76. Evaluation of the Sheffield City Council’s Economic Recovery Fund Round One
In the Summer of 2022, Kada evaluated the first phase of Sheffield City Council’s (SCC) Economic Recovery Fund, a £2 million fund designed to support post Covid-19 high street recovery in the city’s district centres. To increase footfall and resident spend, SCC provided a series of grants to local groups of up to £200,000 to encourage a community led response to high street recovery.
As part of the evaluation, Kada researchers spoke to leading stakeholders, grant beneficiaries, community groups, and residents to evaluate the strengths, areas of potential improvement, and the economic and social value impact of the projects. Alongside this, Kada undertook a comprehensive desk review into the post Covid-19 high street context.
Kada concluded that Sheffield’s Economic Recovery Fund achieved a wide variety of outputs including the formation of new constituted community groups, the establishment of eight new business forums, numerous successful community events, and physical improvements to many district centres. Kada’s economic and social value modelling found that between £1.99 and £2.24 of social value was created by the programme for every £1 spent.
The improvements were well received by residents and stakeholders welcomed the legacy upon resident autonomy and the city’s community infrastructure. The evaluation showed that there was a real appetite for future iterations of the programme across the city. Kada provided a series of strategic and operational recommendations focused on how the programme could continue to evolve to maintain and increase its impact. These conclusions and recommendations were used to improve the next iteration of Economic Recovery Fund.
“High street regeneration is a particularly important economic issue with many local authorities and representative bodies looking at innovative ways to increase footfall and future proof their centres. Kada reports are continuing to provide these bodies with an excellent evidence base and a wide range of innovative solutions to inform their decision making on this critical issue”.
Pat Coupar, Study Manager.
If you are thinking about commissioning an economic impact/social value or high street regeneration study, you can get in touch at info@kadaresearch.co.uk, or if you would like to talk through an idea or hear about this work you can contact Pat at pat@kadaresearch.co.uk
