The local MP for Hastings and Rye, Sally-Ann Hart, has welcomed the announcement in the chancellor’s budget this week that Hastings and Rother local authorities will both receive a fund of £125,000 each to scope out possible infrastructure projects, as part of the Levelling Up fund.
On hearing the announcement Sally-Ann said, “I am thrilled that both Hastings and Rother are in category one of the Levelling Up Fund, meaning both local authorities will be receiving £125,000 to plan for local infrastructure improvements. This is great news for our area and proves that the hard work we have put in to ensure our area is included in the government’s Levelling Up agenda has worked.”
The Levelling Up fund will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities. This includes a range of high value local investment priorities, including local transport schemes, urban regeneration projects and cultural assets.
The fund is jointly managed by HM Treasury (HMT), the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Department for Transport (DfT). This cross-departmental fund represents a new approach to local investment and will end siloes in Whitehall that make it difficult to take a holistic approach to the infrastructure needs of local areas.
“I look forward to working closely with the local authorities on the list of priority schemes they come forward with and to supporting one of these as part of the bids for the funding in the future. We should be pleased that we have been included in this fund as it has the potential to contribute to the turbocharging our local economy and driving forward growth and investment in our area,” said Sally-Ann.
Source: Press release from the office of Sally-Ann Hart MP
Image Credits: Kevin McCarthy .
No doubt Rother will spend theirs in Bexhill
If it’s genuinely a “levelling up” fund, how come the vast majority of these grants benefit Tory constituencies?
And why won’t the government publish details of how the areas to receive these grants have been prioritised?
https://fullfact.org/economy/levelling-up-fund-index/
At last a chance for Rother to consider “levelling up” within its own area – well you never know, stranger things have happened!!
I am so tired of finding these regular Conservative press releases written by Ms Hart’s office verbatim in Rye News! Maybe the proposals could be summarised, put into their full context and commented upon by your journalists rather than readers having to wade through publicity remarks from someone called ‘Sally Ann’ who is ‘thrilled’ and has been ‘working hard’.
OK – I am waiting to be flamed by predictable suspects!
£125,000!! That is not even enough for Rother District Council to provide two more sheds on Bexhill sea front.
All I can say is that this is £125,000 for Rother to “scope” our projects. I take this to mean it will be used by consultants to see what projects are needed. As if they were not known already by local councillors, residents, and maybe contained in the Neighbourhood Plan. Remember how the fast train was going to come to Hastings and Bexhill direct from St Pancras? This sum of money is small and will be used by consultants and then the actual projects will be filed away. We’ve seen this so many times, the MP must feel we are totally unaware.
It is all very sad really, but reflects how press releases like this work.
As the moderator did not like my previous comment I will say the same thing in a different way. If anbody should think that by gifting Rother District Council £125,000 will make any noticeable difference to the lives of the residents of the District they need to consider what that sum of money could buy. For example, two of the wooden shelters on Bexhill seafront cost that amount to purchase plus the cost of installation.
Perhaps RDC in a sudden burst of generosity, could donate the money to the restoration of the Landgate.
Wow….that’s £1.31 per person in Rother. I’m thinking really hard about what to do with my cut.
So our MP is thrilled with £125k to cover a levelling up fund for RDC, it sounds as much use as 1% pay rise for NHS staff.
It’ll probably pay for two consultants to produce a strategy document about something we already know about.