Council bids to Level Up Glossop

Published on 3 August 2022

New leisure and wellbeing and enhanced cultural facilities for Glossop are the focus of a £20m bid to the Levelling Up Fund being made by High Peak Borough Council.

The Fund is aimed at investing in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK and will support town centre and high street regeneration projects and cultural and heritage assets.

The Council's bid package is focused on two schemes within the town - proposals for a new leisure centre and wellbeing hub and to boost and speed up plans to fully re-open Victoria Hall as a live performance venue. It was submitted this week and an announcement on the outcome is expected in the Autumn.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Anthony Mckeown, said: "The Council has worked with a wide range of stakeholders to develop ambitious proposals for significant investment in leisure, cultural and community facilities in Glossop which have now been submitted.

"The leisure and wellbeing hub element of our £20m bid to the Levelling Up Fund will enable us to deliver the much-demanded up-to-date facilities for the town with the Victoria Hall element fast tracking the excellent work started by the Friends of Victoria Hall to return this much valued community asset to full use.

"The Council is committed to delivering projects which enhance the lives of everyone who lives and works in the High Peak. Our vision for regenerating Glossop is already underway, with the £7m renovation of the historic Town Hall complex, and securing the funds we are asking for from Levelling Up will enable us to press ahead with our plans for new leisure and wellbeing amenities and a cultural hub at Victoria Hall more quickly.

"The complicated bidding process has required a considerable amount of officer, member and stakeholder support to develop a detailed, and supported, bid that meets all the Government requirements to bid to Round 2 of the Fund and we look forward to the announcement in the Autumn of the successful schemes which we, of course, hope Glossop will be amongst."

As part of the Government requirements to bid, our submission needs to include detailed calculations of the value for money of the package.

This work then compares the economic benefits and costs to produce a Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR). The BCR for our Glossop bid is comfortably above the requirement set by Government and indicates that the bid should perform well against value for money requirements.

The regeneration project to bring the Town Hall, Market Hall and Municipal Buildings up to modern standards will create jobs and new spaces for community use, entrepreneurs and micro-businesses alongside the introduction of energy saving technologies and fibre broadband.

It's being funded by the Council and includes a £2m grant contribution from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership via their Getting Building Fund.

Councillor Damien Greenhalgh, Deputy Leader and Executive Councillor for Regeneration, Tourism and Leisure, said: "The projects already underway are turning our shared vision for Glossop's future into reality and a successful Levelling Up bid will only speed up the process and further enhance the leisure and cultural offer in the town, secure our heritage buildings and provide for our community's future.

"Regenerating our town centres and creating thriving high streets is at the heart of what we want to achieve for the High Peak. We know people share our ambition for High Peak and our towns like Glossop  - ambition that is completely compatible with the objectives of the Levelling Up agenda - so it's great that our bid is in and we look forward to hearing the decision later this year."