To receive apologies for absence, including notifications of any changes to the membership of the Board.

Apologies for absence were received from Vince Flower, Laura Marshall, Nathan Kiyaga, Alison Hernandez and Chris Hart.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on  27 October 2025.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Torquay Place Leadership Board held on 27 October 2025 were confirmed as a correct record.

a)       To receive declarations of non pecuniary interests in respect of items on this agenda

For reference:  Having declared their non pecuniary interest members may remain in the meeting and speak and, vote on the matter in question.  A completed disclosure of interests form should be returned to the Clerk before the conclusion of the meeting.

b)       To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on this agenda

For reference:  Where a Member has a disclosable pecuniary interest he/she must leave the meeting during consideration of the item.  However, the Member may remain in the meeting to make representations, answer questions or give evidence if the public have a right to do so, but having done so the Member must then immediately leave the meeting, may not vote and must not improperly seek to influence the outcome of the matter.  A completed disclosure of interests form should be returned to the Clerk before the conclusion of the meeting.

Where the interest is for issues relating to prioritisation of topics, approval of a prioritisation matrix and where approval of Grant Funding is being discussed, the Monitoring Officer has granted a dispensation to Board Members to remain in meetings of the Torquay Place Leadership Board and take part in discussions but not to vote on any application made by themselves or their organisation.

(Please Note:  If Members and Officers wish to seek advice on any potential interests they may have, they should contact Governance Support or Legal Services prior to the meeting.)

There were no declarations raised.

The Interim Place Manager outlined the steps taken since the last meeting, confirming that documentation had been submitted as agreed, and providing a timeline for the next steps as per the published report.  Conversations were ongoing regarding the Delivery Assurance Framework with Council officers.  Members discussed the flowchart for project approval, the application form and the scoring framework.  Members raised questions on the timing of funding availability, and the potential to roll forward unused funding, risk management and risk appetite in the approval process.  Members also discussed how community engagement could be integrated into the process, including use of workshops for collaboration, how the Panel might engage with unsuccessful applicants to guide and advise them on potential alternative funding routes, and the potential for adding conditions to funding agreements.

After in depth discussion, the following proposals were unanimously approved:

1.that the Board agree the suggested process, scoring template and monitoring methods;

2.that the Interim Place Manager be given delegated authority to make minor adjustments to the final document;

3.that process are put in place for the Board to begin to score and issue grants in its next meeting; and

4.that the above decisions are communicated to community groups.

The Interim Place Manager described current ideas for utilising capacity funding to allow applicants to undertake works which may allow projects to develop such as surveys and feasibility studies.  Members made suggestions regarding digital engagement and innovative non-traditional engagement methods.  Officers outlined a timeline for a proposed technical support funding package from Central Government, likely to be rolled out in the financial year 2026-2027.  The Board was generally supportive of the indicative spend outlined in the reports.

The proposed Paignton Pride in Place project was discussed, with Officers outlining that the funding package was likely to be geared toward hyper-local, community-led projects, with a focus on sustainability.  The Board discussed the proposed boundaries for this project, with representatives from the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government outlining the rationale behind the boundaries and selection criteria currently under, discussion.

•Plan for Neighbourhood capacity spend to date (2025-2026) is £46,633.

•Long Term Plan for Towns spend (2024-2025) totalled £11,668 and is held in a designated reserve.

•As of September £238,332 is held in reserve plus £153,367

•This totals £391,699 of capacity funding remaining