Stephen Morgan MP has welcomed a £150 million funding package to turn the tide on ailing high streets, which will target areas in need of support including Portsmouth.
- High streets with boarded up shop fronts and lacking essentials such as butchers, grocers and bakeries are set to receive funding.
- A £150 million cash injection will be allocated between areas hit hardest in recent years, and most in need of being brought back together.
- Will help turn the tide on decline and restore the sense of pride people feel in their high streets and local area.
The funding is designed to bring people back into their local high streets by supporting independent local businesses, improving neglected shopfronts and opening empty units.
As areas identified and chosen for support for the Pride in Place Programme, with both Landport and Paulsgrove set to receive £20 million for each area over the next ten years, our city will be a recipient of this funding.
The newly announced package will be the first step in the Government’s upcoming High Streets Strategy, which will build upon action already taken to:
- Restore pride in local communities.
- Empower English councils to say no to new betting shops and vapes stores.
- Supporting 1000+ local pubs that offer extra services for communities.
- Rejuvenating over 330 of the most deprived communities through our Pride in Place programme.
Commenting, Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, said:
“Our shopping areas and city centre have been neglected by the last Government and a lack of local leadership on the council has held back the investment our city desperately needs.
“This funding from a Labour government is renewal in action, led by localpeople who know their neighbourhoods best, and backed by the government which is choosing unity over division.
“Having spoken with Portsmouth people and local businesses, I know the difference this funding will make to restore pride in place in our community”.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed said:
“Our high streets are the beating heart of Britain — where communities come together and local businesses can grow.
“Town centres have suffered from high streets falling into decline, and that is why we’re taking action to turn the tide with this crucial investment and more to come.
“We have listened to what people are telling us and that’s why we’re giving them the power and control to breathe new life back into our high streets and restore the sense of pride communities feel, building on our transformational Pride in Place programme”.
Other steps taken by the government to regenerate high streets include:
- Introducing a new community right to buy through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.
- Giving local people greater power to save valued community assets like sports clubs and pubs.
- Ending ‘pub deserts’ by banning the loss of the last community facility in an area.
- Action to tackle the proliferation of betting shops on high streets.
More details on the High Streets Strategy, including how funding will be allocated to specific places, will be announced in the coming months.
