Seven towns in England will receive a £178.7m boost from the government’s £3.6bn Town Deals scheme.
Barrow-in-Furness, Blackpool, Darlington, Peterborough, Norwich, Torquay and Warrington are the first of 101 places to be offered funding from the initiative.
Among these, Torquay will gain £21.9m to modernise its town centre as a “retail and leisure” destination, while Warrington will use a £22.1m investment to convert vacant spaces in its town centre. The latter involves plans for an electric bus fleet depot, an advanced construction training centre and a health and social care academy.
Barrow is receiving £25m, which the council aims to spend on developing a new learning quarter, community wellbeing hubs and improving the local cycling and walking infrastructure. It also plans to run a housing renewal programme.
Norwich’s £25m will be put towards the city’s digital sector. Its proposals include a new digital hub, a digi-tech factory and an advanced construction and engineering centre.
Peterborough will get £22.9m to support projects encouraging low-carbon living. Its projects include a skills centre for green technologies, enterprise hub and a new pedestrian bridge.
Blackpool secured the most investment in this round, with £39.5m funding going towards developing its airport enterprise zone, as well as updating its Blackpool Illuminations lights festival for a return to tourism after the pandemic.
Further funding is due to be announced in November.
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