Matt Vickers, MP for Stockton South, announces £20m levelling up bid to build the biggest exhibition centre north of Manchester in Preston Park.
Announced by the Government earlier this year, the Levelling Up fund is a pot of £4.8 billion that will be handed out to areas across the UK.
Constituencies will draw up bids and submit them to Government. The deadline for the first round of bids is June 18.
The cash is aimed at funding projects such as smaller scale transport schemes, high street regeneration, and boosting cultural assets.
Some areas, such as ex industrial areas and more deprived constituencies, have been deemed higher priority for receiving money from the fund. Stockton is one such high priority area.
This bid is in addition to the £23.9m that has already been pledged to the area under the Town Deal.
Mr Vickers said:
“I am thrilled to reveal that we are submitting a bid for £20m from the government’s levelling up fund to advance some very exciting projects in our local area.
“Our ambition with this money is to build the biggest exhibition centre north of Manchester right here in Preston Park. This project will provide countless jobs and opportunities to the locality whilst also hosting big events and exhibitions right on our doorstep.
“This exhibition centre will be accompanied by major improvements to Preston Park with state of the art parking, new toilet facilities and a brand spanking new coffee shop.
“Part of our bid also looks at long overdue improvements in Yarm, including new public toilets, a refurbishment of Yarm Town Hall and investment in new cycle routes connecting Yarm to Hartburn.
“This is a really exciting time for our area and I’m hopeful that we can get the green light to go ahead with our impressive list of projects and transform our local area.”
ENDS
