Connor Donnithorne, MP Candidate for Camborne, Redruth, and Hayle, has today (Saturday 1st June) announced that Camborne will be among 30 towns that will each benefit from £20 million as part of an expansion of the Conservative’s Long-Term Plan for Towns, taking the total number of towns in the programme to over 100. Local people in each town like Camborne will decide how the money will be used for the long-term regeneration of their area.
Talent is spread evenly across the UK, but opportunity is not. The Conservatives’ levelling up plans have begun to address this, with £15 billion of government funding and billions more in private investment creating real improvements already. But we will go further.
Labour has offered no plan for how to improve these towns. Instead, they have criticised the Conservatives for directing this funding to the places that need it most.
Through freeports and investment zones, the Conservatives have turbocharged private investment in places that have been overlooked. Already, these zones have attracted new businesses, generated billions in private investment and created thousands of jobs where they are most needed.
Local people, not those in Westminster, will decide how the money will be spent. New Town Boards will be set up to bring together community leaders, businesspeople, local government, and the local MP, to develop and deliver the plan for their town. Bringing decision-makers closer to the people and businesses this transformational funding will affect is an important element of this plan.
This additional £20 million for Camborne builds upon the £23.7 million Town Deal project and the £354,000 from the Safer Streets Scheme that was awarded last year.
Connor Donnithorne, MP Candidate for Camborne, Redruth, and Hayle said:
“It is fantastic news that Camborne is going to be able to access an additional £20 million over the next ten years to help regenerate our high street and boost opportunity for local people and businesses.
“Camborne has a proud history as one of the leading lights of the industrial age, however, many people see Camborne as a town that has gone through hardship. However, this is changing, with the reopening of South Crofty in sight and exciting new facilities like the Fibre Park opening up, which will unlock opportunities for skilled well-paid jobs for local people.
“I am standing to be the next MP for Camborne, Redruth, and Hayle because this is our home. It is where we're raising our young family and I have a real, tangible interest in fighting to make our communities even better places to grow up, raise a family, live and work. Everything that I do will be about having a clear plan with bold action to deliver a secure future for Cornish families like mine, and people of all ages.
“If I am elected as the MP on 4th July, I will work with our communities to make sure local people feel and are heard and this money is spent on the priorities of local people delivering the change we need to return Camborne to its former glory.”
Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister said:
“We the Conservatives have a plan for towns because we know they are the beating heart of our country. This bold action will transform 30 more towns – reviving their high streets, growing their local economies and making people feel proud of the place they call home.
“Labour’s record in government shows they don’t care about towns – neglecting their needs, allowing them to decline and focusing instead on cities. Sir Keir Starmer has no plan to unlock opportunities in towns and would take us back to square one.
“Building on our strong track record of levelling up in Teesside and the Midlands, we will go further across the country to build a secure future for our children and grandchildren.”
Michael Gove, Levelling Up Secretary, said:
“This bold action will be transformational for towns around the country. It will allow local people to take back control - creating better jobs, improving transport and generating more investment.
“The Conservatives have a clear plan to spread opportunity so that talent and hard work, not geography, determine people’s life chances.
"Sir Keir Starmer has no plan and no idea how to help people help themselves, just patronising platitudes that would take us back to square one."
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The 30 towns expected to benefit from the extension to the Long Term Plan for Towns are listed below. These were selected using the same methodology used in the March Budget (DLUHC, Extension to Long-Term Plan for Towns: place selection methodology, 6 March 2024, link). Towns in highest need of levelling up, who have not already benefitted from the programme will benefit.
- Tamworth, West Midlands
- Preston, North West
- Kidderminster, West Midlands
- Redditch, West Midlands
- Cannock, West Midlands
- Skelmersdale, North West
- Camborne, South West
- Newcastle-under-Lyme, West Midlands
- Thornaby-on-Tees, North East
- Burton upon Trent, West Midlands
- Little Hulton, North West
- Gainsborough, East Midlands
- Halifax, Yorkshire and The Humber
- Ilkeston, East Midlands
- Wythenshawe, North West
- Corby, East Midlands
- Grantham, East Midlands
- Wigston, East Midlands
- Bognor Regis, South East
- Dronfield, East Midlands
- Fleetwood, North West
- Alloa, Scotland
- Perth, Scotland
- Mayfield, Scotland
- Helensburgh, Scotland
- Newtown, Wales
- Abertillery, Wales
- Flint, Wales
- Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
- Newry, Northern Ireland
Over £1 billion is already set out in Government plans for Long Term Plan for Towns. These 30 additional towns will cost around £60 million per annum which is affordable from within our tax avoidance plans. Those plans will raise £6 billion a year, of which we have committed £1 billion to national service and £2.4 billion for pensions.
As per DLUHC guidance, each town that is a part of the Long Term Plan for Towns programme is:
- Developing a Long-Term Plan to invest in and regenerate their town, based on the priorities of local people, and put to local people for consultation
- Receiving up to £20 million in endowment-style funding and support over 10 years to support this Plan, to be spent on issues that matter to local people, including regenerating high streets and securing public safety. This plan will be put to local people.
- Establishing a Town Board to bring together community leaders, employers, local authorities and the local MP to oversee and deliver the Long-Term Plan
- Using a toolkit of powers, from tackling anti-social behaviour to auctioning empty high street shops, reforming licensing rules on shops and restaurants and supporting more housing in town centres
The Conservatives have invested over £15 billion from levelling-up funds to overlooked areas across the UK since 2019. This includes the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund supporting projects in 271 places, £2.4 billion committed across 101 Town Deals, £1.5 billion invested into 75 of our great towns through our long-term plan for towns, £830 million Future High Strelets Fund, £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and £2 billion Culture Recovery Fund. £3 billion in levelling up funding has gone to Scotland, over £2.5 billion to Wales and over £800 million to Northern Ireland. This money is helping to revive lagging high streets and town centres up and down the country.
The Conservative created 12 Freeports to unlock much needed investment into port communities and their hinterlands, to bring jobs and opportunity to some of the UK’s historically overlooked communities. All English freeports are open for businesses and creating jobs – in just a few years, Freeports have already generated £2.9 billion in investment, which will in turn create 6,000 jobs.
£103 million from the Community Ownership Fund has so far rescued 333 projects our ongoing mission to level up towns, villages and cities across the UK.
Sixty per cent of the English population now live in a place covered by a devolution deal, including 90 per cent of the North.
Keir Starmer has continually criticised the Government for supporting the towns Labour ignored when in government.