Million pound boost for Mansfield’s town centre regeneration plans

Mansfield has secured an extra £1 million that will be used for developments to the Town Centre.

The town will receive the maximum amount of funding, which ranges from £500,000 to £1million in a bid to transform the town centre.

The money will be used to improve the town centre through the development of urban and pocket parks at various sites.

Other uses of the money will include incorporating soft play within the town centre, building living wall installations, upgrading the lighting on the streets and “opening up” some of the darker more uninviting gateways to the town, with the aim of making it a nicer place to spend time.

This funding comes on top of the £50 million secured from the Future High Streets Fund and Town Deal last year and has to be spent before the end of the current financial year in April 2021 to kick-start investment coming to Mansfield from the government's Towns Fund.

It is hoped the government funding will enable the council to create small green spaces in the coming months that will help boost visitor numbers and encourage visitors to spend more time in the town centre.

Cllr Stuart Richardson, portfolio holder for Regeneration and Growth, said: “We are so pleased to have been given the go-ahead to take this exciting project forward.

“Mansfield is performing well in the economic recovery from the COVID-19 setback, and these proposals will certainly help further.

“This scheme supports a council priority to improve the green environment in the district. Bringing more, much-needed greenery to our town centre can only be a good thing - and this will not cost local council taxpayers anything.”

The new pocket parks and "urban greening" are said to boost Mansfield's bid for a £25m package given by the government as part of the Future High Streets Fund.

This funding would support the council's emerging Town Investment Plan, which features the revision of the town centre in the face of changing national trends in the way people shop and also includes re-imagining uses for the Market Place.

Mansfield MP Ben Bradley said that to secure the funds, he had made town centre regeneration a local priority and regularly urged ministers to make Mansfield a key part of the government’s levelling up agenda.

Mr Bradley added: “I’ve taken every opportunity possible to ensure Mansfield remains at the top of the list when it comes to funding for our town, and the hard work has clearly paid off as we’ll be getting an extra £1million.

“I’m grateful to the government for making this funding available to improve our town centre and truly level up forgotten areas across the country. I promised constituents that I’d constantly be banging on minister’s doors for funding, and I’ll continue pushing for improvements to our area.

“It’ll be fantastic to use this £1million to kickstart projects, to get things moving straight away, ahead of the £50 million worth of changes to our town centre over the next few years.”