Member Article

Ambitious multi-million pound funding bid for Nuneaton is submitted to Government

An ambitious bid to secure millions of pounds worth of funding to help boost the economy of Nuneaton has officially been submitted.

After months of hard work, the Town Investment Plan (TIP) has been sent on to Government.

The plan sets out 12 unique projects with an ask of over £24m of government funding that will bring huge social and economic benefits to the town and help it grow and develop in the future.

Now the wait begins for the assessment process to take place and see if the plan has been successful.

Nuneaton is one of 101 towns across the country that has been selected to bid for funding from the Government’s Towns Fund Initiative - where up to £25 million per town is available.

The projects were identified following an initial public consultation with Nuneaton residents where they were asked to submit their ideas and around 300 submissions were made.

These ideas have been instrumental in formulating the final projects, which fit in with the key areas of local transport, digital connectivity, urban regeneration, arts, culture and heritage, and skills, education and enterprise.

There has already been some success from the initiative as Nuneaton was already awarded £1million of the funding for works to be carried out to repurpose the two floors above 22 Queens Road - known to many as the former Woolworths store - and create flexible working spaces that include both shared and dedicated office space with a new dedicated public entrance.

The money from the Government’s Towns Fund team could potentially create around 75 jobs and work has already begun on that project.

The Town Deal Board is made up of business representatives, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Councillors, Warwickshire County Councillors and representatives from the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Warwickshire CAVA, the health sector and community.

Sean Farnell, Chair of the Town Deal Board, said: “A tremendous amount of hard work has gone into creating the Town Investment Plan and all of the Board is so pleased with how it has turned out.

“We have some fantastic projects which were created thanks to ideas from the people of Nuneaton and we look forward to revealing those in the near future.

“I want to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone who joined in with the project, whether that was taking part in the consultation or formulating the Town Investment Plan – it could not have been achieved without that.

“This is a very exciting time for Nuneaton with this and Transforming Nuneaton, which go hand in hand in working for town’s future. Let’s hope for good news for the Town Funds to get it’s projects moving forward.”

Councillor Julie Jackson, Leader of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council and member of the Town Deal Board, added: “This is an incredible time for Nuneaton and we should be excited about this funding prospect and championing it.

“It has been very interesting to see all the ideas emerging from the consultation and then watch them become fully fledged projects that will be a huge benefit for the town and the people who live, work and visit it.

“We have a robust plan with so many excellent projects and I also want to thank everyone involved with getting us to this point where we have submitted it to Government.

“All of the hard work from the public during the consultation, council officers and board members is what has got us to this point, so let’s hope for a positive outcome so we can push our town forward.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .