Purpose

To
approve large-scale capital grant for The Food Museum

Content

It was
RESOLVED: -
 
That
Cabinet:
 
1.1         
Agreed to use the £1m set aside for the
Food Museum in the Council’s Capital Ambition Reserve for a
grant to match fund the £3.950m requested from the National
Lottery Heritage Fund for the Branching Out Project.

 
1.2         
Supported the underwriting of up to £533k,
to be provided in the form of a loan to the Food Museum for the
Branching Out Project, to be drawn down in future years, only if
required, to cover outstanding fundraising for the
project.

 
1.3         
Subject to 1.2 above, recommend to Council that
provision is made in the Mid Suffolk Finance Resilience Reserve for
a loan of up to £533k to the Food Museum in the event that it
is required for the Branching Out Project.

 
1.4         
Agrees to delegate to the Director of Place in
consultation with the Section 151 Officer and Cabinet Member for
Environment, Culture & Wellbeing to finalise the grant
agreement and, subject to Council’s decision, the loan
agreement between the Council and the Food Museum.
 
REASON FOR
DECISION
 
To
ensure the successful delivery of the Branching Out project and to
secure significant investment from the National Lottery Heritage
Fund for a major capital project at one of Mid Suffolk’s most
significant tourism and cultural attractions. Without this funding
the transformative capital building works will not be delivered,
and the Food Museum will be unable to progress the Branching Out
project and achieve the stretch targets in their business
plan.
 
Alternative
Options Considered and Rejected:
 
Option One: Provide no financial support to
the Food Museum for this major capital project.

This option is not recommended
because the National Lottery Heritage Fund requires significant
match funding and this is not available
from any other source at this time.

Option Two: Provide £1m
grant to the Food Museum as match funding for their bid to the
Heritage Lottery Fund for £3.950m to deliver the Branching
Out Project.   

This option is not recommended on
its own. While this option provides the required level of match
funding without the additional support referenced in Option Three
there would still be a delay of at least a year before the project
could commence. 
 
Any Declarations of Interests Declared: None
Any Dispensation Granted: None