Issue - meetings

Report of Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Finance and Performance

Lead Cabinet member: Councillor Zoe Nicholson

(Key decision):

(1) To note the progress made in delivering Community Wealth Building.

(2) To note and adopt the Community Wealth Building Strategy, as set out at appendix 1 to the report, subject to final sign off by the Leader of the Council.

(3) To agree to an approach being made to East Sussex Pension Fund seeking agreement to invest more in local projects to retain wealth and create jobs locally.

The Cabinet considered the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Regeneration and Planning, providing an update on the progress of the Council’s Community Wealth Building programme.

The report detailed that the council’s local spend over the 4 years had doubled, with 59% of its expenditure being within the boundaries of Sussex.

Policy and Performance Advisory Committee (PPAC), held on 19 September 2024 considered the report and were supportive of the officer recommendations in full. Councillor Brett, Chair of PPAC was in attendance to present PPAC’s discussion and questions raised at that meeting.

As there had been a few minor changes to the Strategy since publication, it was proposed that officer recommendation (2) be amended to allow final sign off by the Leader of the Council. This was unanimously accepted by Cabinet and reflected in the resolution below.

Resolved (Key decision):

(1) To note the progress made in delivering Community Wealth Building.

(2) To note and adopt the Community Wealth Building Strategy, as set out at appendix 1 to the report, subject to final sign off by the Leader of the Council.

(3) To agree to an approach being made to East Sussex Pension Fund seeking agreement to invest more in local projects to retain wealth and create jobs locally.

Reasons for decisions:

(1) The Council is committed to developing a Community Wealth Building approach as part of the Corporate Plan 2024-28. This report is the annual update on this work to Cabinet.

(2) The strategy document would provide a public facing overview of the Council’s activities and future plans in relation to community wealth building.

(3) East Sussex Pension Fund could provide a significant contribution to the local economy if it invested more in local projects, which could benefit residents, but also many members of the scheme who may live in the area.