£187m to be pumped into local infrastructure projects in Yorkshire

Ten locations in Yorkshire and Humber are to benefit from almost £187m in local infrastructure improvements through the Government’s Levelling Up Fund.

As well as a major waterfront extension in Doncaster these projects will include:

• Long-awaited refurbishment of Halifax Swimming Pool.
• Creating new hospitality and visitor centres at Wentworth Woodhouse in
Rotherham.
• Finishing the Culture and Leisure Quarter in Rotherham Town Centre.
• Improving transport connections across West Leeds.
• Converting a derelict site in Wakefield into a new museum and gallery.
• Delivering the long-planned Centre for Child Health Technology in Attercliffe.
• Regenerating Whitefriargate and Albion Square in Hull City Centre.
• Developing Squire Lane Leisure, Wellbeing and Enterprise Centre in Bradford.
• Regenerating Castlegate Quarter in Sheffield.

A total of £830m will be spent in West Yorkshire for schemes such as the A61 improvements for buses, cyclists and pedestrians between Leeds and Wakefield.

And as previously reported, £570m will go to South Yorkshire for schemes such as starting the renewal of the Supertram.

In its Budget and Spending Review today, the Government has also highlighted the £225,000 allocated for the Jubilee Centre in Bradford from the first round of the Community Ownership Fund to protect valued community assets.

And pots of up to £50,000 each through the Restoring Your Railway ‘Ideas Fund’ will go towards developing three
early-stage proposals to reinstate passenger rail links between: Beverley and York; Stocksbridge and Sheffield Victoria (Don Valley Line); and on the Askern Branch Line.

The region can expect over £171m worth of local roads maintenance funding between 2022-23 and 2024-25 and over £33m for smaller transport improvement priorities through the Integrated Transport Block to Local Authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber not receiving City region settlements.

Featured in the budget is:

• £16m for the Northern Forest to support new woodland creation.
• £31m investment through the Transforming Cities Fund to improve stations and walking/cycling access in Selby, Skipton and Harrogate.
• £390,000 will be allocated towards the regeneration of the Beech Hill estate in Halifax, Calderdale, from the £14m estates regeneration share of the Brownfield Land Release Fund.
• £77m for the redevelopment of the British Library Boston Spa.

Finally, the Government has outlined how its pandemic economic support has worked to try and keep people in employment in Yorkshire and the Humber.

It says it has supported over 897,000 jobs in the region through its Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Rachelle Rowbottom

Approximately £1.8bn has been provided to support the self-employed through the Self-employed Income Support Scheme.

And through the Bounce Back Loan Scheme and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, approximately £3.2bn and £1.8bn has been lent to business respectively in Yorkshire and Humber.

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