Polly and the Labour Leader of Thanet District Council have hailed the announcement of £1.5 million in funding to help support the revitalisation of Thanet’s public spaces.
The money, to be spent over two years, forms part of a massive government scheme to transform left-behind towns across the country. The Pride in Place programme will see 330 towns – many of them in deprived coastal areas – receive targeted funding to reverse years of decline and Conservative cuts to local authority budgets.
In addition to the new funding, the Pride in Place programme will hand communities unprecedented new powers to seize boarded-up shops, create new spaces for young people, save derelict pubs and libraries, and block gambling and vape shops on their high streets.
The latest announcement of funding comes hot on the heels of other recent government investments in Thanet, including £20 million in funding to regenerate Ramsgate, a summer funding boost for town centre policing, and the refurbishment or expansion of local schools and NHS facilities.
In addition to new funding, key measures in the Pride in Place programme include:
- Community Right to Buy: handing local people the power to buy beloved assets, helping them turn around derelict pubs, create new parks, and regenerate treasured spaces in the heart of their communities.
- Compulsory Purchase powers: allowing communities to acquire assets and eyesores like boarded up shops and derelict abandoned businesses, allowing new local start-ups to thrive. Larger sites could also be used for new health facilities or housing.
- Power to block unwanted shops: empowering councils in England to say no to new betting shops, vape stores, and fake barbers.
- Giving residents the power: new measures that guarantee local community groups and organisations will be closely involved in decision-making about how government regeneration funding is spent.
Polly said:
People in Thanet have such pride in the wonderful place we live, but for too long our three towns have been let down by underinvestment and blighted by boarded-up shops and antisocial behaviour. We all know Thanet has so much potential that is just waiting to be unlocked.
That’s why it’s so important we now have a Labour government who are turning the tide on years of neglect, with £1.5 million of Pride in Place funding just the latest in a series of announcements that will give a real boost to our high streets and town centres. I am really looking forward to seeing the benefits this funding will bring to our community.
Rick Everitt, Labour Leader of Thanet District Council, said:
Our Labour district council in Thanet are working hard to breathe new life into our towns, but for too long councils like ours have struggled under a system of ‘Westminster knows best’, when it is local people who really know what’s best for their communities.
This £1.5 million funding boost for Thanet and the unprecedented transfer of power to local leaders shows that we have a Labour government that is not only investing in coastal towns like ours again, but who know that positive change happens when it is local people who are put in the driving seat.