• 55 towns will benefit from a new £1.1 billion endowment fund to deliver the Conservative Government’s long-term plan to regenerate left behind towns.
•  The Long-Term Plan for Towns set out by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will allocate a ten-year endowment-style fund of £20 million each to both Boston and Skegness to be spent on local people’s priorities, like regenerating local high streets and town centres, improving transport and securing public safety.
•  This long-term commitment will allow towns to plan for their future, rather than the end of the financial year

Matt Warman MP has welcomed the decision to give the towns of Boston and Skegness access to a long-term ten-year endowment-style fund.

Boston and Skegness have been selected as two of the first 55 towns to benefit from the new Long-Term Plan for Towns announced by the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, at Conservative Party Conference today.

The Long-Term Plan for Towns will give local people in Boston and Skegness the opportunity to have their say on where this long-term funding will be invested through new Town Boards.

Boston and Skegness will also benefit from access to a new toolkit 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.

In addition to this direct support for Boston and Skegness, the Conservative Government is launching a Towns Taskforce to support towns in England, helping the newly formed Town Boards to develop their plans, and advise them on how best to take advantage of government policies, unlock private investment and engage their communities.

The Conservative Government will work with local councils and the devolved administrations to determine how towns in Scotland and Wales will benefit from funding and powers under the long-term plans. In Northern Ireland, we look forward to working with a restored Executive to determine the approach to providing support there.

This is just the latest step in the Conservative Government’s plan to deliver on its levelling up agenda, spreading opportunities and prosperity across the country, whilst also delivering on its five priorities to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists and stop the boats.

Commenting, Matt Warman MP said:

‘Tonight the government has announced a huge boost to investment in Boston and Skegness, giving each town a £20m, 10-year endowment-style fund to revitalise the high street and more over years to come.

Time and again I’ve been troubled by the challenges facing local town centres as the internet has taken more and more shopping opportunities. It is right that government is tonight building on Towns Fund and Levelling Up funding to provide Boston and Skegness with the support they need to attract people into towns and to make them as good as they can be through tackling concerns around safety, empty shops and transport. These bottom-up approaches put local people at the heart of this £1.1bn investment – I look forward to working with the Town Deal board and many others to deliver projects that will make a real difference locally.’

Commenting, Minister for Levelling Up, Jacob Young MP said:

“The Conservative Government’s new £1.1 billion Long-Term Plan for Towns will transform many of our towns that have been left behind for far too long.

“This first wave of 55 towns will receive £20 million in funding to help deliver their new long term Town Plans as we secure a brighter future for local residents as part of our levelling up mission.”