Levelling Up Fund £15.9m award to Scunthorpe aimed at 'town centre vibrancy'
Construction & Build
The cash will go towards influencing the vibrancy of the town centre, particularly the High Street
North Lincolnshire Council has been awarded £15.9m Levelling Up Fund cash to focus on Scunthorpe town centre.
The third round of Levelling Up cash was announced on Monday, November 20, ahead of the Chancellor's Autumn Statement. Areas that missed out previously and ranked high on a multiple index of deprivation were prioritised for funding.
The council was unsuccessful in January with a bid then for Scunthorpe, though did clinch £19.7m for a Barton transport transformation. It has now been awarded £15.9m for "Scunthorpe Town Centre Vibrancy".
There is little detail currently about precisely what town centre vibrancy means in practice, but the council has confirmed it will involve a focus on creating more jobs and new town centre homes. This includes a reshape of the High Street.
Cllr Rob Waltham, leader of North Lincolnshire Council, said: "Levelling-up is alive and well in Scunthorpe – the cash will make a huge difference to Scunthorpe and residents in communities who visit the town centre.
The plans we have are ambitious and the government has backed them. We know there are challenges for high streets up and down the country and with this cash we can start to move these plans forward by creating new jobs and building new homes.
"We are determined to improve Scunthorpe and we will back businesses to invest so we can create a new future together."
North East Lincolnshire is not among the recipient councils this time around of Levelling Up Cash. However, it got £18.4m to fulfil parts of the Cleethorpes Masterplan in January, and two months later, a surprise £20m for the Freshney Place western end leisure scheme.
The announcement of new cash to support the regeneration of Scunthorpe town centre comes after both Grimsby and Scunthorpe were selected for Long-Term Plan for Towns funding earlier this autumn. Each town is getting £20m, staggered out over a decade.
Holly Mumby-Croft, Scunthorpe's MP and vice-chair of the Towns Fund Board said: "It is great that the government has given us this extra cash to revitalise Scunthorpe town centre and create more new jobs and more new homes. There is a way to go still but with the backing of government we will be able to create a new future for generations to come."
Previous funding awards Scunthorpe has had also include £10m from the Future High Streets Fund and a £20.9m Towns Deal. A £13.9m state of the art enterprise and innovation hub on the former market site in Scunthorpe High Street is being built, largely with Future High Streets funding. This will also be Humberside Police's new base in Scunthorpe.
The nearby Queen Elizabeth Memorial Gardens is one of the projects that has been backed by Towns Deal cash.
Written by Ivan Morris Poxton at Grimsby Live