Sarah Champion MP welcomes Labour Government’s funding boost of up to £20 million for Rotherham
Sarah Champion MP has welcomed the news that Rotherham is set to receive up to £20 million of funding as part of the Labour government’s Plan for Neighbourhoods. Rotherham will receive a share of £1.5 billion of funding being invested in communities to create growth and opportunities across the United Kingdom. 75 towns, including Rotherham, will receive funding and specialist support to breathe new life into our community.
As part of the Plan for Neighbourhoods, a new Neighbourhood Board will be set up in Rotherham, bringing together residents, businesses and community campaigners. The board will decide how to spend the funding, choosing from options that include rejuvenating highstreets, local parks, youth clubs, cultural venues and health services.
Labour’s Plan for Neighbourhoods stands in contrast to the Conservatives’ unfunded and failed approach. Under the Tories, local communities were micromanaged from Whitehall, and forced to spend money on surface-level improvements that didn't deliver long-term change.
Unlike the previous Government’s list of restrictive options for how towns could spend funding, with Labour’s new plan, the policy options that can be considered by Neighbourhood Boards have doubled, and communities are put at the heart of making these changes.
Taking inspiration from John Prescott's 'New Deal for Communities' - which delivered long-lasting changes still seen today - Labour's funding instead recognises that communities often have the answers to the local problems they face and should be given more control over what they spend their money on. As a result, Labour's plans mean that communities can choose to invest in a much wider range of options, including repairs to pavements, community grocers and neighbourhood watches.
Labour’s fully-funded plan marks the latest step in its Plan for Change, which commits to turbocharging economic growth across the country and breaking down the barriers to opportunity as part of a decade of national renewal.
Commenting, Sarah said:
“It is fantastic to see Rotherham being chosen as one of 75 towns across the country to receive an investment of up to £20 million, part of the £1.5billion being invested nationally.
“The announcement today means more control in the hands of local, the people that know it the best.
“I look forward to supporting the work of the Neighbourhood Board as it delivers for local residents and seeing the outcome of their work.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
Background to the new funding:
Under the Tories, 75 towns were promised funding that did not exist, with inflexible restrictions on how this money could be spent.
The money through Labour’s new plan will be spent on a broadened set of interventions and it has completely different objectives. Those objectives are: building thriving places, strengthening communities and empowering people to taking back control instead of sticking plaster policies.
The prospectus is broad, aligned to the missions the Prime Minister set out in our Plan for Change, meaning Neighbourhood Boards can fix issues and drive change in a way that best suits them.
For example, Neighbourhood Boards can now spend funding on broad objective falling under Labour’s Plan for Change, including modernisation of social housing, community led housing, skills support and housing, cohesion, and childcare.
The government has also expanded the list of who can sit on the boards to include representatives from social housing, workplace representatives and, in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the representative in the devolved legislatures.
The locations and funding remain the same because we are delivering on what places have been previously promised, but this time with a proper plan to pay for it – a plan without funding is no plan at all.