Town will be regenerated despite fund bid’s failure
COUNCIL LEADER PROMISES ‘WE WILL DO IT THE HARD WAY’
REGENERATION of a town centre will remain a key goal despite the failure of a bid for government funding.
Coalville was the only East Midlands town to be shortlisted for Future High Street Fund cash.
However, it was told late last year it had been unsuccessful.
North West Leicestershire District Council’s leader Richard Blunt said: “It’s disappointing news of course, but this changes nothing in terms of our vision for Coalville.
“Regeneration is a real challenge but we’re used to doing things the hard way.
“We’ll continue to do it the hard way and this news will only galvanize us and our ambition for the town.
“We felt we submitted a robust and compelling bid for Coalville, which followed engagement with partners, and we will need to look closely at why the bid was unsuccessful
“The work we put into the bid gave us some great ideas about what is possible in Coalville and we use this knowledge as a springboard for our own future investment.
“With Newmarket nearly complete, the Snibston site given a new lease of life and the private investment going into Belvoir Centre, Coalville is starting to show its potential – and this is only the beginning.”
The Snibston Colliery Park repoened in December after a £3 million regeneration scheme. It includes a cafe, heritage trail and nature reserve.
The Newmarket scheme, to create an indoor market in the former Litten Tree pub, is scheduled to be completed early this year.
A new contractor was appointed in October after the original firm, Westone Housing Ltd, pulled out, blaming the pandemic.