Governance and Decision Making

Project governance

It is important to establish a proportional governance structure for the nature, size and complexity of your regeneration project. A good governance framework provides confidence to stakeholders that the project is being managed well, and should:

• Facilitate decision-making and approval
• Define authority, including responsibilities and accountabilities
• Ensure alignment with wider strategy
• Ensure the right control mechanisms are in place for the best chance of success

Larger projects will usually have a project board (or steering group or committee) which oversees the project. The board:

• Is accountable to your organisation (and partners) for ensuring the project’s success within an agreed remit. This remit should have been set by the organisation or its partners.
• Makes decisions on matters that are beyond the delegated authority of the project team, for example decisions on risks, issues, and changes.
• Includes the project sponsor, who often acts as the chair, and should represent the right mix of interests and expertise. The project sponsor is the individual ultimately accountable for the success of the project.

Smaller or less complex projects may not require a project board, but should still ensure a project sponsor is in place.

All project team roles, including the project sponsor, should be assigned to people with the appropriate authority, seniority, skills, experience, and capacity.

Bringing diverse organisations together at board level and in advisory groups allows your programme to draw on a wealth of experience and expertise from variety of perspectives, fostering a collaborative approach.

Roles and responsibilities

The roles in your governance structure should give you clarity on who:

• Authorises payments or changes to the programme
• Makes final decisions on any grant offers you are administering
• Is responsible for managing risk identified in your risk log
• Is responsible for financial management and reporting (for example, Council Accountant)
• Has delegated powers to sign grant awards or approve grant claims for payments

Some of these will impact your timeline so think about:

• How often will decision-making groups meet?
• What level of budget delegation do they have?

To make sure processes run smoothly, those who have control over signing off budget spend (the project board for example) need to be at a level where they can make decisions and take action when needed. Make sure any budget delegation limits for individuals are set high enough to allow the programme to authorise payments quickly.

More complicated governance structures may include specialist panels or groups. Understand where they fit into your decision-making structure: are they advisory or do they have decision making powers? You may need to build in time for sign off or making decisions.

As your programme gets under way, review the governance structures and make changes if needed. Are there any pinch points that could be ironed out? For example, avoid having to refer too many minor decisions to other officers, or a lack of clear process for decision making.