Bridlington and Hull unveiled as Yorkshire’s Coastal Communities Fund winners
Bridlington and Hull unveiled as Yorkshire’s Coastal Communities Fund winners
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rt Hon Danny Alexander and Communities Secretary Rt Hon Eric Pickles have announced a multi-million pound package to create jobs and apprenticeships in coastal towns across the country, including areas affected by the recent floods, as part of the UK government’s long-term economic plan.
Over fifty projects across the UK were today awarded a share of £27.7 million of Coastal Communities funding, supporting over 4000 jobs and creating over 1000 new apprenticeships and training places.
Three of the projects are on the Yorkshire coast – two in Hull and one in Bridlington.
East Riding Council gets a £2.15m contribution toward a £25m development to reinvigorate the centre of Bridlington with the creation of a new Leisure Centre with space for commercial and retail outlets. The project could create 27 direct and over 200 indirect jobs in the community.
The Goodwin Development Trust in Hull will receive £404,000 for a Pre-Enterprise Support, Start-Up, and Growth advice service. It will include outreach, training and information via engagement with Hull City Council-owned library and business centres, creating 24 direct and 85 indirect jobs.
And the Watergate Developments Ltd will get £300,000 to turn a former dry dock and ship repair yard into a Centre for Digital Innovation, providing space for 115 digital enterprises creating 450 direct and 25 indirect jobs.
To support the announcement Danny Alexander visited a regeneration scheme in Hull, that will receive £300,000 from the fund to transform a disused dock into a multi-million pound technology hub and giving the local economy significant boost.
During his visit to Hull, Danny Alexander said:
“The Coastal Communities Fund allows us to help communities across the UK to rebuild and regenerate their local economy, with projects this year supporting nearly 4000 jobs and 1000 training places.
“This is even more important given the extreme weather and I’m very pleased we’re giving £17 million of the fund to projects in areas hit by floods. Additionally, we have invested £5 million from the fund’s reserve into the government’s programme for flood recovery.
“The Coastal Communities Fund is supporting some of the most fragile communities. It is a great way to make sure that people living around our coastline can share in the benefits of the increased returns for the Crown Estate’s marine activities.”
Hull Council Leader Stephen Brady said:
“Both of the successful bids from Hull fit very well with Hull’s City Plan ambitions and will contribute to encouraging sustainable economic growth in the City. I offer my congratulations to colleagues in Hull’s social enterprise sector at the Goodwin Centre, which has a wonderful track record of serving communities across Hull, and which will be working with the Council on a job creation and enterprise start up project.
“I am also delighted at the success of the bid by Watergate Developments Ltd, the developers of the Centre for Digital Innovation. Their project will make a powerful contribution towards capitalising on the emerging creative industries quarter of Hull in the Fruit Market area of the City and a key location of for City of Culture 2017.”
Peter McGurn, Chief Executive of the Goodwin Development Trust, added:
“This vital funding from the CCF is crucial to the Goodwin Development Trust’s continuing efforts to tackle poverty and drive economic growth in our community through entrepreneurial activity. Our 20 years’ experience tells us that employment is the greatest cure for economic and social ills - and this funding will be used to create new jobs and businesses by facilitating the expansion of our ENRG Business Start-Up and Growth service.”
David Hooper, External Affairs Manager for the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, said:
“The Coastal Communities Fund aims to award funding to create sustainable economic growth and jobs, both of which are needed in our region to reduce our unemployment figures, which remain among the worst in the UK, and to help our local economy grow.
“We look forward to seeing these grants being put to good use and playing their part in the steady recovery our Quarterly Economic Surveys are now consistently reporting.”
Creating new jobs and apprenticeships in coastal communities
The Coastal Communities Fund was created to direct regeneration investment to seaside towns and villages to help rebalance their local economies, reduce unemployment and create new work opportunities for young people from the local area.
The fund has already supported more than 100 projects in the first two years delivering over 4,000 jobs and over 1,000 apprenticeships. This takes the expected total, including today’s projects, to over 6,500 jobs and 2,000 apprenticeships.
£64 million more support, with special consideration for flood recovery projects in England
Ministers also launched the third round of the fund, now extended to span 3 years so it can attract even more ambitious projects and give communities greater flexibility to manage their bids. With £64 million available, funds are the highest so far.
In England, bids for flood management schemes and projects to repair the recent flood damage will also be included as part of the next round of project winners. This will help communities affected by recent extreme weather get back on their feet and ensure that their local economy can grow in the coming years.
The fund is also supporting inland areas in England that are affected by flooding through a one off £5 million freed up from the Coastal Communities Fund reserve to go towards flood recovery projects as part of the Severe Weather Recovery Scheme. This will not affect the funding allocated to existing or future budgets.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said:
“We want to help our seaside towns affected by the recent flooding get back on their feet as soon as possible. In England, nearly three-quarters of these regeneration projects funded today are in flood affected areas and our support will help these communities show they are ‘back in business’.
“The next round of the Coastal Communities Fund is now open and we will be prioritising bids on coastal flood protection and repair. This government is committed to supporting the regeneration of our seaside towns and part of that is taking decisive action to help communities and businesses affected by the floods.”
A full list of the round two winners is available on the Gov.uk and Big Lottery Fund website.
