New funding of £20m over ten years for Spalding has been hailed as perfect timing for the town.
It’s to be given on the proviso that a town board be set up to be led by local businesses.
And with the Spalding Business Board having recently been set up, South Holland District Council leader Nick Worth says it’s perfect to take it on.
“This is aimed very much at businesses and community, but for businesses to drive it,” he said of the new funding. “I’m thinking the Spalding Business Board, if they go down a Business Improvement District (BID) route, would be able to use the funding.
“It’s perfect timing really.”
On Sunday Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that 55 towns that had been ‘left behind’ would be getting the funding.
A release from the government stated it was for ‘an endowment-style fund to be spent on local people’s priorities, like regenerating local high streets and town centres or securing public safety’.
The setting up of a town board is to include ‘community leaders, employers, local authorities and the local MP’ and can ‘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’.
Coun Worth said his authority would look to just administer the funding and it should be ‘made up mainly of businesses’.
“The criteria was for areas of deprivation, skills, obesity, crime and anti-social over a certain population and Spalding has met that,” he said. “It’s focussing on anti-social behaviour, regenerating the high street, heritage conservation and improving transport connectivity to make the town more accessible.
“It’s around £2m a year for the next ten years and you can roll the money over if you don’t spend it in one year.
“We’ll work with the new board to come up with a long term plan.
“The £250,000 we put in initially for town centre improvements in Spalding sounded like quite a bit but realistically it’s very difficult to do much with that.”
The Spalding Business Board recently revealed a plan for improvements to the town if a Business Improvement District was created.
It was based on the over 400 businesses in the area paying extra on top of their current business rates to raise around £170,000 a year.
The Voice approached Spalding Business Board chairman Craig Delaney of Calthropes Solicitors for a comment but had not received a response at the time of going to press.
