Mansfield MP: People will ‘have the power’ to spend £20m given to town by the Goverment

The cash boost, from the Government’s Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, will go towards supporting ‘communities and the town centre’ over the next 10 years.

It was awarded as part of Labour’s Pride in Place programme, which will see up to £5 billion given to nearly 250 areas across the UK with the aim of ‘restoring pride in the places people live’.

But unlike in the past, residents will actually ‘have the power’ to decide where the cash is spent this time around – through ‘neighbourhood boards’ made up of those with local interests.

Mr Yemm (Lab) said: “I think the people of Mansfield were probably quite cynical (about funding, previously).

"This time, though, the approach is more that people have a really strong say in what happens in their area.

"Not just a say – but have the power.

“It’s a different way about thinking about regeneration and public services.

"It’s actually, you know, quite similar, in many respects, to what the last Labour Government did post ‘97.

“We did some very similar things (back then), built neighbourhood boards in Mansfield, which, you know, in my opinion, (were) very successful, but when all that funding went away, all of those neighbourhood boards, they persisted for a while, but they needed rebuilding again.”

Mansfield’s receipt of £20m has actually been in the pipeline for a number of years.

The Conservative Government was due to provide the town with the sum after announcing it as part of the Levelling Up Fund in January 2024.

But that never came to fruition.

Now, decisions on where the money is spent will be made by a Neighbourhood Board, which will be created for Mansfield in the next few months.

This will be formed of local residents and businesses, with input from anyone and everyone who lives in the town.

Mr Yemm has already been asking those in his constituency what they want to see the money spent on.

The £20m is separate to £1.5m of funding that was awarded in October last year.

This money is from a similar but separate pot called the Pride in Place Impact Fund and is for things like the refurbishment of community buildings, upgrades to playgrounds, parks, green or public spaces, and accessibility improvements to paths, lighting and signs.

Mansfield Council Mayor Andy Abrahams said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for us to support the many disadvantaged communities across the town with support to bring forward ideas to tackle issues at a neighbourhood and community level.

“We are going through a huge programme of change and transformation across Mansfield and this enables us to extend that support to our communities and grow together.

"This is an exciting time for Mansfield.”