New funding worth £21.5 million across two projects aiming to boost pride in St Helens Borough has been welcomed by the Labour Leader of the Council, Councillor Anthony Burns.
St Helens Borough has been named, by the Labour Government, as one of the places across the country that will receive funding from the Pride of Place programme under both the Pride of Place Programme Fund Phase 2 that will see up to £20 million invested in St Helens Town Centre East and Fingerpost, and £1.5 million from the Pride of Place Impact Fund that aims to empower people to revitalise their communities.
Councillor Burns said: “We’ve been very clear this year our focus is on raising aspirations, taking pride in our borough and the people and businesses that make this a wonderful place through the #LoveStHelens campaign. We’ve been working hard lobbying Government at every opportunity so it is great to see this funding announcement from Government as it means that we can really build on this campaign now and drive new investment in areas that need a little TLC to make everyone see how fortunate we are to have wonderful communities across the borough.”
"We've been working hard lobbying Government at every opportunity so it is great to see this funding announcement" Councillor Anthony Burns, Leader of the Council.
"I’m absolutely delighted that we’ve secured £20 million of long-term Government funding for two areas in the constituency, fingerpost, and town centre east — this is £2 million every year for the next decade." Marie Rimmer St Helens South MP
Marie Rimmer, St Helens South MP, added “After years of neglect and underinvestment from previous governments, this marks a real turning point. For the first time, people will have a direct say in how money is spent in their neighbourhood, whether that’s improving our parks, repairing our roads, bringing unused buildings back into use, or breathing new life into our high streets.
“This is real impact of our plan for change.”
As part of the programme communities will get new support for bringing empty or derelict properties back into use and give residents more influence over how spaces and high streets look and feel.
“We’re one of more than 300 areas across the country who have been selected to benefit from these funding programmes,” added Councillor Burns. “As part of the programme we’ll work directly with our communities to make sure that the actions taken are directly linked to what our residents want to see happen. We’re all so proud of our borough and this programme will help us really drive positive change. Sometimes it’s easier to sit back and be negative about your life, but things will never change if you do not get involved in supporting the change you want to see and this Pride of Place programme is the perfect opportunity to tell us what you do want to see change for the better and working together we can all be proud and love our borough.”
The next steps with the funding programmes will be announced when full details of the plans are put forward by Central Government.