, at the most local scale.

1.3. The programme supports the development of strategies and projects that have at their centre the four overarching objectives of the Green New Deal Mission:

• Improve London’s natural environment, improve air quality and tackle the climate and ecological emergencies.
• Promote and incentivise activities that sustain and grow London’s green economy.
• Prioritise interventions reducing health inequalities and social injustices.
• Engage Londoners and businesses in their journey to become a zero pollution and greener city.

1.4. Projects supported through the fund will drive action across five key sectoral themes:

• Retrofitting of homes, commercial and public buildings
• Creating a decarbonised, smart and integrated energy system
• Improving air quality and creating zero emission zones
• Climate adapted, resilient and green neighbourhoods
• Zero waste, circular economy

1.5. The first £3 million of expenditure on this £7.5 million programme, was approved in 2020 by MD2708 and came from the 2020/21 Green New Deal budget. In line with a delegation of authority in MD2708, DD2522 provided details of the reprofiled expenditure of the first £3 million on the programme, on strategy development and environmental projects in the selected Future Neighbourhoods in 2021/22 and 2022/23. Due to GLA budget setting processes last year, approval for the remaining £4.5 million is still required. £2m will be funded from carry forward of the Future Neighbourhoods 2030 budget from 2021/22 and £2.5m from the Environment and Energy planned budget for 2022/23. Following completion of the 2021-22 budget process, this MD requests approval to reprofile the next £2 million allocated to this programme. This funding will be used to continue to support the Future Neighbourhoods through 2022-2024 by grant funding further environmental projects, as outlined in paragraph 1.7. An MD will be sought for the remaining £2.5 million for the programme once the 2022-23 budget process is complete. The budget profile for the programme is set out in paragraph 1.6 below.

1.6. Following the invitation for expressions of interest in March 2021, in which the GLA invited potential Future Neighbourhoods to apply for a share of the Future Neighbourhood fund, a number of high-quality applications were received. In addition to the 2-4 Future Neighbourhood projects that will be selected for grant funding from the main Future Neighbourhoods programme, this MD proposes an additional allocation of £270,000 from the Green New Deal budget in 2021/22 to provide grant funding to a further nine FN applicants to develop their strategies for their areas, this would allow them to develop their proposals, work up costed programmes and help secure additional funding from government and other sources to expand the programme reach in time.

1.7. Many London Boroughs have declared a climate emergency and will need to accelerate local action this decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2030. This additional support will help more of London be ready to take advantage of other sources of GLA funding in the coming years, such as the Retrofit Accelerators and the Local Energy Accelerator. Each supported Strategy would be awarded up to £30,000 and the applicant would be required to match fund the grant award. These strategies would not however be eligible for project funding from the main Future Neighbourhoods programme. A priority of the Future Neighbourhoods programme for both fully funded and strategy funded applicants will be to share best practice with other funded neighbourhoods and across London. Applicants were required, as part of the application process, to identify the methods they would use to disseminate their findings and demonstrate how the investment in their Future Neighbourhood can create change at a local and potentially a city level. Applicants will also be supported in this by the creation of a Future Neighbourhoods learning network as part of the ongoing programme management support.

Future Neighbourhoods 2030 – a three-year programme paving the way to 2030

Further funding for projects in the chosen Future Neighbourhoods

1.8. The successful 2-4 Future Neighbourhoods will receive a proportion of the £3m grant funding for strategy development work and their initial proposed projects as set out in DD2522. The remaining funding for the programme (£2m in this MD and £2.5m to follow) will be used to provide up to £4.38 million of additional grant funding to the 2-4 selected Future Neighbourhoods in 2022/23 and 2023/24, for any additional projects identified through the development of the Future Neighbourhood Strategy through 2021/22, using the strategy development work funded through the initial allocation of funding to the programme. The new projects to receive additional funding will be selected through a transparent competitive application process, and in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. Applicants will need to match fund their proposed projects with at least 40 per cent of the value of the overall award. The GLA reserves the right not to fund any projects if they do not meet the qualification criteria.

1.9. The project assessment process will be carried out by a team of policy officers in the GLA Environment Team who will assess each application individually against a range of criteria. Scores will be awarded for meeting the programme aims, deliverability, and value for money. Additional technical expertise will be drafted in from policy teams to help guide the assessment process and support the assessors.

1.10. The evaluation criteria will include a requirement for applicants to address the objectives of the Green New Deal including prioritising interventions to reduce health inequalities and social injustice. Applicants will also need to demonstrate how the design of the programme, including any community engagement, reaches underrepresented groups within the Future Neighbourhood area.

Project management support

1.11. £0.12m has been reserved to support GLA programme costs over the two years, in particular related to the management and reporting of the programme. As this is a major new programme being administered by the climate team, significantly increasing the workload of the team and potentially impacting on its ability to deliver on other Mayoral priorities, £120,000 will be allocated to bringing in senior project officer level administrative and project support over two years. This will be either a temporary agency worker, from our framework provider Reed, or consultancy support procured in line with the GLA Contracts and Funding Code and supported by TfL Commercial.

Additional Strategies

1.12. The FN2030 application process (outlined in DD2522 and executed over the period March-October 2021) has resulted in a number of strong applications that will not be selected as one of the 2-4 “Future Neighbourhoods”. Despite being unsuccessful in the application process, the applicants were considered by the GLA review panel to be well placed to develop effective Future Neighbourhood strategies for schemes in their areas. These additional strategies would set out a costed pipeline of projects across the themes outlined in 1.4 and identify alternative routes for funding outside of the Future Neighbourhoods programme. Funding these additional strategies will increase the impact of the FN2030 programme beyond the two to four selected “Future Neighbourhoods” and support more areas of London in embedding Green New Deal principles in their future planning.

1.13. Officers have identified nine Future Neighbourhood applicants who would benefit from funding to develop strategies of this kind. A grant of £30,000 (with £20,000 match funding from the recipient) would enable each of these neighbourhoods to complete the development of a fully costed draft Additional Strategy by March 2022 and funding for this has been identified within the existing 2021- 2022 Green New Deal Budget. Approval is therefore sought in this MD to grant fund up to £270,000 on Additional Strategies in a further nine neighbourhoods.

Objectives

2.1. This funding will support the delivery of additional projects in the Future Neighbourhoods who successfully applied for additional funding that will enable them to act as environmental exemplars, share best practice and drive new approaches to catalysing long-term reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and improvements to the environment.

2.2. Specifically, project funding for Future Neighbourhoods should:

• be spent on permanent interventions across the five themes of Future Neighbourhoods listed in paragraph 1.4
• be completed by 2023/24
• help showcase best practice in strategic interventions that can be scaled up across the borough and replicated elsewhere in London
• support projects developed in partnership with local organisations and communities
• be used in locations with high levels of deprivation, in communities most impacted by the pandemic, and/or where residents are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change
• support diverse and inclusive communities, helping them reduce inequalities and go further to encourage disengaged communities to participate in the co-creation of the Future Neighbourhood.

2.3. The programme will support communities in the selected Future Neighbourhoods, which are expected to be in areas of deprivation, climate vulnerability or heavily impacted by the pandemic, to make long term commitments to 2030 to deliver transformative action that will inspire others, be replicable and test innovation.

2.4. Funded applicants will share knowledge and design replicable approaches that deliver the objectives of the Green New Deal, outlined in paragraph 1.3 and fit within the five project themes listed in paragraph 1.4

2.5. Additional strategies will be developed in 9 further neighbourhoods identified through the FN2030 competitive selection process. Additional strategies funded as part of this element of the programme will be developed in line with the Green New Deal objectives and five themes of the FN2030 programme as outlined in paragraphs 1.3 and 1.4.

2.6. This programme will encourage approaches that support and align to the objectives of other missions vital to London’s recovery, in particular, the High Streets for all mission, the Strong Communities mission, the Healthy Food and Weight mission and the Good Work for Londoners mission.

2.7. Future Neighbourhoods will be encouraged to maximise the use of relevant existing GLA programmes, such as the Retrofit Accelerators and Local Energy Accelerator.

2.8. Future Neighbourhoods will be encouraged to work with private sector partners to test innovations and scale up their own delivery plans too over the course of the programme.

Outcomes

2.9. By funding the delivery of further projects that align with the five themes of the Future Neighbourhoods programme outlined in paragraph 1.4, we expect all funded Future Neighbourhoods to show demonstrable success in delivering the following outcomes:

• Reduction in GHG emissions

• Increase in renewable energy generated

• Improvement in air quality

• Improvement in waste reduction and recycling

• Improved access to high quality green space

• Implementation of measures to improve climate adaptation

• Development of green skills and green job opportunities for residents in Future Neighbourhoods

2.10. The Future Neighbourhoods will also report on other metrics specific to their projects. These are likely to include outcomes such as an increase in electric vehicle charging points, an increase in jobs created or green apprenticeships awarded, or cooling interventions installed on properties. The potential to deliver tangible and measurable outcomes that align with the objectives of this programme will be a key criterion for project selection.

2.11. A further 9 additional strategies will be developed that align with the Mayor’s Green New Deal objectives and Future Neighbourhoods 2030 themes and will promote future initiatives to reduce climate related impacts and improve the sustainability and resilience of local communities.

2.12. The Future Neighbourhoods programme will support the development of engaged and inclusive local communities that have been involved in project design and which are committed to the ongoing delivery of the Future Neighbourhood vision and associated projects to 2030.

2.13. The Future Neighbourhoods will provide examples of successful approaches to reduce climate impacts and improve community sustainability that can be replicated across London through knowledge sharing and dissemination of exemplars.

2.14. The programme will help identify opportunities to scale up activity in the longer term to achieve greater impacts across a broader geographical area and potentially beyond borough boundaries. Successful applicants will devise a range of interventions to enable the sharing of best practice both within their neighbourhoods, boroughs and wider across London. Applicants will be invited to become part of a Future Neighbourhoods learning network to further support this aim.

3.1. Under s149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act), as a public authority the GLA must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and any conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act; and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. This involves having due regard to the need to remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share a relevant protected characteristic that is connected to that characteristic, taking steps to meet the different needs of such people; and encouraging them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low.

3.2. The relevant protected characteristics under section 149 of the Equality Act are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, gender, religion or belief, and sexual orientation. Compliance with the duty may involve ensuring people with a protected characteristic are provided with all the opportunities that those without the characteristic would have.

3.3. The Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy sets out how the Mayor works to create a fairer, more equal, integrated city where all people feel welcome and able to fulfil their potential. Equality, diversity and inclusion are subsequently enshrined within the GLA’s strategies, programmes and activities.

3.4. The GLA will ensure that (as part of its on-going legal responsibility to have due regard to the need to promote equality, in everything it does, including its decision-making), barriers are removed that may prevent those with protected characteristics benefiting from the projects.

3.5. The GLA Environment and Energy Unit commissioned an Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) on the draft London Environment Strategy. This evaluated the social, economic, environmental, health, community safety and equality consequences of the strategy's proposed policies to ensure they are fully considered and addressed. A post-adoption statement showing how the IIA influenced the final strategy and Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) report has been published: /programmes-and-strategies/environment-and-climate-change/london-environment-strategy.

3.6. The application process for the FN2030 programme has been explicit that selected Future Neighbourhoods should fund projects that are developed in collaboration with the local community, including underrepresented groups such as those with protected characteristics. This will help advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.7. All strategies and projects will be expected to illustrate how they are considering the needs of Londoners, specifically underrepresented groups, such as those with protected characteristics, and what they will do to ensure that, as relevant, their needs are both included in the strategies and projects and they benefit from them. The core of this programme puts underrepresented communities first, at the forefront of the programme design and implementation. In the process of selecting the further projects for funding in the Future Neighbourhoods and as part of the development of the Additional Strategies, we will ensure that due regard is taken of all these requirements.

Key risks and issues

4.1. The key risks and issues are set out in the table below.

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2. This programme has direct links to the priorities of the London Recovery Board and specifically its Green New Deal mission, which aims to double the size of London’s green economy by 2030. The Future Neighbourhoods 2030 programme supports cross-cutting recovery principles set out by the London Recovery Board and funded projects will be expected to deliver outcomes which address social, economic and health inequalities, deliver a cleaner, greener London, and ensure Londoners are at the heart of recovery.

4.3. The portfolio of projects has direct links to many of the Mayor’s Strategies including: the London Environment Strategy, the London Plan, the Economic Development Strategy and the Transport Strategy. Each of these strategies have been consulted on and have policies aimed at addressing the environmental issues faced in London. Summaries of key elements of the relevant strategies are provided below.

4.4. The London Environment Strategy sets out ambitions to:

• reduce emissions from London’s road transport network by phasing out fossil fuelled vehicles, prioritising action on diesel, and enabling Londoners to switch to more sustainable forms of transport.
• deliver more decentralised energy in London.
• plan for London’s new smart energy infrastructure.
• deliver a more climate adapted and resilient city.
• deliver a zero emission transport network and
• prioritise greener solutions across London in new development and retrofit solutions.

4.5. The Economic Development Strategy sets out the conditions required for Good Growth, which includes the following sections in ‘Chapter 4 – Creating the conditions for growth’:

• Transport:” Applying the Healthy Streets Approach to encourage walking and cycling, reducing car dependency and investing in public transport capacity to enable growth whilst supporting the transition to a low carbon economy.”
• Infrastructure:” Ensuring London has the digital connectivity, water, energy, waste and green infrastructure it needs to grow and support the transition to an inclusive, low carbon circular economy.”

4.6. The London Plan includes policies on energy infrastructure (Policy SI2 and SI3) and healthy streets (Policies T1 and T2).

4.7. The Mayor’s Transport Strategy includes policy 1 (80 per cent of all trips in London to be made on foot, by cycle or using public transport by 2041), policy 2 (improving street environments to make it easier to get around on foot and by cycle, and promoting the benefits of active travel), and policy 7 (transforming London’s streets and transport infrastructure to enable zero emission operation).

4.8. Delivering a just transition is also a Green New Deal mission priority. There is a major opportunity for developing new skills and jobs across the economy as we grow the green economy and make the transition to a low carbon circular economy. This programme will seek to identify and realise job creation and skills development opportunities.

Consultations and impact assessments

4.9. This programme has been developed with the aim of developing and delivering strategically important projects that will contribute to the direct delivery of the Mayor’s London Environment Strategy, his Economic Development Strategy, his draft New London plan, his Transport Strategy and to London becoming zero carbon by 2030 as set out in section b above.

4.10. This programme has been developed in response to the issues and challenges that partners and stakeholders have raised in our discussions with them on these projects.

4.11. An Impact Assessment was undertaken for both the London Environment Strategy and the Economic Development Strategy and its associated programmes. As this funding will help deliver the objectives of these Strategies, the original impact assessments are still relevant to the project. There will be appropriate levels of Impact Assessment and stakeholder consultation in relation to the development and delivery of this programme.

4.12. The high level outline for the programme has been tested with London Councils and the Green New Deal Expert Advisory Group.

Conflicts of interest

4.13. No GLA officer involved in the drafting or clearance of this MD is aware of any conflicts of interest with the proposed projects.

4.14. If any conflicts of interest arise during the grant funding process, they will be required to declare that interest as part of a requirement of the Contracts and Funding Code, and not take any part in the grant funding process for that particular project. This process should also be in accordance with the Code of Ethics and Standards for Staff and accompanying guidance on registering and declaring interests.

5.1. Future Neighbourhoods 2030 is a multi-year programme funded from the Mayor’s Green New Deal fund to support the development of exemplar sustainable neighbourhoods within some of the most deprived and climate vulnerable locations. MD2708 approved £3 million from the Mayor’s Green New Deal fund to begin delivery of this programme in 2021/22 and 2022/23.

5.2. It is requested that £2 million of the 2021/22 budget is reprofiled to continue to support project delivery in selected Future Neighbourhoods throughout the course of the programme, and includes £120,000 to support the project management costs for the programme. This funding has already been approved as part of the 2021/2022 budget and £1.5 million is to be reprofiled to 2022-23 and £0.5 million to 2023/24.

5.3. Sixty per cent of the value of the supported projects will be funded from the Future Neighbourhoods 2030 programme budget with match funding sourced and managed directly by the grant applicants to cover the remaining 40 per cent.

5.4. Mayoral approval is also sought for an additional £0.27 million from the Green New Deal mission budget for additional expenditure on the Future Neighbourhoods programme. This will support nine additional neighbourhoods to develop Future Neighbourhood strategies. £180,000 of match funding will be provided by the grant applicants.

5.5. The proposed GLA expenditure of £2.27m and the indicative spend profile is summarised in the following table. Following agreement of the 2022/23 budget, a further reprofile of the 2022/23 budget will be required to enable the programme to be delivered over three years as set out in 1.6:

5.6. All dates provided from the initial awarding of grant funding to the final payment are indicative. Payments for the projects will be staged, based on evidence of milestones achieved and submitted through the GLA OPS system, where the projects will be managed. Grants for the strategy development will be made in full on commencement of the strategies in November 2021.

6.1. The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor concern the exercise of the Authority’s general powers, falling within the Authority’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment within Greater London and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

(a) pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;

(b) consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and

(c) consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2. In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Funding

6.3. Paragraphs 1.7 and 1.12 above indicates that the contribution of additional funding to the successful Future Neighbourhoods and funding for the development of additional strategies will amount to the provision of grant funding and not payment for services. Section 12.3 of the Authority’s Contracts and Funding Code provides that decisions to award grant funding should generally be made on the basis of the outcome of a transparent, competitive application process. To this end, the officers have set out in the Background to this decision, that the grant funding will be awarded following such a process.

6.4. The officers have indicated in the decision field and in paragraphs 1.7 and 1.12 above that each recipient will be required to provide match funding. The officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement be put in place between the Authority and the recipient before any part of the funding be paid and that the funding agreement include a requirement for the recipient to provide match funding and set the minimum level of such match funding.

6.5. To the extent that the senior project officer level administrative and project support required as set out in paragraph 1.10 is provided by a consultant, the services required must be procured by Transport for London Procurement who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must also ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the GLA before the commencement of the services.

7.1. A timetable for the delivery of the FN2030 programme, relevant to this decision, is shown below: