PM launches £1.1bn town regeneration fund

More than 50 towns will each get a £20m “endowment-style” fund for regeneration projects as part of a £1.1bn government package. The Long-Term Plan for Towns, announced at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, will hand out the cash over 10 years to 55 towns that have been “overlooked and taken for granted”. As well as the funding, which will need to be supported by a long-term plan, the towns will set up town boards, bringing together community leaders, employers, local authorities and local MPs. They will be encouraged to 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. The towns chosen include six in the North East, 10 in the North West and four in the West Midlands, as well as seven in Scotland and four in Wales. 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 antisocial behaviour that undermine many towns’ prosperity and hold back people’s opportunity – and without a new approach, these problems will only get worse.” He added: “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.” The government has also announced a new Towns Taskforce, sitting in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and reporting directly to the PM and the levelling up secretary. A new High Streets and Towns Task Force will also be established. The towns receiving 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 To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews Photo by Wiktor Szymanowicz/Shutterstock (14014859c)