Multi-million pound government funding to breathe life into Bedfordshire town centres and businesses

The future looks bright for Bedfordshire after the council secured multi-million pound funding to invest in town centres, businesses and people.

Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) has secured £4.6million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) for the region. Over the coming months, the council will announce how it will use the funding to achieve the following:

- Improved town centres, community facilities and shared green spaces

- Local organisations improving their cultural offering and communities enjoying the associated health and wellbeing benefits

- Hundreds of new and existing businesses, including those in rural areas, increasing efficiency, developing new products and services, increasing exports, and becoming more energy efficient

- Local people learning new skills, including in relation to the green economy, to help them get better jobs or start their own businessesThe council has written to Biggleswade, Dunstable, Flitwick, Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard town councils offering to co-develop investment plans for their town centres and activities in their community spaces.

CBC representative for Planning and Development Cllr Mary Walsh said: “This is just one of the ways we’re planning to use the UKSPF and REPF money. “Other projects and funding will support the rural economy, the area’s cultural offering and sustainability, and local businesses and skills. We look forward to providing more detail about these over the coming weeks and months.”

More information can be found about the work on the council’s website.