Decision details

Decision to undertake separate awards to the continuation projects of the UK Shared Prosperity/Rural Prosperity Fund Programme 2025-2026, specifically including the following projects:

Communities and Place

Active Lincolnshire – Active Communities Continuation - £15,500 Revenue

This project supports communities to access sports groups and will also support a cohort of participating residents (at least 10) to train to gain accredited qualifications in the sport and physical activity sector.

Boston Borough Council - Continuation of Pride in Place Volunteering Scheme - £9,988 Revenue

Funding for a community volunteer co-ordinator, hosted within SELCP, to support communities to volunteer and undertake community environmental improvements, targeting the creation of a significant number of additional volunteering opportunities for local residents.

Lincolnshire Community and Voluntary Service (LCVS) – Continuation of LCVS Community Transport - £15,000 Revenue

Continuing the community transport co-ordination efforts being undertaken over the wide SELCP geography through a dedicated officer hosted within the Lincolnshire Community and Voluntary Service. Supporting the recruitment of additional volunteer drivers to support local residents in the most rural communities without access to transport to access vital services such as health, skills and community groups.

Supporting Local Business

Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce – UK Fresh Produce Network Events - £20,763 revenue

Supporting local fresh produce and agri-food businesses to access the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fresh Produce, as well as a series of events to both promote the sector and encourage inward investment into the sector within the Borough.

People and Skills

Boston College – Restart, Reskill, Upskill - £29,580 revenue 

Continuation (though on a reduced scale) of Boston College's Restart, Reskill, Upskill project delivered across the SELCP area. Targeted at supporting those who are economically inactive to receive both a qualification and a guaranteed interview with a local employer. This year’s programme will focus specifically on supporting a cohort of residents to start long-term apprenticeships at Level 3 or above in the food manufacturing and processing sector. In so doing, this will support the sector to gain a pipeline of talent, drawn from the local population.

Steadfast Training – Connect2Grow - £20,000 revenue

Support for a cohort of economically inactive residents to gain employment within the local economy, via the provision of an accredited qualification and a guaranteed interview with a local employer.

University of Lincoln – Higher Level Engineering Skills - £30,000 revenue

Targeted at NEET young people, economically inactive residents and residents Targeted at supporting those who are economically inactive to receive both a qualification and a guaranteed interview with a local employer. This year’s programme will focus specifically on supporting a cohort of residents to start long-term apprenticeships at Level 3 or above in the food manufacturing and processing sector, supporting the sector to gain a pipeline of talent drawn from the local populationemployed in the food sector, a series of short courses in robotics, digital, engineering and AI in the food sector, with links to local employers and skills providers. The objective is to spark interest in careers in the food manufacturing sector and to support those currently employed in the sector on to upskilling pathways.

Heritage Lincolnshire – Heritage Skills - £10,000 revenue, £2,500 capital

Support for residents to gain experience of historic environment and heritage construction skills, as well as linking them to local skills providers, seeking to contribute towards a chronic shortage of skills in these disciplines.

As part of HMG’s prioritisation of local growth through its ‘national missions’ agenda and in line with the commitments made by Boston Borough in the UKSPF-RPF Prospectus and Investment Plan submitted to and agreed by the Greater Lincolnshire County Combined Authority, we have committed to invest in high-impact projects across three core themes:

-Communities and place - Supporting community groups and investment in community facilities; enhancing the cultural and heritage offer; widening the use of community buildings; initiatives to help support our town centres.

-Supporting local business - Helping local businesses invest for future growth; growing the food processing, horticulture and logistics sector; encouraging new businesses to establish; helping the local social and community enterprises to innovate and grow.

-People and skills - Developing skills and employment opportunities within the fresh food, food processing and logistics sectors; creating new training hubs; supporting local residents with skills and access to employment.

These allocations reflect the specific projects identified within the Borough’s Investment Plan for continuation in 2025-6 (selected on the grounds of successful track record in 2023-5 and strategic fit for the future Programme) and were subject to a rigorous re-contracting and assessment process to ensure value for money to the taxpayer. We are confident that these projects can deliver the outcomes expected from the Programme quickly and substantively. This has been the basis of the decision.

These allocations represent 19% of the funding available to the Borough through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Rural England Prosperity Fund, the remainder will be distributed through the medium of small grants via the Lincolnshire Community Foundation GRASSroots Scheme (grants to community projects, Village Halls and Parish Councils) and Grants4Growth (grants to businesses) and through an open Communities and Place grant scheme for larger, strategic communities and place projects (to be launched June 2025). 

Do Nothing/Do not award the funds – The alternative would be to not award the funding, which would bring severe reputational risk to the Council both with the public, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Greater Lincolnshire County Combined Authority, as well as run the risk of these funds being reclaimed through the underspend reclaim process outlined by the Greater Lincolnshire County Combined Authority in the official letter confirming allocation of funds (February 2025).