Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen £20 million of ‘Levelling Up Partnership’ money allocated to places across Mansfield. This is just one part of the total £72 million that Government has committed to invest in long-term meaningful change for our town.
The aim of all of this is to improve our public services, and make Mansfield a better place to live and to work.
Just over £11 million is intended to improve housing quality and regenerate some of Mansfield’s poorest estates, including £3.2 million for a new youth hub near Bellamy Road, which will help divert young people away from crime and anti-social behaviour; £300,000 to implement South Mansfield Family Hubs, which will boost the childrens and family services available; and £250,000 to extend a school readiness programme run by Nottingham Trent University, which has been successfully trialled in Oak Tree and is making a real difference to the lives of pre-school children.
The bulk of this funding though is a massive £7.4 million, has been allocated to remodel Bellamy and Oak Tree estates, improving housing quality and access to local services.
I know it’s going to make a massive difference, and it’s on top of other projects already announced, like £20 million for town centre regeneration at Stockwell Gate, bringing the old Beales building back to use, and projects like the Leisure Hub in Warsop being completed this year!
Investment is really starting to produce outcomes here that will be great news for our communities. And if this wasn’t enough good news for one week, there’s even more amazing funding to write about this week too!
The Sainsbury’s junction... We’ve done it!!
As part of that Levelling Up Partnership announcement, £2 million has now been secured to improve the junction after a three-year mission to try and source funding to improve this part of the A60.
I first secured funding for this back in 2020, just days before the pandemic set in and all funds were pulled and diverted to protecting lives. Since then, I’ve been in Parliament talking to Ministers and banging on about this section of road and the significant impact it has to the daily lives of so many people across Mansfield.
The issue of congestion and traffic there comes across my desk practically every week, it isn’t just frustrating having to wait over an hour at peak times to leave a car park, it’s hampering our local economy and putting off people from visiting our town to shop.
Nottinghamshire County Council will fund part of the project to expand capacity at this junction, and the Government will fund the rest through the Levelling Up Partnership - we would never be able to invest in so many areas, so quickly, all more or less at the same time without it.
It’s a testament to the Levelling Up project that Mansfield has not only received so much of this funding, higher than in most places across the country, but also that Government is listening and working with us to invest in our real needs and priorities.
