The Prime Mininster's Town Tsar Adam Hawksbee has visited Skegness to discuss how the latest round of £20 million government Levelling Up funding should be spent.
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00:00 We're in Skegness where Town Czar Adam Huxby is currently visiting. Mr Huxby was appointed
00:13 by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to put the pride back in towns. His visit follows a further
00:20 £20 million that's been awarded to the resort which is in addition to the town deal money
00:27 and behind me you can see one of the projects in Tower Gardens that that money has helped
00:34 to fund. We caught up with Mr Huxby to find out more.
00:42 I'm Adam Huxby, I'm chair of the government's towns unit which is supporting the long term
00:47 plan for towns, a £1.5 billion programme bringing £20 million endowments to 75 towns
00:52 across the country. Now this is in addition to the town deal isn't
00:57 it because we're actually in Tower Gardens and we've been looking at one of the projects
01:02 with that, the re-landscaping of the gardens here. So can you explain what the difference
01:08 is? I can, so I've been seeing some of the great
01:10 projects that have been funded by the £20 million that came for the town deal in the
01:15 last couple of years and as you say this project here in Tower Gardens seems like an amazing
01:19 use with a green space here, a heritage asset. This is a new £20 million investment and
01:25 it's a little bit different because it's an endowment style fund, that means it's flexible
01:29 money to be invested over 10 years by the community and so what we're asking is for
01:34 the council to put together a town board, a range of different people from civil society,
01:40 from business, faith leaders and others to come together and think about how to use that
01:45 money and really importantly we want members of the public and members of the community
01:49 to come forward with their ideas because no decisions have been made yet about how that
01:53 money is used and we want to make sure it goes to community priorities.
01:56 What kind of things are you talking about? So there are three areas that we really want
02:01 to see investment with this £20 million. The first is safety and security, so we want
02:06 to make sure places are tackling anti-social behaviour and low-level crime and investing
02:10 in the services that prevent that crime like youth services and youth clubs. Second is
02:15 high streets and town centres, we want to make sure that the amazing high streets I've
02:19 seen here in Skegness that attract so many visitors stay that way and that the right
02:24 investments are made. And the third is around connectivity, I know there are some challenges
02:28 in Skegness like in a lot of coastal towns with connectivity, whether that's through
02:32 a school or a hospital or just getting around town and so that's the third area where we
02:37 really want to see proposals and ideas. So connectivity is that road.
02:42 Are you proud to live in Skegness? Yes I am, I quite like it, I'm settled here.
02:48 Are there any changes you'd make? No not really, I would like the top end of
02:55 the area to have something to do with where the skate park is because there's nothing
03:00 there. What do you think to the changes in to our
03:03 gardens? Oh it's going to be beautiful when it's
03:07 finished, so lucky to have a park in a seaside place and it is a beautiful place to come.
03:12 You see the work going on behind me, what do you think to the changes?
03:17 I think it looks absolutely lovely and when it gets finished it will be superb, it will
03:22 really add to the park. Do you think it will help bring back people's
03:26 pride for the town? Absolutely, yes it looks lovely and neat and
03:30 tidy, crisp, yeah I think it's lovely.