Budget boost for town as it gets a £23.2m windfall

NUNEATON will receive a £23.2m windfall to help give a facelift to key parts of the town centre.

Part of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s budget announcement included the news that the Nuneaton Town Investment Plan (TIP) has been approved.

It means that just over £23.5m from the government’s Towns Fund will be spent on projects to regenerate parts of the town centre.

It is understood that the cash will be released quickly so that TIP projects can get underway.

The new projects include: Bringing Nuneaton college’s restaurant and training into the town centre at yet-to-be-disclosed location in Abbey Street.

There will also be a £3.5m glass extension to Nuneaton’s museum and plans for the surrounding Riversley Park area.

The George Eliot gardens, at the back of the Town Hall, will be remodelled and will include an amphitheatre for outdoor performances.

Bondgate to the current library on Church Street will be repaved and remodelled.

Funding will be given to help to restore the former St George’s Hall and ex Conservative Club, now known as Saints, to its former glory.

Nuneaton’s MP Marcus Jones says the funding announcement would ‘put a rocket’ under the transformation of the town centre.

“This is an exciting opportunity and I’m so glad that my colleagues in government have put their faith in Nuneaton,” he said.

“This money, plus the millions provided by the County Council, will set a rocket under the transformation of the town centre, moving the town to one which is much more based on leisure, where more people live and work, all within a much more pleasant environment. This is a massive opportunity for us to regain much needed civic pride and bring our town centre into a 21st century community hub of which we all can be proud.

“This is now all about delivering these projects and I look forward to working with other members of the Town Deal Board to transform Nuneaton.” The ‘Mytown’ Towns Fund project should not be confused with the Transforming Nuneaton project.

The Transforming Nuneaton project is seeking to get government money from a different funding pot.

There has already been a bid made to the FHSF for almost £23m for the Transforming Nuneaton project.

Under the Transforming Nuneaton project, there are plans to completely regenerate Abbey Street - which will include a five screen cinema, hotel and new multi-storey car park.

Work is also set to take place on a new library, offices and a cafe built as part of a £20m scheme in Church Street and Vicarage Street.