The benefit of new cash to revitalise Scunthorpe town centre “will be felt by everyone who visits”, a council leader has said.
Scunthorpe is one of 55 locations to get a new batch of towns funding cash from the government. In total, it will get £20m, staggered out over a ten year period. Precisely what it will be spent on is to be worked out.
The government funding programme, called “Long-Term Plan for Towns”, will be put into action by local authorities. Towns like Scunthorpe and Grimsby were chosen for the new £20m cash based on a Levelling Up Index of deprivation, which took into account factors such as median weekly pay and life expectancy.
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“This latest commitment from Ggovernment is backing Scunthorpe town centre communities with hard cash,” said North Lincolnshire Council leader Cllr Rob Waltham. “This money, deliverable over a decade, will make a long term difference to the heart of Scunthorpe and the benefit will be felt by every one who visits.
“There’s no doubt that the high street, like every single one across the country faces challenges,” admitted Cllr Waltham. “But, along with the rest of the government support – and the hard work Holly Mumby-Croft MP puts in to getting this cash for Scunthorpe – we’re building a new future, brighter future and one which includes a town centre that is backed by everyone.”
The Long-Term Plan for Towns requires a town board to partly steer the initiative, something Scunthorpe already has from when it was awarded its Towns Fund cash in 2019. The board will need to come up with a long-term plan aligned to issues research shows people want the most. These include:
- Improving transport to help make travel easier for residents and attract visitors to town centres
- Measures on crime and anti social behaviour
- Enhancing town centres to make high streets more attractive and accessible, including cleaning up streets, or running market days
Regeneration powers, seemingly for local authorities, have also been promised to unlock more private sector investment. These include the auctioning of empty high street shops, reform of licensing rules on shops and restaurants, and supporting more housing in town centres.
Scunthorpe has previously been awarded £20.9m from the Towns Fund, and £10.3m Future High Streets Fund cash, as well as £5.5m from the UK Shared Prosperity Funding across three years. These have gone to projects such as the redevelopment of the former High Street market into an enterprise and innovation hub, an advanced manufacturing park by the M180, and the development of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Gardens outside Church Square.
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Scunthorpe’s new central police station will also be at the former High Street Market site. The Town Board heard in July that £4m Towns Fund council cash was going towards the police building, which will be on the western side of the site.
Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe
