Tamworth Borough Council bid for £20m for further town centre regeneration

15 August 2022

• Council submits £20million bid for government funding to spend on further town centre regeneration
• If funding bid is successful, grant will be used to redevelop land and buildings near and around the former Bingo Hall in the town
• The bid will support the Transforming Tamworth projects

Tamworth Borough Council has submitted a bid to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for a grant of £20million to redevelop land and buildings near and around the former Bingo Hall on Spinning School Lane. This will deliver half of the Gungate masterplan that was consulted on in 2021.

The funding will enable us to create new office space, a new convenience store and further car parking – this is important to enable the wider Gungate development in the coming years. If successful, the council would need to deliver the project by March 2025.

Although details of the projects are commercially sensitive, involving public and private sector partnerships, and can therefore not yet be fully revealed, the plans are completely transformative and would encourage new town centre uses. The overall aim being to protect and support the heart of Tamworth town centre for future generations.

Tamworth Borough Council’s bid is for a slice of the government’s £4.8billion ‘Levelling Up Fund’ – which is earmarked for smaller infrastructure projects that has a visible impact on people and communities.

The fund will prioritise places in need of economic recovery and growth, regeneration and improved transport connectivity, and as such is jointly managed by Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT), The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Department for Transport (DfT).

This programme is additional to the Future High Street Fund and the objectives of that programme, where Tamworth Borough Council is has already successfully secured £21.6m to deliver several projects towards the transformation of the town centre, as part of a £40m investment package.

To be successful in the levelling up funding bid, projects must be ready to go and be able to be completed by March 2025. To do this, Tamworth Borough Council has a number of contracts in place which allow technical expertise to be drawn down quickly to support project development team to deliver this ambitious project.

Councillor Jeremy Oates, Leader of Tamworth Borough Council, said: “The regeneration of Tamworth town centre is a key priority, and we are keen to obtain this funding to help us drive the regeneration plans for our town forward.

“This is a great step in the right direction and we have to really grab this opportunity and throw everything at it. At the same time, we are progressing plans for the redevelopment of the Gungate precinct site which the council purchased in 2018.

“We will update people further when we know more about our bid and the next stages of the Tamworth’s regeneration projects. Details can be found here: https://transforming.tamworth.gov.uk/.