£35 million funding bid to be put forward for Eastwood and Kimberley

Eastwood town centre could benefit from up to £20 million in Levelling Up funding.

Broxtowe Borough Council is set to apply to the Government’s £4.8 billion pound fund which aims to address inequalities nationally.

The authority plans to ask for £14 to £15 million for Kimberley and £19 to£20 million for Eastwood.

Broxtowe Borough Council will also have to provide a 10 per cent contribution.

Councillors will discuss it during the authority’s cabinet meeting on June 21.

A number of projects will be in the pipeline for local cycle routes and town centre improvements.

One part of the bid will be for town centre improvements in Kimberley for light installations “to make the town centre more friendly, event centred and aesthetically pleasing”.

Grants would also be offered to local businesses to enhance or design Victorian features for their shops fronts to give Kimberley a unique identity.

Another of the plans is to relocate the Kimberley Miners Welfare Football Club from the town centre to Swingate Farm Sports Centre.

Council documents added: “A business and community hub is to be built on the existing site of the Parish Rooms, providing co-working space and managed offices. It is a multi-function hub with community facilities.”

In Eastwood, a new wellbeing hub named ‘Walker Street Wellbeing Hub’ in the heart of the town centre would house a new GP surgery, pharmacy, library and community swimming pool with therapeutic benefits.

Durban House, a historic building in the town, would also be transformed into a low-carbon community hub including a dementia day care facility, as well as employment support services, mental health support services, a healthy eating café, a community garden, and health and fitness classes.

Money would also be set aside to link Kimberley and Eastwood with nearby towns on the cycle network.

Council documents published ahead of the meeting said: “The Council’s Economic Development team have been working collaboratively with both Eastwood and Kimberley Town Councils, consultancy organisations, and other key stakeholders over the past year to develop bids for these towns.

“Round Two of the Fund will open on the 31 May and close on the 6 July 2022.Broxtowe has been categorised as a Priority 2 area, meaning that it has been identified as being less in need than Priority 1 areas.

“Prioritisation is still given to partnerships whose projects can deliver in the next three to four years but projects need to demonstrate that they can spend funding in the 2022/23 financial year.”