'Overlooked' Lincolnshire towns to receive share of £1.1bn in Government funding

The Government unveiled the funding on Saturday, saying it aimed to help ‘provide long-term investment in towns that have been overlooked and taken for granted’. Also among the 55 is Spalding.

Under the plans, local people will be ‘put in charge’ and ‘given the tools to change their town’s long-term future’, the Government says. They will:

• Receive a 10-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.

Of the investment (dubbed the Long-Term Plan for Towns), 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.”

Writing on Saturday, MP for Boston and Skegness Matt Warman described it as a ‘huge boost’ for Boston and Skegness.

He said: “Time and again I’ve been troubled by the challenges facing local town centres as the internet has taken more and more shopping opportunities. It is right that Government is tonight building on Towns Fund and Levelling Up funding to provide Boston and Skegness with the support they need to attract people into towns and to make them as good as they can be through tackling concerns around safety, empty shops and transport. These bottom-up approaches put local people at the heart of this £1.1bn investment – I look forward to working with the Town Deal board and many others to deliver projects that will make a real difference locally.”

The Long-Term Plan for Towns will require town boards to develop their own long-term plan for their town, with funding over 10 years and aligned to the issues that research shows people want the most, including:

• Improving transport and connections to make travel easier for residents and increase visitor numbers in centres to boost opportunities for small businesses and create jobs

• Tackling crime and anti social behaviour to keep residents safe and encourage visitors through better security measures and hotspot policing

• Enhancing town centres to make high streets more attractive and accessible, including repurposing empty shops for new housing, creating more green spaces, cleaning up streets or running market days

Local people will be at the heart of decisions, the Government says. This will be done through direct membership of the new Towns Boards, but also through a requirement to involve local people on the long-term plan for each town.

The Government also announced a new ‘Towns Taskforce’, sitting in the Department for Levelling Up and reporting directly to the Prime Minister and Levelling Up Secretary. This will help Town Boards to develop their plans, and advise them on how best to take advantage of Government policies, unlock private and philanthropic investment and work with communities.

A new ‘High Streets and Towns Task Force’ will also be established, providing each selected town with bespoke, hands-on support.

The towns receiving the funding are:

Mansfield

Boston

Worksop

Skegness

Newark-on-Trent

Chesterfield

Clifton (Nottingham)

Spalding

Kirkby-in-Ashfield

Clacton-on-Sea

Great Yarmouth

Eston

Jarrow

Washington

Blyth (Northumberland)

Hartlepool

Spennymoor

Darwen

Chadderton

Heywood

Ashton-under-Lyne

Accrington

Leigh (Wigan)

Farnworth

Nelson (Pendle)

Kirkby

Burnley

Hastings

Bexhill-on-Sea

Ryde

Torquay

Smethwick

Darlaston

Bilston (Wolverhampton)

Dudley (Dudley)

Grimsby

Castleford

Doncaster

Rotherham

Barnsley

Scunthorpe

Keighley

Dewsbury

Scarborough

Merthyr Tydfil

Cwmbrân

Wrexham

Barry (Vale of Glamorgan)

Greenock

Irvine

Kilmarnock

Coatbridge

Clydebank

Dumfries

Elgin