Over £40m funding to support a region left behind
Local London member boroughs will receive a slice of the Government’s Levelling Up and UK Community Renewal Funds to support people most in need and make improvements to everyday life.
£40m to help Newham level up
Newham, a Local London borough was successful in the first round of levelling up funding announced in the Autumn Budget.
The East London borough was awarded almost £40m which is more than any other London borough for its two successful bids.
The borough will receive £19.82m for the Connecting to Opportunity programme related to the use of data and digital technologies. While £19.96m was awarded to the borough’s 15 Minute Neighbourhoods. Both are designed to help rebalance inequalities.
The Government’s £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund supports infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport, and investing in cultural and heritage assets.
GLA awarded almost £3.79m for skills, employment and business pilot schemes
The GLA was awarded almost £3.79 million in the Government’s recent UK Community Renewal Funding announcement.
The Community Renewal Fund will help local areas prepare for the launch of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2022. This £220 million funding is designed to support people most in need across the UK through pilot programmes and new approaches, that invest in skills, community and place, local business, and supporting people into employment.
The GLA won funding to support six projects, including £520k for ‘Unlocking green economy opportunities in the south of Newham’ and over £797k for Barking and Dagenham’s ‘Green skills, green jobs (expanding employment support into green industries)’ bid.
This is a significant boost for East London’s green economy, and will support the predicted boom in green jobs in the capital, and the region, within the next 10 years.
A region left behind
A report by independent think-tank, Localis, called for government to help Local London boroughs in the capital ‘level up’ to deliver its full potential.
The report argued that Government needed masterplan investment to fulfil the immense potential of East London – a sub-region which has more in common with ‘left behind’ parts of the country than the rest of the capital.
Recent Government announcements are a welcome step towards helping the region level up but much more needs to be done.
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