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Following Cabinet delegating authority of the
High Street Accelerator ‘Green Space’ budget to the
Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public
Realm, this decision approves the following:
a)That the Leader of the Council, in consultation with the
Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm authorises
expenditure of £41,415 from the High Street Accelerator
budget to pay for signage in Dovercourt; and
b)Subject to (a) above, to use this funding to contract with Esign
Visual Communication following a procurement exercise to deliver
new heritage and wayfinding signage.

Reasons for the decision

On 24 May 2024, Cabinet considered a report
titled
‘PROGRESS WITH TOWN CENTRE REGENERATION THROUGH THE CLACTON
LONG TERM PLAN FOR TOWNS AND DOVERCOURT HIGH STREET
ACCELERATOR.’
Through that report, Cabinet delegated authorisation of this
spending of the High St Accelerator Green Space Budget of
£500,000 to the Leader of the Council in consultation with
the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm.
The spending recommendations for the High Street Accelerator
budgets are put forward by the ‘High Street
Accelerator’ partnership, which is formed from a variety of
organisations who are representative of the town centre and wider
community. This project has been agreed by the partnership and now
awaiting formal authority from the respective Cabinet Members to
progress.
A formal tender exercise to allocate the remainder of the
£500,000 of Green Space funding has been commissioned. Once
tenders are evaluated and an extension agreed by the High Street
Team within the MHCLG, a full report on the outcome will be
prepared for consideration by the Leader of the Council and
Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm. This commission will
raise awareness and support regeneration of the High Street, which
is a key objective of the programme.
The small scheme agreed through this decision is to supplement the
wider project referred to above and will improve existing
wayfinding in the town, and improve connectivity between key
visitor locations and the town centre.
The original deadline for committing these funds was June 30, 2025
but flexibility on the timeline has been granted and on the 15th
August 2025 the High Street Team within MHCLG agreed the
£41,415 spend on Maps, Signs and History Boards with Esign
Visual Communications.

Alternative options considered

To not procure and miss the opportunity to
maximise the offer to Dovercourt and not providing the best
value.
To not progress the green space projects or scale them down,
returning money to MHCLG therefore not requiring this
support.