'Commercially sensitive' regeneration grants approved but opposition councillors expected to challenge decision

Why it matters: A successful call-in would freeze the grant decision — preventing any action on the approved funding while the Strategic Overview & Scrutiny Committee convenes to review it.

The details: The challenge is understood to have the backing of at least four other councillors, meaning the five signatures required to trigger a formal call-in are in place.

• A request is expected to be submitted to the council's Monitoring Officer imminently.
• The basis of the challenge is that public funds should not be used to give one privately owned business an unfair advantage over similar businesses already operating in the same market.
• The two approved grants total £1.284m and remain commercially sensitive. Ipswich.co.uk is not publishing details of the applications at this stage but will do so ahead of any scrutiny committee meeting.

What's been funded so far: Five projects had already received a combined total of around £7.2m from the fund before yesterday's meeting, with four currently under way and a fifth expected to start soon. Those projects include:

• The 4YP youth hub on Regatta Quay on the Waterfront, with the grant covering acquisition, refurbishment and fit-out costs
• A Creative Digital Skills Lab at The Baths, operated by Brighten The Corners, including video production, live recording, podcast and Extended Reality studio facilities, alongside upgrades to the existing ground-floor music venue
• CLAY 1A, a new visitor attraction on the Waterfront, supported by significant philanthropic backing alongside the grant
• The former Grimwades building, acquired by the council in April 2025 and now home to Jamaica Blue coffee shop, fashion retailer Lovisa, and a Suffolk New College education suite due to open at the start of the next academic year

What hasn't been funded: The Grade II* listed Great White Horse Hotel on Tavern Street was not among the projects selected for funding. The building's owners, John Howard and David Carr, had submitted an application understood to be over £1 million to restore the long-vacant landmark — either as a four-star boutique hotel or, subject to a planning approval granted earlier this month, as 21 residential flats.

Both options are understood to require grant funding to be commercially viable. The owners remain in conversation with the council, though it is unclear how much of the remaining £1.97m could be available to them.

What's next: If a valid call-in notice is submitted, a public scrutiny committee meeting must be convened within seven working days. Ipswich.co.uk will publish details of the two approved applications ahead of that meeting.

How the call-in process works: A call-in can be triggered by the Chair of the Strategic Overview & Scrutiny Committee acting alone, or by any five elected councillors signing a notice together.

• Once a valid notice is submitted to the Monitoring Officer, the decision is frozen and cannot be acted upon.
• The Monitoring Officer must convene a scrutiny committee meeting within seven working days.
• The committee meets in public to formally consider the called-in decision.
• If concerns remain after review, the matter is referred back to the Executive for reconsideration.
• The signed notice must be submitted within five working days of the Executive decision being published.

Separately, the council expects greater budget certainty on a number of other Local Regeneration Fund projects — including town centre greening, Lloyds Avenue improvements, St Matthews Street improvements and Hawthorn Drive Shopping Centre improvements — within the next two months, after which further funding awards may be considered.

The bottom line: The grants may be approved, but they are far from secure — with a public challenge imminent and the clock ticking on a five working day window to force an Executive rethink.

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