Purpose

The purpose this report is to
seek approval to submit an expression of interest application to
the National Lottery UK Fund Grant programme for £900,000
over a five-year period.
 
The focus of the project is to
continue to deliver and scale up the existing Arts and
Heritage project currently
funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

Decision

1.         The
Council submits the expression of interest to the National Lottery
Fund to
explore external funding
to continue and expand the work of the Arts and Heritage Project.
This will enable the Council to expand existing activities and have
assurances that the project can be sustained over a longer
period of time (5 years).

2.         The Arts
and Heritage Project is identified as a priority project to
continue through the UKSPF one-year interim period should the
funding application to the National Lottery not be successful to
extend the project for a 12-month period while other external
funding options are explored.