£208m levelling up investment announced in the North to ‘transform towns and cities’

More homes will be built and regeneration turbocharged in the north of England under a ‘transformational’ package announced on Friday (1 March) by Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove at Convention of the North.

The £208m cash injection will fund a range of projects across towns and cities, whilst Northern leaders will receive new powers to further unlock the potential of the area and deliver the promise in the Levelling Up White Paper to level the playing field by spreading opportunities.

In Blackpool, £90m will be used to build new homes and renovate low-quality properties not currently fit for people to live in as part of a major regeneration scheme led by Homes England and Blackpool Town Council. It will see around hundreds of homes made available overall and disused brownfield land brought back into life in a boost for the town.

The town has already received more than £100m of levelling up funding since 2019 and investment to unlock the major £300m Blackpool Central development scheme. 

The town is further benefiting from the devolution deal for Lancashire announced at the Autumn Statement last year, putting more power in the hands of local leaders and allowing them to take ownership of the Adult Education Budget to shape local skills provision across Lancashire.

In Sheffield, the government is supporting the city’s overarching ambition to deliver 20,000 new homes through £67 million of Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land funding by Homes England. 

This funding will be used to secure brownfield land on two city centre sites capable of delivering more than 1,300 new homes and over 4,000 square miles of new commercial or community floorspace.

The investment will complement existing funding through the Brownfield Housing Fund to transform a former brewery into 550 new homes and Levelling Up Fund investment in new leisure facilities at Parkwood Springs urban country park.

Liverpool will receive £31m to support a range of regeneration projects. This includes significant investment to develop Grade A office space and new laboratory facilities at Paddington Village in the Knowledge Quarter, as well as support for community asset Greatie Market to provide further opportunities for traders. 

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, speaking at the Convention of the North, said: “Today is the day the North truly takes back control. Today, at this Convention, we inaugurate the biggest transfer of power and resources to the North in living memory.

“We all know that the divisions in our society, economic, social, educational, are best bridged by empowering local leaders and local communities to determine the futures of the places where they live and the towns and cities that they love. And that is why today, at this Convention of the North, together, we are bringing about a power surge for the North.”