News: Government grants £20m "endowment" for Rotherham regeneration

Rotherham has been selected by the government as one of 55 towns to be given £20m endowment-style funds each over ten years to invest in local people’s priorities.

The Prime Minister said that he is putting local people in control of more than £1 billion with a long-term plan for left-behind towns that have been overlooked and taken for granted.

With dwindling council budgets and European funding allocations, areas have been forced to bid for funding from various government pots. Rotherham has had success. In March it was announced that Rotherham will receive £20m for regeneration in The Budget for Wath and Dinnington.

In 2021, Rotherham secured £31.6m from the Town Deal to revamp areas of Rotherham town centre as well as Templeborough and Eastwood, and £12.6m from the Future High Streets Fund. In the same year, two of the three bids from Rotherham were successful in securing money from the Government's Levelling Up Fund - £19.5m for the town centre and £19.9m for a number of connected projects which aim to build a new leisure industry.

Now Rotherham has been given the opportunity to develop a long-term plan supported by a Towns Board (A private-sector chaired Rotherham Town Deal Board is already established to oversee regeneration progress and a place-based investment strategy was published earlier this year).

It means that, local people, not Whitehall-based politicians, will be put in charge, and given the tools to change their town’s long-term future.

Rotherham is set to receive a ten-year £20m endowment-style fund to be spent on local people’s priorities, like regenerating local high streets and town centres or securing public safety.

The Town Board will bring together community leaders, employers, local authorities, and the local MP, to deliver the Long-Term Plan for their town and put it to local people for consultation.

The plan will set out Rotherham’s vision and priorities for investment and regeneration, aligned to themes of safety and security, high streets, heritage and regeneration, and transport and connectivity.

The cash will be used alongside a suite of regeneration powers to unlock more private sector investment by auctioning empty high street shops, reforming licensing rules on shops and restaurants, and supporting more housing in town centres.

Town Boards will have direct government support in addition to the funding and powers they receive through the government's new "Long-Term Plan for Towns," and will be required to engage local people on their long-term plan.

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Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said: "Towns are the place most of us call home and where most of us go to work. But politicians have always taken towns for granted and focused on cities.

"The result is the half-empty high streets, run-down shopping centres and anti-social behaviour that undermine many towns’ prosperity and hold back people’s opportunity – and without a new approach, these problems will only get worse.

"That changes today. Our Long-Term Plan for Towns puts funding in the hands of local people themselves to invest in line with their priorities, over the long-term. That is how we level up.

"On the occasions over the years when governments have tried to help towns, the story has always been the same. Short-term funding pots, often put in the control of councils that are already failing, with little or no consultation with the people that really matter – local people. It’s time to invest directly in the places that need it most, not politicians that squander the most."

Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove said: "We know that in our towns the values of hard work and solidarity, common sense and common purpose, endeavour and quiet patriotism have endured across generations. But for too long, too many of our great British towns have been overlooked and undervalued.

"We are putting this right through our Long-Term Plan for Towns backed by over £1 billion of levelling up funding.

"This will empower communities in every part of the UK to take back control of their future, taking long term decisions in the interests of local people. It will mean more jobs, more opportunities and a brighter future for our towns and the people who live and work in them."

Funding is set to be used to improve transport and connections to make travel easier for residents and increase visitor numbers in centres, tackle crime and anti social behaviour, and enhance town centres to make high streets more attractive and accessible, including repurposing empty shops for new housing, creating more green spaces, cleaning up streets or running market days.

Once a town board is in place, some "capacity funding" will be released in Spring 2024 so that long term plans can be drawn up and submitted from summer 2024 and draw down funding for the first year.

The government is establishing a "Towns Taskforce" that will help Town Boards to develop their Town Plans, and advise them on how best to take advantage of government policies, unlock private and philanthropic investment and engage their communities.

Images: RMBC / Jackson Civil Engineering