North West secures £232m Levelling Up funds
Liverpool, Manchester, Bolton, Barrow-in-Furness and Wirral were some of the areas to receive government money in the latest announcement.
The government unveiled the first round of successful bids to its £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund on 27 October.
While the North West was, by and large, the big winner of the Levelling Up awards – securing £232,457,372 to be precise – North Wales was also successful. Wrexham received £13.3m for projects to boost its tourism economy.
Here is a list of the projects to receive the funds in the North West and North Wales:
Cumbria
Barrow-in-Furness: £15.9m for town centre regeneration, including improving Barrow Market, the town’s transport infrastructure and access to the Forum Theatre
Greater Manchester
Bolton: £20m for the building of the Bolton College of Medical Sciences in Farnworth.
Bury: £20m for creating a ‘flexi hall’ at Bury Market so it can have an events space or area for pop-up trading. Another £20m for building a civic and enterprise hub in Radcliffe.
Manchester: £19.8m to refurbish Campfield Market so it can become affordable tech workspaces.
Salford: £13m to create Salford Rise, a bridge to connect the University of Salford to a Salford “innovation zone”.
Tameside: £19.8m to restore Ashton Town Hall.
Lancashire
Burnley: £19.9m to expand the University of Central Lancashire at Trafalgar, upgrade Manchester Road train station and develop the area between the town centre and Turf Moor.
Pendle: £6.5m to make three theatres fully accessible for those with disabilities and to redevelop under-used sites and buildings in the town centre at Colne.
Liverpool City Region
Liverpool: £20m for cultural regeneration of the docks, with £10m for the Tate Liverpool and £10m for National Museums Liverpool.
Liverpool City Region: £37.5m for transport infrastructure improvements
Wirral: £19.6m to transform the waterfront at Woodside, including enhancing public spaces, upgrading the U-Boat Story attraction and to make major infrastructure improvements to the area leading to the removal of the Woodside Gyratory and a bus interchange area relocation.
North Wales
Wrexham: £13.3m for projects to improve visitor economy, including redeveloping the Theatr Brycheiniog Arts Centre.
How did CWAC get on?
By Bob Dawson
The £20m for Liverpool is not for the docks, it is for cultural projects at the waterfront including upgrades at the Tate, and a project to improve access at the external parts of the maritime museum.
There was also £2m allocated for early stage work in developing a cultural hub based on the city`s musical heritage, with reference to The Beatles, plus involvement of the Liverpool Phil and LIPA, hopefully this will be on a scale of the Hamburg Philharmonie in their Hafen City development, which has proved immensely successful since it opened.
By Anonymous
As welcome as this money is does sprucing up Bury market or providing more cultural attractions in Liverpool really amount to levelling up with the South East of England?
By Monty
The funding should go towards projects that can demonstrate a tangible improvement to growth. For example infrastructure, public transport, education and innovation. Although tourism and the arts are important but I question their levelling up qualities.
By Manc Tory