Scunthorpe moves forward with regen plans

Ten projects that are being developed as part of a major investment programme into Scunthorpe will go ahead, North Lincolnshire Council has confirmed.

The proposals include an advanced manufacturing park across 60 acres of land, a new hospital, a new cultural quarter and a green energy system for the town.

Detailed studies will now be pulled together with funding that has already been made available from the government’s Towns Fund. The local authority says the projects will create hundreds of jobs, improve peoples’ health and wellbeing and create stronger communities.

People from across the region are being encouraged to have their say on what they would like to see through the government’s My Town campaign — further details on Scunthorpe are available on the My Town portal.

It follows from almost £40m which has already been invested in the town centre in recent years and will be led by the public-private partnership Towns Fund Board which is administering the town’s share of a £3.6bn national government scheme designed to rejuvenate towns across the country.

Holly Mumby-Croft, MP for Scunthorpe, who sits on the Towns Fund Board, said: ‘Exciting doesn’t really come close in terms of describing what is in the pipeline for Scunthorpe and I am sure the impact of the Towns Fund Board and the projects which come from it will be felt for generations.

‘We know the people who live here love the place and we also know that they feel they have been left behind. That is changing. The town has a bright future, a future which includes people living, working, socialising and enjoying a whole host of leisure and cultural activities.

‘The retail experience has changed, not just here but across the UK, and sadly the high street of old no longer exists. I think what people miss is the busy, bustling, vibrant place, a sense of community is what people crave and it can be recreated. The feel, the experience, will be the same but the things which drive it are just different.

‘The cumulative impact of all of these projects will create a people-focussed town which is easy to work in, is a nice place to play in, to exercise in and to enjoy time with friends and families and if you so choose, to learn in too. There will be more reasons to be here.

‘If the current Coronavirus pandemic has taught us one thing it is that the spirit of community can prevail and where there is a common goal, we can overcome and achieve great things.’