Warsop residents' anger as £25 million funding plan still 'does not cover the whole of the district'

Councillor Daniel Redfern asked Mayor Andy Abrahams whether the Town Deal funding of £25 million was to be used for the whole of the Mansfield district.

Mayor Andy Abrahams said: “At present, the area proposed by the government does not cover the whole of the district, so the council have made very strong representations to our MP and Secretary of State to request that this be reconsidered.”

This was met with anger from some residents of the parish, who said they had been assured this would not be the case in previous statements on the subject.

Ben Bradley MP took to social media to confirm that this has already been agreed in a previous meeting with Secretary of State, Robert Jenrick, he said; “In initial paperwork from Government the arbitrary line that they drew did not include Warsop. That is true.

“However a simple conversation with the Secretary of State has ensured that we can include Warsop. Simple as that.

“There is no issue and I've gone out of my way to make sure that Warsop - in fact the whole District - is included.”

When asked for clarification, a spokesperson for Mansfield District Council said: “The council approached the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in December and asked for the Towns Fund boundary to be reviewed and widened to benefit areas such as Warsop.

“This was reiterated at the meeting with the Secretary of State Robert Jenrick and Mansfield MP Ben Bradley last week, where support was indicated.

“As yet the council has not received formal notification that the boundary has been extended.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “We have received a proposal from Mansfield to extend its town boundary for the purposes of the Town Deal, which we are considering in consultation with the local authority.”

The government confirmed last year that £25 million has been ring-fenced by the government to be spent on ‘Town Deal’ projects boosting Kirkby, Sutton and Mansfield town centres.