£60m of funding for Northamptonshire's ‘left behind’ communities
The government’s Pride in Place Programme will secure up to £20 million each for Avondale Grange, Kingswood and Queensway
North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) is set to begin discussions on what to do with £60m of targeted funding for ‘left behind’ communities in Kettering, Corby and Wellingborough, with key figures saying that resident involvement is “crucial”.
The government’s Pride in Place Programme will secure up to £20 million each for Avondale Grange in Kettering, Kingswood and Hazel Leys in Corby, and Queensway, Wellingborough, to build stronger communities and deliver improvements over the next decade.
NNC has said the areas chosen are ‘doubly disadvantaged’ by both the highest deprivation levels and weakest social infrastructure, and form part of the 250 most in-need neighbourhoods across Great Britain. They were selected using the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) and Community Needs Index (CNI) to identify areas with the poorest social and economic outcomes.
Each area will have its own neighbourhood board, which will give local people the power to decide how funding is spent, putting communities in charge of the vision for their estate.
Cllr Graham Cheatley, who is a ward councillor for the Kingswood area, said that residents’ involvement in the decade-long transformation project is “crucial”.
He told the LDRS: “Some of those estates are really deprived and one of the biggest things that I think really depresses people is the environment itself.
“I’ve spoken quite a bit with residents and they want to see that environmental change; they want to feel better about the estate that they live in. I also think there’s an awful lot to be said about getting children and youngsters involved.
“The kids are living on these estates and there’s not a great deal for them to do. We’ve got good voluntary groups, but it’s all about expanding on all of that.
“Just the name itself, ‘Pride in Place’, it sort of nails it on the head really. I think people need to rebuild that pride in the place that they’re living.”
According to NNC, the neighbourhood boards will be made up of residents, local businesses, community leaders and organisations, and other public institutions who will develop a regeneration plan.
The council will be the accountable body for the programme to oversee the financial management of the programmes and ensure there is a transparent ‘open book’ accounting for all costs and oversight on any potential conflicts of interest.
An independent chair will be appointed to lead on each of the three area boards and act as a champion for the community. The local MPs will also have an important role in the programme and have an automatic seat on the groups to help decide how to spend the allocated funds.
Leader of the North Northants Council, Martin Griffiths, will also nominate a local ward councillor to sit on each neighbourhood board.
Speaking about the programme, he said: “The Pride in Place Plans will outline a programme for delivery of a range of projects over the course of the ten-year period and beyond, considering opportunities to attract and combine new and existing private, public, and other funding streams.
“The fund has three objectives; to build stronger communities, to create thriving places and to empower people to take back control. These are all objectives which myself and my peers are fundamentally aligned to and I look forward to getting on with this work.”
The governance of the project will be discussed by the council’s executive committee next Tuesday (February 17) to progress the next steps of putting together the boards and taking on accountable body responsibilities.
The council and the local MP must approve the final board selection.