Towns Fund Document Submission Timeline

This resource shows the key documents that should be submitted to DLUHC and the timeline for submission of those documents for each of the four waves of Town Deal Offers. Any questions regarding the dates or process should be directed to towns’ CLGU Area Leads.

Measuring Transport Impacts

Description:

This event is the second in our ‘Measuring Impacts’ series. This series of workshops aimed to provide you with more detailed guidance and support for measuring impacts in your Business Cases across six topic areas. During each session, the presenters identified key resources and guidance to help you measure benefits and impacts in your Business Cases.

This session, on transport benefits, outlined the types of impact that can result from transport interventions, considerations that need to be made when measuring them and the data and tools that can be used towards this.

About the speaker:

Kieran Arter is a transport economist with 17 years of experience, and a business case specialist within the TFDP. He is experienced in estimating economic benefits across all modes of transport and has a detailed understanding of guidance on measuring transport impacts, such as the Department for Transport’s Transport Analysis Guidance.

Annex 1-2: Indicator guidance and M&E plan template

The purpose of these documents, provided by DLUHC, is to provide:

1. The list of mandatory indicators that you must report on twice a year; and

2. The full list of project-specific indicators that you will make a selection from, to report on annually in most instances. The indicators you select will depend on your mix of projects.

Measuring Land Value Uplift Impacts

Description:

This event is the first in our ‘Measuring Impacts’ series. This series of workshops aimed to provide you with more detailed guidance and support for measuring impacts in your Business Cases across six topic areas. During each session, the presenters identified key resources and guidance to help you measure benefits and impacts in your Business Cases.

This session, on Measuring Land Value Uplift benefits / impacts covered:

• General principles and approaches to assessing LVU impacts

• Advice on the type of evidence needed to calculate LVU impacts

• Advice on how LVU impacts can be used in business cases and BCR analysis

• Case studies and examples on where LVU has been used

About the speaker:

Danny Collins is a Director of Economics at Savills with over 15 years experience of development consultancy, specialising in property market analysis and economic benefits assessment of major development projects, including new master planned communities, town centre studies, and infrastructure projects. Danny has particular expertise in developing the economic case for public sector investment projects and has undertaken detailed studies on the LVU impacts of major regeneration and infrastructure projects. 

Monitoring and Evaluation: Indicators Tutorial

In advance of the Towns Fund October-November reporting period opening, a teach-in was held to discuss the mandatory and project-specific indicators. The aim of this teach-in was to raise awareness that each project needed all relevant project-specific indicators to be allotted to it ahead of the reporting period opening.

A recording of the webinar is below.

The Role of Traffic Management in Regenerating Cities

Description:

Crown Commercial Service hosted this webinar, which aimed to give an overarching view of Crown Commercial Service Traffic Management Solutions and how new traffic management measures create a better environment for all users combining responsibility towards Safer Streets, Clean Air Zone and management of anti-social behaviour.

As Towns continue to prepare their Business Cases and look at the delivery phase of the projects, it is important that Towns look at what routes to market are available in this area and to consider factors such as; sustainability, social value and carbon net zero when aligning projects with their own local priorities and targets.

About the speakers:

Irene Crothers (Senior Account Manager – North Team) joined CCS in June 2019 responsible for developing customer engagement primarily in the Local Authority and Not for Profit sectors in the North East, Yorkshire & Humber region.

Alex Byrne (Senior Account Manager – North Team) joined CCS in July 2019 following 10 years in the education sector working to support recruitment and staffing solutions with a range of customers across the North.  At CCS he has been supporting Local Authority & Education customers to access a range of CCS solutions.

John Woolcock (Commercial Agreement Manager - Technology Services) has over 20 years’ experience in procurement. Public and private sector infrastructure and housing predominantly in procurement of large infrastructure projects.

Sonya Watts (Commercial Agreement Specialist – Technology Services) has worked for over 20 years in a procurement and commercial role in the Public Sector. She has experience in Network Services, Tech Services and Transport. 

Mark Baxter (Commercial Agreement Executive – Technology Services) carries 18 years’ experience in Public Sector Procurement with HMPO, MoJ and CCS. Marl also has experience working in Charity Sector procurement as a contractor for the Royal Voluntary Service.

Louise Harvey (Commercial Agreement Manager – Technology Services) has 22 years’ experience in private sector for an International Book Wholesaler. Louise is currently managing Road Traffic business and will work as a support to John Woolcock across all Transport related frameworks.

Matt Wells (Commercial Agreement Manager) is currently managing the Supply chain within the transport area.

Planning your Programme

This recorded event was about looking ahead to initiating your projects and general project management.  It focused on some hints and tips for planning out your projects, focusing on construction for buildings, public realms and refurbishments to take you through the lifecycle of this to help you think about and plan your event.

About the speaker

Alistair Godbold is a Director at the Nichols Group where he manages and advises companies on the set up, operation and governance of projects and programmes.  He has advised on and set up multi-billion-pound programmes and projects and led the transformation of organisations. 

He has over 35 years experience delivering projects ranging from office buildings through IT enabled transformations to high integrity systems.  Alistair has also written blogs, books and lectured on project management around the world.  He has also served as a director of a number of project management not for profit organisations in the UK and internationally.

Consultation top tips

This document serves as guidance for towns who are seeking to consult stakeholders and the public during the planning process. Its purpose is to provide practical advice and ideas on the consultation process, as well as providing valuable information regarding the differences between statutory and non-statutory consultees.

Economic Case: Best Practice Annex B - Development

This short guide is supplementary to the Economic Case: Best Practice Guide, and provides additional information on how to quantify and monetise economic benefits related to development and land-based interventions, primarily residential, commercial and/or mixed-use development.

The step-by-step guide on estimating economic benefits covers:

• Tools and resources

• Identifying market failures

• Identifying economic benefits

• How to calculate economic benefits

  • Site-specific LVU

  • Wider LVU

  • Public realm improvements

• Case study

• Key considerations

TFDP Business Case template

The Towns Fund Delivery Partner (TFDP) have prepared an optional Business Case template for the Towns Fund programme. This template should help Towns establish a sound structure for their Business Cases in line with both government guidance and best practice.

Please note that this template will be regularly updated with changes in guidance or policy, and Towns should check back regularly to see any updates. A change control note has been added to the front of the document to inform users of the updates made.

The Business Case template document also provides the accompanying guidance and resource:

• Summary Document: as part of the business case process, a Summary Document must be submitted to MHCLG. The Summary Document is mandatory, and must be approved by MHCLG before funding can be released.

• Proportionality Guide: for each of the five cases, we set out key questions and considerations to help you gauge the level of detail required for your business case. At the end of the document, you can use the Proportionality Tool to assess where each business case falls on the scale of these key questions, which should help you understand the level of detail required for your business case.

We have published a blog, which introduces the template to Towns.

The template was updated to version 4 on 19th August 2021

Stage 2 Support Offer

As the Towns Fund Delivery Partner, we are working to support you in developing robust and considered Business Cases and projects that will help you achieve positive change in your Town. Your Town Coordinator will work with you to guide you through the resources available and ensure you can access appropriate support throughout each stage of the Towns Fund process. This document summarises what is on offer during Stage 2 up to October 2021.

A recording of the recent Town Resource Showcase webinar can also be found on the website.

This document was updated on 4th August 2021.

Project Initiation Document template

A Project Initiation Document can help you to mitigate risks as you progress towards the project initiation stage. It will also create a good foundation from which to develop a business case. The purpose of a Project Initiation Document (sometimes called a “PID”) is to record basic, but important, information to better define the project.

TFDP have developed this Project Initiation Document template, which clearly sets out what to capture in each section.

Please see our blog for further details of the benefits of Project Initiation Documents. If you have any questions about how to use the template, please contact your Town Coordinator.

Board Report Template

As Boards evolve into their new responsibilities in the Business Case development stage, they will need to be kept informed of progress being made, have visibility of risks and be able to focus on the issues and decisions which need their steer. Putting in place a standard Board Report, which covers the key headlines, gives assurance to Board members and enables the precious time that they have to be focused on the key matters at hand.

We have developed a simple, editable Board Report template which you can use to ensure that your Board stays sighted on the information which is most important for them to see.

We have provided the template in both excel and word format. The excel template has a tab with instructions, and you can also download instructions on how to use the word template below.

Please read our accompanying blog to further understand the benefits of using this template.

FAQs: Stage 2 Business Case Development

DLUHC published 16 new FAQs on 6th July 2021, relating to Stage 2 of the Towns Fund programme. These cover key questions on project prioritisation, business case submission, assurance, finance and revenue funding.

Please click download below to view these new FAQs.

Engaging with hard to reach groups

Hard to reach or seldom heard groups are defined as people that are typically under-represented in the planning or development process, or in wider public life.

This could include ethnic or language minorities, people with disabilities, young people, the elderly, people with low literacy levels and people who simply don’t think their participation will make a difference as their voice will not be heard. These groups may be difficult to engage with because they do not feel empowered to do so, or due to barriers which can be overcome.

This guide seeks to help Towns in engaging with such groups.

Updates to TAG

The Department for Transport (DfT) recently announced forthcoming changes to the Transport Appraisal Guidance (TAG) to be published officially in the guidance in July 2021. These include changes to:

• Optimism Bias

• Appraisal period and residual values

• Capturing Local context

• Uncertainty toolkit

• Landscape monetisation guidance

This document provides an overview of the key updates to DfT’s Transport Appraisal Guidance (TAG). These changes should be considered by towns appraising transport projects, especially the Economic Case.

Communications and Branding Guidance

MHCLG issued this Communications and Branding Local Authority Guidance for the Towns Fund, covering Town Deals (including Accelerated Funding) and the Future High Streets Fund (FHSF).

This Guidance provides clarity on how Local Authorities should use Government branding to help promote projects funded via the Towns Fund (Town Deals and FHSF) and collaborate on external communications opportunities. This includes guidance for those Local Authorities that are partnered with the Northern Powerhouse, the Midlands Engine, and the Oxford to Cambridge Arc.

Building a strong brand for your Town Deal

A Town Investment Plan (TIP) is more than just a bid document to unlock investment in selected projects. Good TIPs set out a clear and compelling vision for the Town’s future which stakeholders and the public feel they have helped to shape and can buy into going forward.

This guidance considers how Towns can take the contents of their TIP and turn it into a narrative and brand identity under which component projects become more than just the sum of their parts.

So don’t let your TIP sit on a shelf gathering dust. Put it to work as you move through Stage 2 and on towards project delivery.

We’ve created this interactive toolkit to help you build an action plan for your next steps. You can fill this in online or print out and brainstorm with your team.

Distributional and place-based analysis

As you progress the Business Case for each of your projects, the Economic Case will provide an assessment of the overall value for money of each project through its Benefit/Cost Ratio (BCR).

However, an overall BCR alone does not demonstrate how the impacts of the project could vary between different groups – for instance, people in different income bands or people of different ages or spatial areas.

The revised Green Book, published in November 2020, set out a requirement to identify the potential distributional impacts on different groups of people, and to produce place-based analysis for proposals with a geographical defined focus. The Delivery Partner produced a blog and guide on the revisions to the Green Book.

This guide goes into more detail about the questions that Towns should consider in approaching the distributional analysis required. It also identifies the place based analysis that can be applied where appropriate, with signposting to relevant guidance documents.

CCS: Supporting the delivery of your regeneration projects

Description

The recorded session aims to give an overview of Crown Commercial Service, what they do and where they can support on your Towns Fund journey.

As Towns continue to prepare their Business Cases and look at the delivery phase of the projects, it is important that Towns look at what routes to market are available and to consider factors such as; sustainability, social value and carbon net zero when aligning projects with their own local priorities and targets.

About the speakers

Darren Moore MCIPS (Head of Construction Growth) has extensive experience in developing commercial strategies across various categories that support public sector organisations, including Local Government, in procuring their built estate requirements. With over 15 years spent in the construction category, Darren has specific experience across construction professional services and more recently, in developing a new construction works category.

Craig Garsed MCIPS (Category Lead Construction) is a procurement professional with extensive public sector procurement experience working primarily within Local Government before more recently moving into the Civil Service. Craig is currently a Category Lead on the CCS Construction Works & Services framework agreement.

Irene Crothers (Senior Account Manager – North East) joined CCS in June 2019 as a Strategic Business Manager working in the Customer Experience Team and responsible for developing customer engagement primarily in the Local Authority and Not for Profit sectors in the North East, Yorkshire & Humber region. Previously she spent 20 years at HM Land Registry as a Business Development Manager driving growth and cost efficiencies to large private / public sector customers concentrating in the areas of infrastructure transport projects such as Thames Tideway Tunnel, HS2 & Crossrail and the financial, utilities/energy and legal sectors.

Alex Byrne (Senior Account Manager – North West) joined CCS in July 2019 following 10 years in the education sector working to support recruitment and staffing solutions with a range of customers across the North.  At CCS he has been supporting Local Authority & Education customers to access a range of CCS solutions.