Justin Tomlinson MP meets regularly with local business forums to discuss growth and regeneration
for Swindon
Justin Tomlinson MP today asked Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, how the Government is helping support regeneration in Swindon.
The Government is taking a new approach to regeneration. Through schemes and pilots that see greater investment and the devolution of power to local authorities, the Government is working to give communities and local partners the freedom, tools and information needed to address local priorities for regeneration and growth.
Swindon is one of the 16 pilot areas for the Community Budget, designed to tackle deep rooted social problems amongst families. The Community Budget sees different strands of previously fragmented national funding pooled in a local budget. This gives Swindon the power to redesign local services to directly tackle local problems, ensuring that the Local Authority can direct all the available funding where it thinks it is needed, not where centrally imposed targets dictate.
The vision for Swindon is to use the freedom the Community Budget gives to ensure that no Swindon family is in chronic crisis, pulling together the Council, Police, NHS, voluntary and community groups to work effectively together in tackling the deep rooted social challenges some families face.
In addition to social investment, Swindon will also benefit economically. The new Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise partnership (LEP) will bring together the private and public sectors to drive forward economic growth. The LEP will deliver £6 million of funding allocated to the area by the Growing Places Fund to support infrastructure and unlock economic development and housing. This is part of over £42 million that the Fund will invest in the South West.
The Government is working with Swindon Borough Council to make better use of public assets to make savings, promote growth and drive regeneration. The Swindon Capital Asset and Pathfinder Programme aims to demonstrate that major savings can be secured through the management of buildings and assets. The Programme, currently being trialled by eleven local authorities including Swindon, could release as much as £35 billion over the next ten years if rolled out nationally.
Swindon is also seeing support and investment from the Homes and Communities Agency, which has invested £12 million in the regeneration of Union Square and is now investing £1.7 million in the delivery of 81 Affordable Rent and 13 Affordable Home Ownership units in Swindon.
Justin Tomlinson MP said "It's fantastic that Swindon is taking part in so many initiatives and schemes to drive social and economic regeneration. I welcome the central investment that Swindon will see through the Local Enterprise Partnership and Community Budget and the moves by the Government to empower local authorities to make decisions on how it is spent locally."