£3.43m funding secured for Darlington town centre

£3.43m government funding has been secured for Darlington as the town centre regeneration gathers pace.

Darlington Borough Council has secured the investment through the ‘Towns Fund’ – a pot of Government money used to invest in towns across England as part of its plan to level up the UK economy.

Darlington is the first council in the North East, and one of the first councils across Britain to secure and receive this funding.

The council has said this investment will enable the progression of three projects: improving Skinnergate and the Yards, setting up an adult skills centre in the Northern Echo building and developing a brand new state-of-the-art facility at Darlington College.

Leader of the council, Cllr Heather Scott, said: “This is excellent news and the funding will help us deliver our ambitions for Darlington. The fact that we are one of the first council’s to receive this funding is credit to the hard work and determination that goes on behind the scenes to get these plans across the line.

“The latest projects will complement and extend current regeneration schemes which are already well underway in the town.”

The Towns Fund programme manager, Chris Mains, said: “This will build upon the impressive work already undertaken within Buckton’s and Clark’s Yards as part of early Towns Fund work.

“New shopfronts, lighting, planting, benches, WiFi and CCTV installation have been completed in phase one, which has greatly improved the street scene. I’m now looking forward to working on the schemes included within this funding and adding further to plans for our town.”

Darlington MP, Peter Gibson added: “The Towns Fund is an incredible opportunity to transform Darlington for decades to come. It’s great to see the positive impact the funding is starting to have on our town. This is just the beginning of a very detailed phase of transformation.

“I’m looking forward to working on the many future planned projects that are transforming our community.”