Annex B

City of York Council

Equalities Impact Assessment

Who is submitting the proposal?

Directorate:		Place
Service Area:		Regeneration and Economy
Name of the proposal :		Levelling Up Fund Round 2 and UK Shared Prosperity Fund
Lead officer:		Katie Peeke-Vout
Date assessment completed:		25^th May 2022
Names of those who contributed to the assessment :
Name	Job title		Organisation	Area of expertise
Ben Murphy	Commercial Project Officer		City Of York Council	Regeneration and Planning

Step 1 – Aims and intended outcomes 

1.1

What is the purpose of the proposal? Please explain your proposal in Plain English avoiding acronyms and jargon.

The Equality Impact Assessment is to accompany an Executive report seeking approval to proceed with undertaking the steps necessary to apply for and to drawdown Government funding. The funding is to deliver the Governments Levelling Up Missions as set out in the Government’s Levelling Up White Paper. The report proposes that two bids are prepared and submitted to Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund. This includes a revision and resubmission of the Round 1 package bid to revitalise the city centre, and a Transport focused bid to improve active travel and sustainable accessibility to the proposed new railway station in Haxby. Individual and detailed Equality Impact Assessments will accompany the decisions to proceed with these projects if funding is secured. There will also be an Equalities Impact Assessment that accompanies the Levelling Up bids to Government setting out the wealth of engagement undertaken to inform the projects and the impact of the proposals. The report seeks approval to proceed with preparation of a 3 year investment plan to secure the drawdown of York’s allocation of the UK Share Prosperity Fund. This allocation is £5,107,510 with an additional allocation of £741,291 for an adult numeracy programme called Multiply. An Equalities Impact assessment will be carried out as part of the preparation of the Investment Plan.

1.2

Are there any external considerations? (Legislation/government directive/codes of practice etc.)

Both the Levelling Up Fund and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund have clear guidance setting out the purpose of the funding and what it is to deliver. Using Government funding increases the importance of aligning projects to national policy objectives, as well as legal and statutory commitments. This includes for example a closer alignment to delivering Net Zero carbon emissions and improving air quality. Transport schemes will be required to meet LTN1/20 guidance.

1.3

Who are the stakeholders and what are their interests?

Levelling Up Funding Bids: Bid 1: The three projects contained in this package bid seek to improve the function and appearance of three major civic spaces in the City, and will inevitable affect and be influenced by a very wide range of stakeholders and communities of interest. In terms of stakeholder organisations, these are best articulated around the membership of the My City Centre Stakeholder Group and Castle Gateway Advisory Group, whose collective membership is comprised from: English Heritage, Environment Agency, York Museums Trust, My Future York, Crown Courts, York Conservation Trust, Indie York, the Retail Forum, York Property Forum, Higher York, the Hospitality Association, the Canals & Rivers Trust, the City Guilds Associations, North Yorkshire Police, the Centre for Voluntary Services, Make It York, the Business Improvement District, York Community Safety, Cultural Leaders Group, and York Food Festival. The interests of this very broad and diverse group of stakeholder are various, wide ranging and too numerous to list here (though often self-evident in their organisations name). What brings them all together in these projects (and the LUF bid proposals which form part of both), is to deliver improvements for and on behalf of York’s residents, business community and visitors. Bid 1 is designed to deliver core components of the My City Centre Vision, whilst also catalysing wider parts of the vision. The vision was developed through extensive and wide ranging community engagement with residents, visitors, and businesses in the City Centre, including special interest groups, and communities of interest. This engagement was undertaken over a long period of time and using a wide variety of consultation techniques and platforms, to enable as wide and representative a body of feedback as possible. Similarly the Castle and Eye scheme underwent similar engagement exercises through the My Castle Gateway engagement programme, as well as specific consultation on the current planning application. Bid 2: The Transport focused bid to improve active travel and sustainable accessibility to the proposed new railway station in Haxby. Network Rail are a key partner in delivering the station. The main stakeholders with an interest in this scheme are the residents of Wigginton, Haxby, Towthorpe and Strensall. UK Shared Prosperity Investment Plan: The Investment Plan required to drawdown the funding must be created and approved by partners and key stakeholders. The main themes of the Fund are: Community and Place, Supporting Local Business and People and Skills. The breadth of these themes reflect the broad range of partners that will be invited to be involved in the preparation of the Investment Plan. As well as shaping the investment plan, some partner organisations can receive funding including public sector organisations, higher and further education institutions, private sector companies, community and voluntary sector organisations and registered charities. Therefore as well as representing the interests of their organisation or sector, their interest may also be in the potential access to funding. As the lead authority, the council has the responsibility for managing the fund, assessing and approving applications, processing payments and day-to-day monitoring. In partnership with local stakeholders, the Council determines the scale of each intervention and can use competition, commissioning, procurement or in house delivery.

1.4

What results/outcomes do we want to achieve and for whom?  This section should explain what outcomes you want to achieve for service users, staff and/or the wider community. Demonstrate how the proposal links to the Council Plan (2019- 2023) and other corporate strategies and plans.

This report seeks approval to proceed with undertaking the steps necessary to apply for and to drawdown Government funding, to deliver a wide range of benefits to residents and users of the city. Securing external funding creates significant opportunities to for the council to maximise its delivery against the Council Plan. Securing external funding and delivering the proposals outlined above will support a number of outcomes outlined in the Council Plan 2019-2023: - Well-paid Jobs and an Inclusive Economy – supporting hard hit retail, leisure and tourism sectors to recover from Covid, whilst diversifying the high street to benefit York’s economy, and support lowest paid sectors, alongside longer term plans to facilitate growth in higher value sectors. - A Greener and Cleaner City – investment in pedestrian and cycling provision, enhanced public transport facilities, and enhancing sustainable transport across modes, and new and improved open spaces in the river corridors - Getting around Sustainably – creation of new cycling/walking infrastructure to encourage active travel into York city centre - Creating Homes and World-class Infrastructure – transforming public realm in key city centre locations and providing a world class events space that improves the setting of York’s historic monuments and buildings, enhancing and upgrading local road networks - Safe Communities and Culture for All – the provision of new spaces across the city centre for cultural activation and community activity.

Step 2 – Gathering the information and feedback 

2.1	What sources of data, evidence and consultation feedback do we have to help us understand the impact of the proposal on equality rights and human rights? Please consider a range of sources, including: consultation exercises, surveys, feedback from staff, stakeholders, participants, research reports, the views of equality groups, as well your own experience of working in this area etc.
Source of data/ supporting evidence		Reason for using
Castle Gateway Project Evidence Base		The Castle Gateway scheme is embedded in the Local Plan and is underpinned by evidence base work undertaken to support the Plan. Site specific technical work undertaken to support the masterplan includes the Castle Piccadilly Engineering Constraints Study (Arup 2015) and transport technical work undertaken by WSP (2017). The Castle Piccadilly Planning Brief, which was agreed in 2006, also provides an important evidence base.
My Castle Gateway Engagement		A shared masterplan was created for the Castle Gateway area based on extensive engagement. This was adopted in 2018. Each of the individual projects contained within the masterplan have also gone through extensive engagement which has shaped the designs of the schemes. This has engagement throughout the process has helped to understand and address the impact proposals might have and found solutions to improve the positive impacts and mitigate negative impacts. The Castle and Eye of York scheme is part of the second phase of the Castle Gateway masterplan and is project 1 in the package regeneration and culture bid to the Levelling up Fund.
My City Centre Engagement		The My City Centre Vision has been formed through extensive engagement. The engagement focused on many of the specific issues which the Levelling Up projects are seeking to resolve. It explores individual’s relationship with the City Centre and its spaces in detail, and seeks to establish how people wish to see it improved. A delivery strategy is being developed to deliver the Vision, with many of the deliverables looking to be funded by the Levelling Up Fund bid.
Ongoing engagement undertaken relating to the proposed new railway station in Haxby		The first round of engagement was undertaken in 2020 with residents to understand their views on the idea of bringing a railway station back to the area. This formed the basis of the project and has been built on with further engagement in 2022 to continue to shape the proposals and business case.
York Open data, ONS and Census data		The funding bids will draw on a variety of sources to measure the proposal’s impacts and successes against socio-economic parameters should funding be secured for the projects.

Step 3 – Gaps in data and knowledge

3.1	What are the main gaps in information and understanding of the impact of your proposal?  Please indicate how any gaps will be dealt with.
Gaps in data or knowledge		Action to deal with this
Detailed designs are still required for a number of projects included in the Levelling Up Fund Bids. As these progress, the specific needs of and impacts on people, particularly those with protected characteristic will be considered and factored into detailed proposals as they are developed.		Resourcing engagement activity as part of the design development stage of work, and high quality design stage work input

Step 4 – Analysing the impacts or effects.

4.1	Please consider what the evidence tells you about the likely impact (positive or negative) on people sharing a protected characteristic, i.e. how significant could the impacts be if we did not make any adjustments? Remember the duty is also positive – so please identify where the proposal offers opportunities to promote equality and/or foster good relations.
Equality Groups and Human Rights.		Key Findings/Impacts	Positive (+) Negative (-) Neutral (0)	High (H) Medium (M) Low (L)
Age		My City Centre feedback reveals existing accessibility issues with existing city spaces, sometimes related to age. The public realm proposals for these spaces would redress these issues which are principally associated with poor and uneven surfaces. Proposals for new events spaces at Castle and Eye will spread the impact of these, which is currently concentrated on Parliament Street and frequently cited as disruptive, particularly to those with mobility issues (sometimes age related). Works to parliament Street will also be laid out in a manner which seeks to reduce conflict between these events and typical resident use of the spaces, which can also impact those with mobility issues (sometimes age related) disproportionately New and improved public spaces will ultimately accommodate a diverse range of uses and activities for people of different ages from young people to older residents.	+	M
Disability		My City Centre feedback reveals existing accessibility issues with existing city spaces, sometimes related to disability. The public realm proposals for these spaces would redress these issues which are principally associated with poor and uneven surfaces. Proposals for new events spaces at Castle and Eye will spread the impact of these, which is currently concentrated on Parliament Street and frequently cited as disruptive, particularly to those with mobility issues (sometimes disability related). Works to parliament Street will also be laid out in a manner which seeks to reduce conflict between these events and typical resident use of the spaces, which can also impact those with mobility issues (sometimes disability related) disproportionately The proposals will ultimately deliver modern standards or accessibility and legibility in the public realm, streetscape and new buildings. The planning application to close Castle Car Park commits to re-providing lost disabled parking bays in other council car parks in close proximity to the city centre and any future decision to close Castle Car Park would be accompanied with a full EIA at that time, but it should be noted that some disabled groups are opposed to the closure of Castle Car Park to create new public realm and would prefer to see disabled parking retained. A wider city strategy for disabled parking users is also being developed through consultation which will define the best locations and solutions for disabled parking.	Positive for improvements to city centre accessibility Negative for those opposed to closure of Castle Car Park	M
Gender		The safety and security of city spaces and active travel routes, particularly during the evening, is an issue which my city centre is exploring in detail, and which can disproportionately impact non-males. There is an opportunity through the detailed design of spaces, to follow best practice principles and ensure that spaces are naturally surveilled, well used and populated and both operate and feel safe and secure. The gendering of spaces is also an issue which the project may seek to explore further, in order to ensure that negative discrimination on the basis of gender is reduced and avoided in key city spaces.	+	L
Gender Reassignment		The projects impacts in respect of gender re-assignment are considered to potentially mirror those related to gender itself and no additional impacts or issues are identified in this respect.	+	L
Marriage and civil partnership		No additional impacts or issues are identified in this specific respect	0	L
Pregnancy and maternity		No additional impacts or issues are identified in this specific respect	0	L
Race		No additional impacts or issues are identified in this specific respect	0	L
Religion and belief		No additional impacts or issues are identified in this specific respect	0	L
Sexual orientation		The safety and security of city spaces, particularly during the evening, is an issue which my city centre is exploring in detail, and which can disproportionately impact non-heterosexual individuals. There is an opportunity through the detailed design of spaces, to follow best practice principles and ensure that spaces are naturally surveilled, well used and populated and both operate and feel safe and secure. The gendering of spaces is also an issue which the project may seek to explore further, in order to ensure that negative discrimination on the basis of gender is reduced and avoided in key city spaces.	+	L
Other Socio-economic groups including :		Could other socio-economic groups be affected e.g. carers, ex-offenders, low incomes?
Carer		The retail, hospitality and tourism sectors which the proposals seek to support are disproportionately staffed by part time employees (42% of staff part time against 32% for all other sectors). Part time employment is potentially beneficial to carers who are managing other challenging life commitments alongside work, and therefore supporting these sectors may provide some beneficial impacts to this socio-economic group.	+	L
Low income groups		The city centre proposals are designed to support the robustness and economic performance of the city’s low wage retail hospitality and tourism sectors, following the immediate impacts of the Covid 19 pandemic and systemic change which is flowing. This will in turn help to support employment prospects and wages amongst the workers in these sectors, who are lower income groups. New and improved public spaces will ultimately accommodate a range of uses, activities and events which can be accessed and enjoyed at low or no cost to residents. Improving public transport connectivity, and accessibility to key transport links via active travel and public transport will support low income groups access a wider offering of services, cultural and social opportunities and education and employment opportunities.	+	M
Veterans, Armed Forces Community		No additional impacts or issues are identified in this specific respect	0
Other		No additional impacts or issues are identified in this specific respect	0
Impact on human rights:
List any human rights impacted.		The rights to freedom of expression and a fair and public hearing are positively reinforced through the ongoing extensive and open engagement being undertaken through My Castle Gateway, My City Centre, and the Haxby Station engagement.	+	L

Use the following guidance to inform your responses:

Indicate:

- Where you think that the proposal could have a POSITIVE impact on any of the equality groups like promoting equality and equal opportunities or improving relations within equality groups

- Where you think that the proposal could have a NEGATIVE impact on any of the equality groups, i.e. it could disadvantage them

- Where you think that this proposal has a NEUTRAL effect on any of the equality groups listed below i.e. it has no effect currently on equality groups.

It is important to remember that a proposal may be highly relevant to one aspect of equality and not relevant to another.

High impact (The proposal or process is very equality relevant)	There is significant potential for or evidence of adverse impact The proposal is institution wide or public facing The proposal has consequences for or affects significant numbers of people The proposal has the potential to make a significant contribution to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights.
Medium impact (The proposal or process is somewhat equality relevant)	There is some evidence to suggest potential for or evidence of adverse impact The proposal is institution wide or across services, but mainly internal The proposal has consequences for or affects some people The proposal has the potential to make a contribution to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights
Low impact (The proposal or process might be equality relevant)	There is little evidence to suggest that the proposal could result in adverse impact The proposal operates in a limited way The proposal has consequences for or affects few people The proposal may have the potential to contribute to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights

Step 5 - Mitigating adverse impacts and maximising positive impacts

5.1

Based on your findings, explain ways you plan to mitigate any unlawful prohibited conduct or unwanted adverse impact. Where positive impacts have been identified, what is been done to optimise opportunities to advance equality or foster good relations?

As the proposals develop, further detailed engagement will be undertaken to ensure that adverse impacts are avoided where possible, and mitigated where unavoidable. Where adverse impacts are identified focused engagement will be undertaken to work to find mitigation solutions with those affected. Future project specific Equalities Impact Assessments will ensure that both adverse and positive impacts are identified and mitigated or maximised accordingly.

Step 6 – Recommendations and conclusions of the assessment

6.1	Having considered the potential or actual impacts you should be in a position to make an informed judgement on what should be done. In all cases, document your reasoning that justifies your decision. There are four main options you can take:
- No major change to the proposal – the EIA demonstrates the proposal is robust.  There is no                         potential  for unlawful discrimination or adverse impact and you have taken all opportunities to    advance equality and foster good relations, subject to continuing monitor and review.
- Adjust the proposal – the EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. This involves taking steps to remove any barriers, to better advance quality or to foster good relations. - Continue with the proposal (despite the potential for adverse impact) – you should clearly set out the justifications for doing this and how you believe the decision is compatible with our obligations under the duty - Stop and remove the proposal – if there are adverse effects that are not justified and cannot be mitigated, you should consider stopping the proposal altogether. If a proposal leads to unlawful discrimination it should be removed or changed. Important: If there are any adverse impacts you cannot mitigate, please provide a compelling reason in the justification column.
Option selected		Conclusions/justification
No major change to the proposal		The proposals provide positive impacts for groups sharing a protected characteristic, and there are further opportunities as the proposals progress, to embed additional positive impacts in subsequent stages of development. Whilst some disabled parking spaces would be lost be the closure of Castle Car Park the planning application commits to reproviding these in other council car parks, and any final decision to close the car park will be subject to a full EIA at that stage.

Step 7 – Summary of agreed actions resulting from the assessment

7.1	What action, by whom, will be undertaken as a result of the impact assessment.
Impact/issue		Action to be taken	Person responsible	Timescale

Step 8 - Monitor, review and improve

8. 1

How will the impact of your proposal be monitored and improved upon going forward?   Consider how will you identify the impact of activities on protected characteristics and other marginalised groups going forward? How will any learning and enhancements be capitalised on and embedded?

Both the Levelling Up Funding bids and the UK Shared Prosperity Investment Plan are required to set out clear monitoring and evaluation plans outlining key metrics against which impact of the intervention will be assessed. Specifically for the My City Centre Vision and Delivery Strategy, there is a 3 year review process built in to match the evolving nature of the current climate. All capital projects operated out of the Council’s regeneration function include ongoing lessons learnt assessment, with these disseminated within the Council.