£2.4m to help High Peak prosper

Published on 16 December 2022

High Peak Borough Council has welcomed the announcement that funding of up to £2.4m is set to be invested in increasing life chances for residents and helping to build pride in place.

UK Shared Prosperity Funding (UKSPF) of £292,727 has been confirmed for 2022/23 alongside indicative settlements up to March 2025 which would bring the total to £2,437,071.

The UKSPF is part of the national Levelling Up agenda and is based on three investment priorities:

·       Communities and place

·       Supporting local business

·       People and skills

To gain access to the funding, the Council had to develop an investment plan selecting from a number of Government interventions across the three investment priorities. This plan was submitted to Government in early July after public consultation.

A local UKSPF Board has now been set up in the High Peak to deliver on the investment plan and agree timescales for areas of investment across the Borough. The Board will meet before Christmas and more details will be available in the New Year.

Council Leader, Councillor Anthony Mckeown, said: "The range of interventions we have chosen for our investment plan will allow flexibility to use this funding to best tackle local issues.

"We have set up a Board to ensure that this funding is spent in ways that really benefit our residents and businesses, by enabling them to make the most of their opportunities, and to ensure the High Peak continues to be a place that we can all be proud of living and working in.

"The Board meets for the first time later this month and I look forward to being able to share more details of our plans in the New Year."

The total amount the High Peak will receive over the next three years is subject to Government approval of the Council's governance arrangements for distributing the funding which is expected before Christmas