Huge multi-million boost for Nuneaton is announced

More than £23 million worth of funding to deliver ambitious projects and boost the economy of Nuneaton has been officially approved.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his budget that the town would receive the full £23.2million it bid for from the Towns Fund.

The money will be used to develop a range of ambitious projects and the board responsible for drawing up the bid is delighted that all money it applied for has been awarded – meaning that all projects can go ahead.

Sean Farnell, Chair of the Town Deal Board, said: “We could not be happier with this news and are so thrilled that we can go ahead with all of the projects that we wanted to.

“Now the hard work really starts as we have to get the projects up and running and deliver them for the good of the town.

“We will now be working with all of our partners on the initiatives involved and we will release more news in the near future.”

Councillor Julie Jackson, Leader of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council and member of the Town Deal Board, added: “This is absolutely wonderful news for the town and a real testament to the hard work of everyone involved both council officers and members of the Board.

“With this announcement, there are now a number of projects that are going to have an extremely positive impact on our borough over the coming years the work through the Future High Streets Fund, Transforming Nuneaton and Transforming Bedworth.

“These are exciting times for both Nuneaton and Bedworth and I look forward to seeing these developments and schemes progress and take shape for the better of our borough.”

Nuneaton was one of just 101 towns across the country that was selected to bid for funding from the Government’s Towns Fund Initiative.

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.

There has already been some success from the initiative as Nuneaton was already awarded £1million of the Advance Funding from the Towns Fund 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 Advanced Funding alone 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.

To keep up to date with the initiative follow @MyTown _Nuneaton on Twitter and My Town Nuneaton at Facebook.