Government cash is great news for Mansfield

It’s been a fantastic week for Mansfield in terms of positive Government announcements, with big news coming forward from both the spending review and new regeneration plans, writes Ben Bradley.
Ben Bradley MPBen Bradley MP
Ben Bradley MP

I was delighted to get confirmation on Wednesday from the Chancellor that we’ll see a huge increase in funding for both schools and colleges, as well as for special educational needs provision too.

He’s also going to boost teachers’ pay, and raise the rate of funding to nurseries for free childcare which will help them to ensure that staff get the proper opportunities for training and development.

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As a member of the education select committee in Parliament, I was really pleased with these great announce-ments for my favoured policy area.

We’ll also see more police on our streets with a recruitment campaign that will bring in 7,000 new officers in the next 12 months.

READ THIS: I will make a strong case for more police officers in Mansfield and Warsop.That’s a great start, and will rise to 20,000 over three years, ensuring neighbourhood policing teams have the manpower that they need.

The Government is also creating 10,000 new prison places, and putting £100 million into making sure those prisons are properly secured and staff are kept safe.

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There was a 13 per cent increase in funding for homelessness, and more cash for the Ministry of Defence too among other great announcements.

One that’s particularly key for Mansfield was the confirmation of a £3.6 billion Towns Fund, and at the end of last week it was announced that Mansfield will be a recipient of some of that cash.

Alongside funding for Sutton, Kirkby and Newark this is a huge opportunity for north Nottinghamshire, with possibly £100 million available to regenerate and grow the local economy.

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I’ve been pushing for support and investment in Mansfield, particularly the town centre, for more than two years now and it’s amazing to see it pay off with this big cash boost.

I’ll be bringing key stakeholders together to ensure this money is spent wisely, as well as asking for your views and priorities for the cash in the coming weeks.