'More chippies and fewer vape shops!' £100 million to revitalise five deprived areas of the West Midlands - details here
Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Communities Secretary Steve Reed were in the West Midlands today to announce £100 million funding to revitalise five deprived neighbourhoods.
Friar Park in Wednesbury, southern Blakenall in Walsall, and Low Hill in Wolverhampton will each receive £20 million over the next 10 years, along with Birchen Coppice in Kidderminster and Woodside in Telford.
The money will be paid to the local councils, but how it is spent will be determined by neighbourhood boards made up of residents and the constituency MP.
The ministers were at the Park Lane Centre in Woodside, Telford, today (Thursday) where they announced £3.5 billion to be shared across 169 neighbourhoods across the country.
They met with Snow Hemmings, project officer at the centre, and three teenagers who were helping to run activities at the centre as part of a vocational training programme.
They said the money would be used to revive high streets, parks and public spaces. Communities will also be given new powers to save local pubs and libraries, and block unwanted betting and vape shops, as well as 'fake' barbers.
The funding comes on top of an existing £1.5 billion, which is being shared across another 75 neighbourhoods. The money will be be distributed to local councils, but will be allocated by neighbourhood boards made up of the constituency MP and members of the community.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it was an opportunity for 'true patriots' to reshape their communities.
Separately, a further 95 areas will receive an immediate £1.5 million cash injection to upgrade public spaces with new green spaces, play areas and sports and leisure facilities.
Councils will be given the opportunity to seize derelict buildings and boarded-up shops under Community Right to Buy and compulsory purchase powers.
Antonia Bance, MP for Tipton and Wednesbury, said it was an opportunity for the people of Friar Park to take charge of their community.
“Local people know their area better than anyone, and the Government recognises this," she said.
"Now is our chance to take control and improve Friar Park by making the big decisions ourselves, not by letting other people do it for us.
“An extra £2 million every year, for the next 10 years is a huge investment in Friar Park. This is our money to decide how it’s spent, on anything that will make our community better.
"All ideas are welcome, and this is our chance to show what Friar Park can achieve together.”
Sureena Brackenridge, MP for Wolverhampton North East, welcomed the funding for Low Hill.
"This £20 million will change lives over the next decade, and I will be making sure it is spent where residents and local people need it the most," she said.
Mr Reed said the communities had been selected on the basis of deprivation levels, and the aim was to restore local pride.
"Those are the people who are most likely to see their high street in severe decline, so closed-down shops, metal shutters pulled down in front of them, perhaps a proliferation of vape shops, dodgy barbers where nobody seems to be going to get their hair cut, gambling shops and bookies. People feel absolute despair when they see their high street and their town centre turning into something like that.
"Multiple approaches from Westminster haven't worked, and the key problem is that local communities haven't had a big enough say. It's local people that know best, what needs to change to restore pride in their own area.
"Each area will get £20 million each, they decide how it's spent. But they also get new powers so they can limit the number of those kind of unwanted shops that are happening in the local area. They can use those compulsory purchase orders taking over those empty shops and turning them into something of value to the community, to bring the vibrancy back to the high street and restore that sense of pride."
Prime Minister Sir Keir said it was important that people with "real skin in the game" decided how the money was spent.
“We’re investing in the UK’s future, by backing the true patriots that build our communities up in neighbourhoods across every corner of the country. Because it’s people who bring pride, hope and life to our communities," he said.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “We’re giving local people the power to transform their home towns - giving them more control of how money is spent where they live so that together we can invest in Britain’s renewal and build an economy that rewards working people.
“This £5 billion investment doesn’t just reverse decades of underinvestment in our public infrastructure – it cuts through the bureaucracy by giving local people the power to deliver the change they want to see.”
