MD2901 High Streets for All Challenge – Allocation and expenditure

1.1. The HSFA mission is one of nine missions approved by the London Recovery Board in September 2020 to respond to the recovery grand challenge of ‘restoring confidence in the city, minimising the impact on London’s communities and building back better the city’s economy and society’.

1.2. Via the mission, the GLA is working alongside London Councils, local authorities, community and business groups, cultural and third-sector organisations, anchor institutions and the property sector, to:

• bring vacant and underused high street buildings and public spaces into productive use

• promote local employment

• protect existing community and cultural spaces

• introduce new types of businesses and civic organisations to London’s high streets.

1.3. The HSFA Challenge is a key programme within the mission. It will provide £4.085m of strategic enabling funding, targeted advice and knowledge-sharing opportunities from 2021-22 to 2022-23; and support the development of the adopted mission target of an exemplar project in each London borough.

1.4. It invites local partnerships to bring forward and co-design innovative high-street recovery strategies and proposals. Each strategy can address common and local challenges and underpin the public reimagining of high streets and town centres across London. Strategies can support actions across an entire high street or focus on an innovative, exemplar high street recovery project.

1.5. The HSFA Challenge draws together multiple funding strands into a single funding source to reduce the bureaucratic burden on applicants. Approvals are already in place for £2.785m funding in 2021-22 and 2022-23, as set out in the table below. Due to GLA budget-setting processes, approval for the remaining £1.3m is still required.

1.6. The HSFA Challenge is being delivered in three stages from March 2021 to March 2023. With the benefit of the three-stage process, the HSFA Challenge will be able to ‘curate’ a programme that aligns with its priorities.

Stage 1

1.7. Through an open call in March 2021, the GLA and London boroughs jointly invited local high-street partnerships with an interest in developing an idea for their area to come forward, encouraging and supporting the widest participation from London’s diverse communities. London boroughs, with support from the GLA Regeneration team, appraised 110 submissions to identify a preferred exemplar high-street project in each borough. For each submission, the appraisal process interrogated the place-based challenge and proposition, the partnership, and the available assets, which would help to unlock the challenge and act as an anchor for a wider high-street strategy.

1.8. Borough officers also considered opportunities for increased partnership working and development of more holistic high-street strategies by combining individual proposals situated in the same geographic location.

1.9. GLA officers appraised the wider strategic fit of each proposal to ensure a balanced London-wide programme of innovative and inclusive exemplar projects which address all key challenges as set out in the HSFA Possibilities Playbook (see section 2.3). Input from teams across the GLA was sought to optimise alignment with Mayoral priorities across policy areas, and to add to the understanding of specific sectors.

Stage 2

1.10. This process generated a list of 35 exemplar projects for Stage 2, which includes two cross-borough proposals. Further detail is set out at Appendix A.

1.11. In July 2021, each exemplar project was awarded £20,000 seed funding to: develop their partnership in terms of outreach and governance; engage with local residents and businesses; gather local insights; and develop a strategic brief for their high street. In total, £700,000 in revenue was awarded at Stage 2.

1.12. In addition, the exemplar projects were able to call on support offered by the GLA and its mission partners via a programme of six workshops and the Challenge Experts Panel. This panel brings together advisers from a range of disciplines and sectors, and includes GLA officers from the Culture and Creative Industries, 24-Hour London, Environment, and Transport/TfL teams, as well as the Building Strong Communities mission team.

Stage 3

1.13. In September 2021, the exemplar projects were invited to apply for further Stage 3 funding with up to £200,000 in revenue funding available for successful projects. This funding will provide capacity for the detailed development of place-based high-street strategies, community engagement, feasibility work and proposals for their assets. In addition, up to £100,000 in capital funding is available for successful projects to deliver ‘proof of concept’ activities, testing the effectiveness of proposed strategies and helping to develop larger projects.

1.14. When the applications window closed in October 2021, we received 24 applications for Stage 3 funding with a total combined ask of £5.943m.

1.15. The evaluation process had three distinct stages: validation, appraisal and moderation:

• Validation provided an initial check that all applicants had provided all requested information to allow detailed assessment to take place.
• Appraisal focused on the detail of proposals and interrogated whether applicants would deliver high-quality projects and outcomes, and what sort of contribution they would make to the strategic themes of the HSFA Challenge. Input from teams across the GLA was sought to add to the understanding of specific sectors and to ensure that applications would maximise delivery against the full range of Mayoral priorities.
• Moderation provided a further level of scrutiny and introduced a programme-wide view and assessment process. The aim of this was to check consistency of assessment, to consider whether the mix of projects met the aim of achieving a balanced programme, and to scrutinise investment readiness.

1.16. This process generated a list of 15 recommended projects as set out in Appendix A of this decision form. This decision form seeks approval to provide £2.296m of grant funding from the £4.085m funding envelope for the HSFA Challenge to contribute to the costs of delivery these projects.

1.17. A second application round for the remaining £1.039m Stage 3 funding will take place in Spring 2022 for those exemplar projects that require more time to prepare an application. This decision form seeks approval to delegate authority to the Executive Director Good Growth to approve detailed funding allocations to future successful applications in accordance with the principles and priorities set-out here.

Learning and legacy

1.18. The HSFA mission emerged from practitioner lead research, practice, and collaboration – such as Good Growth by Design programme and the High Street Network and engagement with London Councils. This means the mission has strong partnerships and networks in place to share learning from the HSFA exemplar projects. We will ensure learning from these projects will be captured to inform future place-based regeneration initiatives lead by the Mayor. In addition, we will use Recovery Board processes to ensure that lessons learned and from project delivery are widely shared.

1.19. The HSFA Challenge has been designed from the outset to create a community of practice and enable learning to be captured and disseminated effectively and to leave a positive legacy. The High Street Network which includes private and public stakeholders, residents, traders and built environment professionals meets regularly, and we will use this established forum to share ideas, knowledge and expertise coming out of the HSFA Challenge.

1.20. The HSFA Playbook has been developed both as a funding prospectus as well as a resource of useful practical examples of innovative high street renewal. The exemplar projects will share learning through programme-wide workshops and networking events. This learning will be captured in an updated HSFA Possibilities Playbook to disseminate the approaches and impact of the exemplar projects to a broader audience.

1.21. All 35 exemplar projects, including those which do not receive Stage 3 funding, will be able to use their strategy development as the basis for local action and for seeking funding from other sources, building a pipeline of schemes to take advantage of future investment opportunities.

Objectives

2.1. The objectives of the HSFA Challenge programme are to:

• develop the capacity of local authorities and town centre partnerships to work with community groups and the private sector to plan for, safeguard and directly deliver a diverse, resilient and thriving mix of high-street and town-centre activity within easy reach of all Londoners, at all times of day and night
• foster a culture of ideas, collaboration and invention to bring vacant and underused buildings into productive use, promoting local employment and near-home working, protecting existing community and cultural spaces, and introducing new types of businesses and civic organisations
• promote walking, cycling and wider accessibility, enhanced public spaces, urban greening and cultural engagement
• pilot high-street innovation zones building on the Night Time Enterprise Zones pilot and existing Creative Enterprise Zones, as well as related planning, licensing, property management and economic development approaches.

Expected outcomes

2.2. During the evaluation of the Stage 3 applications particular attention was given to developing a balanced programme to address the full breadth of challenges set out in the HSFA Possibilities Playbook.

2.3. Key HSFA Challenge themes: all of the selected projects address multiple key challenge themes set out in the HSFA Possibilities Playbook, reflecting the following priorities:

• A public welcome: creating streets and public spaces that encourage walking, cycling, cultural activity and boost visitor confidence, generating a thriving mix of high street activity within easy reach of all Londoners and at all times of day and night (11 projects)
• Innovative places of exchange: supporting new types of business and nurture innovation within local economies through place-based policy development, targeted business support, planning, licensing and cultural and economic development incentives (10 projects)
• Generating social value: ensuring that high street economies generate public value, shared prosperity and the socially productive use of land and property for the communities they serve (11 projects)
• Connected communities: promoting social integration and active citizenship by strengthening local collaboration and securing vital social, civic and cultural infrastructure (12 projects)
• Responding to the climate emergency: tackling the climate and ecological emergencies and poor air quality, whilst creating green jobs, developing skills and supporting a just transition to a low carbon circular economy (7 projects)

2.4. A list of key performance indicators has been established which includes:

• Additional funding raised / invested by delivery partners and other bodies
• Number of new jobs created or existing jobs safeguarded
• Increase in square metres of new or improved public realm
• Increase in footfall: Increase in the number of people accessing a defined area during the day and night
• Increase in the number of vacant or underused units being brought back into productive day / night use
• Number of community businesses, cultural and civic organisations, supported on the high street

2.5. Projects have not been asked to quantify targets in their applications. Officers will work with the successful projects to agree targets as part of their high street strategy development and to capture outputs during delivery. Ongoing engagement by officers will also help to ensure that rich and productive partnerships are established to underpin the more complex high street strategy projects and that more asset focussed projects engage with the place specific issues and opportunities to improve impact of the investment.

2.6. Cross-cutting delivery: alignment of the Challenge with other Mayoral priorities is another key objective. Within the successful project applications there are particularly strong opportunities to develop projects that specifically:

• respond to 24-hour London priorities to develop local night time strategies, support the evening economy and improve women’s safety at night (5 projects)
• support Creative Enterprise Zones (1 project)
• support health and wellbeing through food, growing and other community-led activities (5 projects)
• provide opportunities for young Londoners to participate in the projects (10 projects)

2.7. Targeted funding opportunities: the HSFA Challenge draws together multiple funding strands into a single funding source. Particular consideration has been given to projects that will:

• explore new models of affordable and flexible workspace, following on from GLA research to identify viable models for repurposing under-utilised or vacant space into space that meets the needs of London’s new ways of working (3 projects)
• support street markets in developing targeted plans which address new forms of market management, trader recruitment and training, renewed trader and business relations, growing local supply chains, supporting local employment and training, and helping to deliver environmental improvements (7 projects)
• support the growth of social enterprises and community businesses in their area or support increased uptake of innovative models of social financing, such as community shares, to help social enterprises and community businesses access alternative finance and introduce forms of inclusive and democratic local business and asset ownership with shared benefit (10 projects).

2.8. Mission partner collaboration and innovation: in conjunction with the HSFA Challenge funding, the GLA has partnered with Power to Change to pilot the development of a Community Improvement District (CID). This is to achieve greater involvement of communities in the oversight and revitalisation of their high streets. Two projects have been selected to deliver a CID pilot project with £20,000 from their funding allocation. This will be matched with £20,000 per project by Power to Change.

2.9. Diversity of partnerships: applications have been put forward by broad range of public, private and third-sector organisations. Through the evaluation process we have generated a group of recommended projects that has a balanced mix of lead organisations:

• business-led partnerships including Business Improvement Districts, traders’ associations and limited companies (5 projects)
• community-led partnerships including charities, Community Interest Companies and Neighbourhood Forums (4 projects)
• local authority-led partnerships (6 projects)

2.10. All successful projects will be delivered through local partnerships. The evaluation of applications considered the range organisations and groups involved each partnership, their role in developing the high street strategy and the skills and capacity they would bring to the project. It also considered arrangements to govern the project and approaches to continue to involve local communities and businesses.

2.11. Geographic distribution: this round supports 7 projects in inner London (allocating 42 per cent of funding) and 8 projects in outer London (allocating 58 per cent of funding). One of the inner London projects is located within the Central Activities Zone (CAZ). Projects located in inner London are often focussed in areas where high deprivation exists in a context of substantial change. In this mode the HSFA Challenge is piloting new approaches to addressing longstanding issues. The long term aim is to mainstream innovation that proves effective at, for example, maintaining space, services and opportunities for existing communities.

Programme-wide support activities

2.12. This decision form also seeks approval to provide £50,000 for associated operational expenditure and programme support costs, to support exemplar projects in the development of their project proposals with targeted expert advice; and to provide for, and enable, knowledge-sharing opportunities.

2.13. The proposed revenue-funded support activities will ensure exemplar projects are of the highest possible quality, and that the overall programme objectives are met. These include:

• Expert advice (£35,000) – to support delivery partners in the development of projects with targeted advice to shape and influence the delivery of targeted outcomes. Up to two days of support will be made available to projects. Experts will be drawn from the Mayor’s Design Advocates (MDAs), to cover specialists areas including: project set-up; data, analysis, evaluation and economics; community engagement; partnership formation and capacity-building; architecture and urbanism; workspace; public space and public art; landscape architecture and food growing; heritage and conservation; markets; climate-change action planning; child-friendly design and play; cultural curation; business planning and organisational development; digital strategy; property development advice; skills and employability support; business support, community business and enterprise; and planning and licensing incentives. The GLA’s MDA framework agreement provides a mechanism whereby the GLA may procure an MDA’s services by entering into a call-off contract with them. In each case the MDA panel manager in the regeneration team will assess the skills requirements and appoint an MDA directly or by a mini competition.
• Engagement and knowledge-sharing (£15,000) – to support a communications strategy for the lifetime of the programme. This will maximise outreach, shared learning and impact through the dissemination of results. It will include an updated Possibilities Playbook to include the exemplar projects, an online mapping tool, and programme-wide workshops and networking events. The services required will be procured competitively using the standard GLA processes.

Expenditure breakdown

2.14. The expenditure breakdown per work strand in the HSFA Challenge programme is as follows:

3.1. Under section 149 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. The equalities comments should specifically relate to the decision.

3.2. The relevant protected characteristics under section 149 of the Equality Act are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marital or civil partnership status, race, gender, religion or belief, sex, 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 ongoing 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 application process for the HSFA Challenge has made explicitly clear that selected exemplar projects should be developed in collaboration with the local community, including under-represented 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.

3.6. All strategies and projects have illustrated how they are considering the needs of their local communities, specifically under-represented 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 the HSFA Challenge puts under-represented communities first, at the forefront of the design and implementation.

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. The funding outlined in this Decision Form will be used to support the mission-based approach that the Mayor has adopted for London’s economic and social recovery. This programme has been developed with the aim of developing and delivering strategically important projects that will contribute directly to the HSFA mission.

4.3. The HSFA Challenge programme supports cross-cutting recovery principles set out by the London Recovery Board. Funded projects will be expected to deliver outcomes that address social, economic and health inequalities; deliver a cleaner, greener London; and ensure Londoners are at the heart of recovery. It supports the Building Strong Communities mission to enable all Londoners to play an active role in their communities, and make London a more equal and inclusive city post-COVID-19. It also supports the Green New Deal mission to address the climate and ecological emergencies and improve air quality.

4.4. The proposed expenditure will deliver against multiple objectives included in the London Plan 2021 to promote and enhance the vitality and viability of London’s varied town centres; the Mayor’s Economic Development Strategy; the Culture Strategy for London; the 24-hour London vision; and the Healthy Streets agenda.



Consultations and impact assessments

4.5. The outline for the HSFA Challenge has been informed by the High Streets – Adaptive Strategies guidance, which was developed as part of the Mayor’s Good Growth by Design programme. The HSFA Challenge has been developed in response to the issues and challenges that partners and stakeholders have raised in our discussions with them. It has been tested with London Councils and representatives from London Boroughs, as well as the private and third sectors.

4.6. Impact assessments were undertaken for the above-mentioned relevant strategies. As this funding will help deliver the objectives of these strategies, the original impact assessments are still relevant to the programme.

4.7. There will be appropriate levels of impact assessment and stakeholder consultation in relation to the development and delivery of exemplar projects funded through this programme.

Conflicts of interest

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

4.9. If any conflicts of interest arise during the grant-funding process, officers 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. Mayoral approval is sought for expenditure of £1.3m on the High Streets for All Challenge, which will create a £4.085m funding envelope to support delivery of the HSFA recover mission.

5.2. The expenditure will be funded from the 2022-23 Regeneration and Economic Development budget, specifically the High Street Challenge Fund 2.

5.3. The HFSA Challenge draws from multiple strands of funding including previous approval for £2.785m under the cover of various Mayoral and Director Decisions summarised in the table below:

5.4. The funding is available within the draft GLA: Mayor budget for 2022-23. However, the final 2022-23 budget is not yet formally approved and will be subject to funding still being available via the GLA’s 2022-23 budget setting process.

6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

6.1.1 the decisions requested of the Mayor concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation in Greater London

6.1.2 in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
• 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
• 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 and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion) and persons who do not (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

6.3 The Mayor may delegate the exercise of the GLA’s powers to the Executive Director Good Growth as proposed should he wish.

6.4 If the Mayor is minded to make the decisions sought, officers must ensure that to the extent that expenditure concerns the:

6.4.1 award of grant funding, that it is distributed fairly, transparently, in manner which affords value for money and in accordance with the requirements of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and grant funding agreements are put in place between and executed by the GLA and successful applicants before any commitment to fund is made

6.4.2 payment for services, those services are procured in liaison with TfL Procurement and in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and contracts are put in place between and executed by the GLA and contractors before commencement of such services.

7.1. A timetable for the delivery of the HSFA Challenge is shown below:

• Appendix A: Stage 3 recommended project list