Bradford Council has welcomed the news that Keighley is getting £20m from the government's Levelling Up programme to add to the £33.6m awarded in 2021 through the Towns Fund.
Keighley was named last week as one of 55 towns around the UK to share £1.1billion as part of the Long-Term Plan for Towns scheme.
The town board will be required to develop its own long-term plan, with funding over 10 years, aligned to the local issues including:
- Improving transport and connections to make travel easier for residents and increase visitor numbers in centres to boost opportunities for small businesses and create jobs
- Tackling crime and anti-social behaviour to keep residents safe and encourage visitors through better security measures and hotspot policing
- Enhancing town centres to make high streets more attractive and accessible, including re-purposing empty shops for new housing, creating more green spaces, cleaning up streets or running market days.
Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport said: “We welcome this additional investment into Keighley, which is a testament to the good work of our Towns Fund Board in delivering the £33m secured already.
“We’ve already been developing a long-term plan for Keighley and are about to publish our Keighley Development Framework for public feedback.
“£20m over ten years will make a difference in Keighley, but it is within the context of a funding reduction of £350m for the Bradford district by central government in the last ten years.”
Keighley MP Robbie Moore said: “I’m proud to have successfully secured an additional £20 million of funding for Keighley from the Department of Levelling Up after much lobbying of government, which is yet another game-changer for our town this year.
"This new £20 million package for Keighley will be spent on local priorities first. It comes on top of the historic £33.6million of government funding I already helped secure for our town in 2021 for the Towns Fund, and follows the funding I secured for our landmark new Airedale Hospital announced back in May, funding for a new sixth form college this summer, £9million for the Silsden to Steeton footbridge, a further £9million for Keighley Railway Station and of course the £1million secured last month to protect our iconic Keighley and Worth Valley Railway - and so much more.
"For too long, Keighley’s part-time politicians of the past have failed to properly stand up for our town. For as long as I am Keighley’s Member of Parliament, I will always make sure that local priorities are put first and our town is forgotten no longer. I look forward to working with all involved to make sure this new investment is a success."
Former MP and Labour's Parliamentary Candidate at the next election, John Grogan, said: "All money pledged to Keighley is to be welcomed, although some commentators might say that £20million over the next ten years is an easy promise to make for a Government which is facing an election and is 15% behind in the polls. £20million over the next decade is also dwarfed by the cuts in public services in the town over the last decade of Conservative rule.
"Our local Tory MP promised in his election leaflet in 2019 that he had a plan to revive Cavendish Street, North Street and the Airedale Shopping Centre. Clearly there is still a lot of work to do although the Keighley Business Awards last Friday night demonstrated the entrepreneurial drive which flourishes in the town.
"Collaboration between local business, the Government and both Bradford and Keighley Town Councils is the only way we will make real progress. I hope our MP will join me by backing plans which are being developed for a private sector led Business Improvement District in Keighley to focus energies on reviving the town centre."
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