Further support is being offered to Workington’s bid to secure up to £25m from the Government’s Towns Fund.
Allerdale Borough Council, which is the lead authority for the bid, has appointed its Programme Director (Workington) Kevin Kerrigan to oversee the project, working alongside the newly-established Workington Town Deal board.
Last year Workington was one of 101 towns identified by the Government as potential beneficiaries of the £3.6bn fund which aims to level-up funding and opportunities for communities across the country and deliver long-term growth.
The Council has created the role of Programme Director through a reorganisation of its senior management team, allowing Mr Kerrigan to specifically focus on the delivery of the Towns Fund bid as well as other regeneration projects in Workington.
The Towns Fund will encompass the following three areas: urban regeneration, planning and land use, skills and enterprise infrastructure and connectivity.
The board, chaired by TSP Engineering’s Chief Executive Officer and made up of public, private and voluntary sector partners, first met on January 24 and will advise the council going forward. The board met again on Friday, February 14 to progress the project.
Mr Kerrigan said: “The bid to the Towns Fund represents a huge opportunity for Workington and West Cumbria and everyone involved wants to make this a huge success. We look forward to developing our plans and sharing them with the public in due course.”
A key part of the project will be community engagement and the board are keen to receive as many opinions and ideas from the public as possible. A programme of public consultation will be delivered in the coming months, but to allow people to give their views and ideas immediately the Government has launched the MyTown portal.
Those people who want to have their say what the priorities should be for the Workington bid can go to https://mytown.communities.gov.uk/ and submit their comments, and respond to others who’ve already made suggestions.
Cllr Mike Johnson, Allerdale’s Deputy Leader and Executive member for economic growth, community development and placemaking, said: “The views of residents, visitors and those work here will be vitally important in helping us to shape our bid to the Towns Fund, so I’d urge everyone to put forward their ideas through the MyTown portal and have your say on how we can take Workington forward.”
