Mansfield given thousands to work on plans to revive town centre

The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government has announced today, Friday, July 5, that Mansfield will receive up to £150,000 from the Future High Streets Fund for visioning and pre-development work in Mansfield town centre. Mansfield made it to the top 50 out of 300 applications and will now be able to use the funding to put together a formal detailed proposal. The progression to the next phase means that Mansfield will receive £150,000 to allow the council to properly plan and bid for up to £25 million of funding for major changes to the high street. Mansfield District Council’s regeneration team applied for funds in March requesting financial support to prepare detailed master plans for strategic infrastructure, signage and the appearance of the town centre. Andy Abrahams, Mansfield Mayor said “We’re delighted to hear that our application has been successful. The funding will help us map out what the future looks like for Mansfield town centre.

“Projects to revitalise Mansfield are already underway at the Old Town Hall, Walkden Street car park and Leeming Street. This additional funding will enable us to look at other important projects to improve the visitor experience in Mansfield and make the town a nicer place to live, work and visit.

“I’d like to say a big thank you to our partners who have supported the application and contributed their ideas to the project.”The pre-development work will inform a further bid for projects up to £25m to be made by spring 2020. Ben Bradley MP said: “I’m delighted with the news that Mansfield has made it through the first round of the Future High Streets Fund. "I stuck my neck out to get Government to create this pot of funding, and I've been campaigning to secure some of it for Mansfield for over a year. Barely a week has gone by without me reminding ministers about Mansfield's needs."When I became an MP I promised to shout about Mansfield and I'm glad that it is paying off - Mansfield is most certainly on the Government's radar."Since the funding announcement, I have been determined to support MDC and help take their plans forward. It's brilliant to see us make genuine progress, especially when the first round of the process was highly competitive. "The cash available is a unique opportunity to really improve our high streets - Mansfield is full of potential.”