Minister to sign £25m towns deal
THE TOWNS Fund deals which will see up to £25m invested in 16 areas of Yorkshire, including Calderdale, will be signed this autumn and winter, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick has confirmed.
Mr Jenrick said that Boris Johnson’s government was “starting to make good” on the promises made during last year’s General Election campaign to “level up” the country.
He said it was time to “look at the opportunities that lie ahead as we begin to move beyond the worst effects of the coronavirus pandemic”.
One of the ways he said the Conservative government would be boosting Yorkshire’s prospects was with the £3.6bn Towns Fund, which was announced shortly after Mr Johnson became Prime Minister.
In total 101 towns across England were chosen to bid for up to £25m from the fund, with the
Government saying it will help local leaders “transform their town’s economic growth prospects with a focus on improved transport, broadband connectivity, skills and culture”.
In West Yorkshire, the areas chosen were Brighouse, Castleford, Dewsbury, Keighley and
Shipley, Morley, Todmorden and Wakefield.
But the scheme has come in for criticism after it emerged a number of areas in marginal seats in the last General Election were chosen for the scheme despite scoring a low rating on criteria set by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
Mr Jenrick said investment of up to £25m in each of the successful towns was designed “to boost confidence, and to begin the rebuilding of the economy post-Covid”.
He said: “I expect to be signing those deals with each of those communities this autumn and winter so that money can start flowing into those towns.”
“I expect to be signing those deals... so that money can start flowing into those towns.”
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