Darlington receives £20m in spring budget to invest in local regeneration

It's been confirmed that that Darlington will receive £20 million from the Government as part of the “Long Term Plan for Towns”.

The plan is a regeneration initiative to support improvements to towns in the UK and will be delivered through the Town’s Board, which currently oversee the Town’s Fund. The aim is to attract investment and create jobs, deliver vital new infrastructure, address particular shortages and help restore pride in place.

The Town’s Board will have significant discretion as to the types of intervention which might be funded using the £20m. The guidance suggests the following examples of interventions:

• improving transport and connections to make travel easier for residents and increase visitor numbers in centres to boost opportunities for small businesses and create jobs;

• tackling crime and anti-social behaviour to keep residents safe and encourage visitors through better security measures and hotspot policing; and

• enhancing town centres to make high streets more attractive and accessible, including repurposing empty shops for new housing, creating more green spaces, cleaning up streets or running market days.

Speaking about the announcement, Darlington MP Peter Gibson said:

“I’m delighted that Darlington has been awarded £20 million pounds to help further regenerate our town, which will really help to transform parts of our town and will complement the Town’s Fund work immensely.

“We can already see the great working being done locally to level up, and this further money just helps move us from great to brilliant”.

“This new funding adds to the over £1 billion pounds of Government funding awarded to Darlington since 2019, where we have seen investment in Darlington Economic Campus, Railway Heritage Quarter, Darlington Train Station, Town’s Fund and more recently the Northern Link Road.

“This Conservative Government thinks Darlington is worth investment, and as Darlington’s MP, I’m delighted that our voice and vision continues to be heard loud and clear in Westminster”.

Hear all the latest news from across Teesside on the hour, every hour, on 96.6FM, DAB, at tfmradio.co.uk, and on the TFM app.