Government confirms that Heywood’s £20million Towns Fund will continue

Elsie Blundell MP and Brian Davies JP at Heywood station, on the East Lancs Heritage Railway

Key figures from Heywood have celebrated the confirmation that £20m will still be coming to the town as part of the Long Term Plan for Towns Fund, announced in the Chancellor’s Budget.

The fund provides 55 towns across the country with funding over 10-years to invest in a ‘change-plan’, which is decided locally by the Heywood Town Board after consultation with the local public.

The Heywood Town Board consists of councillors, the local MP, representatives from the police and healthcare as well as a number of business and community representatives from Heywood.

The new Government has announced the scheme will continue, fully funded, and reformed into a new ‘regeneration programme’ with new strategic objectives to be announced in due course.

Brian Davies JP, chair of the Heywood Town Board said: “This is welcome news and gives us confidence to rely on the funding and make our plans come to fruition.

"We have been working with local people to identify Heywood’s needs and how to make the largest impact by working together.”

Else Blundell, MP for Heywood and Middleton North, said: “I am delighted that Rachel Reeves has prioritised funding to Heywood and is supportive of local decision-making on where and how it is spent.

"Local businesses, the council and other organisations know best what we need here, and I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and joining in.”

Prior to the Budget, the government had argued that the LTPT (Long Term Plan for Towns) Fund, prison programme, asylum contracts, public sector pay agreements and hospital building programme, were amongst schemes that been promised before the election by the previous government, but not in fact funded, and so there was speculation the LTPT Fund may have remained unfunded.