To approve the receipt of One Public Estate (OPE) funds of £335k which have been awarded to Herefordshire Council as the accountable body following a bid to the Cabinet Office for OPE Phase 7 central government monies in respect of funding to bring forward the following projects: Urban Village Development, to undertake masterplanning and feasibility work to release land for key worker housing, etc; Refurbishment of the Lionel Green Building, Hereford Hospital, to enable the relocation of services and release other premises for redevelopment and to provide funding for a One Public Estate Programme Manager.

Herefordshire Council will receive the funds as the lead authority in respect of One Herefordshire   group of public sector organisations further to the original award under OPE Wave 5, which was subject to an earlier decision dated 27 July 2017. The funding award is split between direct grant (non-repayable - £135k) and sustainable grant (repayable - £200k). Approval to receive the funds will enable the S.151 Officer to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to enable the transfer of funds to the council.

That:

(a)        further to a successful bid  to the cabinet office the council accepts receipt of OPE Phase 7 funding of £335k as the accountable body on behalf of the One Herefordshire group of public sector organisations.

1.              Not to accept the funding: this will mean that alternative sources of funding will have to be found to replace the direct grant by Wye Valley NHS Trust as the owner and project lead for the Lionel Green Building refurbishment. It is likely that without this funding a dedicated Programme Manager will not be appointed therefore running a risk to the delivery of the existing OPE programme due to a lack of resource.  By not accepting the sustainable grant then it will take longer to bring forward the desired outcomes in terms from the delivery of the Urban Village project. This option may also have reputational risk  given that One Herefordshire  is seen as a high performing  OPE body  to turn down the funding would negative impact on the relationship with OPE Regional Managers and the Cabinet Office.