Spalding is to get £20m of funding over 10-years after the government announced it was one of 55 towns in the country that have been ‘left behind’.
The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made the announcement today (Sunday).
Whitehall says the town’s, which also include Boston and Skegness were chosen due to a ‘Levelling Up index’.
They will:
- Receive a ten-year £20 million endowment-style fund to be spent on local people’s priorities, like regenerating local high streets and town centres or securing public safety.
- Set up a Town Board to bring together community leaders, employers, local authorities, and the local MP, to deliver the Long-Term Plan for their town and put it to local people for consultation.
- Use a suite of regeneration powers to unlock more private sector investment by auctioning empty high street shops, reforming licensing rules on shops and restaurants, and supporting more housing in town centres.
Spalding already has a ‘town board’ in the Spalding Town Forum, though whether a new board will have to be set up is yet to be revealed.
Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said:
Towns are the place most of us call home and where most of us go to work. But politicians have always taken towns for granted and focused on cities.
The result is the half-empty high streets, run-down shopping centres and anti-social behaviour that undermine many towns’ prosperity and hold back people’s opportunity – and without a new approach, these problems will only get worse.
That changes today. Our Long-Term Plan for Towns puts funding in the hands of local people themselves to invest in line with their priorities, over the long-term. That is how we level up.
Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove said:
We know that in our towns the values of hard work and solidarity, common sense and common purpose, endeavour and quiet patriotism have endured across generations. But for too long, too many of our great British towns have been overlooked and undervalued.
We are putting this right through our Long-Term Plan for Towns backed by over £1 billion of levelling up funding.
This will empower communities in every part of the UK to take back control of their future, taking long term decisions in the interests of local people. It will mean more jobs, more opportunities and a brighter future for our towns and the people who live and work in them.
