MP Menzies backing £13.1m St Annes regeneration cash bid after Levelling Up Fund snub

The submission by Fylde Council for £13.14m to round two of the Government’s Levelling Up Fund with the aim of helping to kick-start the regeneration of St Anne’s Town Centre and Promenade Gardens was not chosen for the latest round of grants.

But Mr Menzies believes Fylde Council can learn from the process and still secure the Government’s backing.

Mr Menzies said: “It is disappointing to hear that St Annes has not been chosen this time around. But this is far from the end of the road.

“There will be further rounds of funding and the Government has promised support to ensure another bid can be made.

“This is far from a setback, it is an opportunity to revisit and fine tune our ask of Government, to ensure St Annes and Fylde are in the strongest possible position going into the next round of allocations.”

More than 100 projects around the country were awarded a share of the £2.5 billion allocated in the second round of the Levelling Up Fund, including £40m to Blackpool’s Multiversity project which will help support jobs and skills across the Fylde coast.

Mr Menzies said: “Blackpool was not successful first time around but now has one of the flagship schemes.

“Fylde put together a very strong bid. But there are always opportunities to improve and I will be supporting Fylde council and the St Annes bid team however I can.”

Mr Menzies wrote to Ministers to highlight the benefits of the bid to improve public spaces around The Square, creating events spaces and a new corridor between the Promenade and the main shopping area.

The MP added: “This still remains a vital project. These works are vital to regeneration in town, to attracting investment.

“There is an opportunity to learn from this initial bid, to put together an even stronger case.

“In the meantime St Annes remains a brilliant place to invest, to live and to work.”

It is now expected that councillors will authorise a budget for the council’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund which, alongside funds already agreed on the council’s capital programme, will ensure improvement works still go ahead on the Pier Link along St Annes Road West.

UKSPF will also be used to deliver a town centre events programme, while there are also plans to engage with major investors, developers and other parties regarding new leisure opportunities for The Island as outlined in the St Annes Masterplan.

Fylde Council leader Coun Karen Buckley said: “While it would be easy to be disappointed with the outcome of the LUF Bid, our commitment to bringing more prosperity to Fylde remains as does the Masterplan for St Annes, including The Square, Promenade and Island sites.

“Thank you, again, to the many local residents and businesses, including business groups, who contributed to this vision. We will continue to investigate funding opportunities that will enable the ambitious plans for regenerating St Annes to be realised, including submitting a funding bid into Round Three of LUF which the Government have committed to deliver.

“Congratulations to Blackpool for the successful ‘Multiversity’ bid and to Lancaster on ‘Eden of the North’ in Morecambe.”