Community Renewal Fund appraisals

North Yorkshire County Council was identified as a Lead Authority for the delivery of the Government’s Community Renewal Fund, and commissioned Thrive Economics to assist in the completion of appraisals.

We completed 21 appraisals over the course of a week to assist with the challenging timescales. As part of the appraisal process we analysed strategic fit and deliverability with specific questions including:

• To what extent does the scheme contribute to net zero objectives or wider environmental considerations?
• Can the scheme inform the UK Shared Prosperity Fund through transferable learning or the opportunity to scale up?
• Does the scheme demonstrate innovation in service delivery?
• Can the scheme be delivered as proposed by March 2022?
• Has an effective monitoring and evaluation strategy been provided?

Following the completion of appraisals we participated in a scoring moderation workshop with staff from North Yorkshire County Council who had also completed appraisals. Through the workshop scores were moderated and the strongest applications were agreed. The County Council completed the final stage of the process in putting forward the strongest applications to Government for consideration.