£20M Announced for Keighley

Article dated Friday Oct 6, 2023 at 09:22 AM

Bradford Council has welcomed a further £20M worth of funding for Keighley, as part of the Government’s Levelling Up programme.

The latest funding package – under the government’s Long-Term Plan - comes in addition to the £33.6M secured in 2021 for improvements in Keighley and the surrounding area as part of the Towns Fund.

The Long-Term Plan for Towns will require town boards to develop their own long-term plan for their town, with funding over 10 years, aligned to the local issues including:  

  • Improving transport and connections to make travel easier for residents and increase visitor numbers in centres to boost opportunities for small businesses and create jobs
  • Tackling crime and anti-social behaviour to keep residents safe and encourage visitors through better security measures and hotspot policing
  • Enhancing town centres to make high streets more attractive and accessible, including re-purposing empty shops for new housing, creating more green spaces, cleaning up streets or running market days

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport said: “We welcome this additional investment into Keighley, which is a testament to the good work of our Towns Fund Board in delivering the £33m secured already.

“We’ve already been developing a long-term plan for Keighley and are about to publish our Keighley Development Framework for public feedback.

“However, it’s a shame that Shipley has not been included for additional funding, and we will continue to make the case for all our towns that they deserve investment too.

“£20m over ten years will make a difference in Keighley, but it is within the context of a funding reduction of £350m for the Bradford district by central government in the last ten years.”

More information

Keighley is included as one of 55 towns around the UK to share £1.1billion over-all as part of the government’s Long-Term Plan for Towns. Each town will receive a 10-year endowment-style fund with £20 million of funding and support to give towns long term certainty to deliver projects over multiple years and the flexibility to invest in interventions based on evolving local needs and priorities.

Underline image
RSS Feed Symbol Subscribe to RSS feed

Recent stories