The Government has announced that Kirkby will be one of 55 areas to receive one of the next round of allocations of “levelling up” funding.
Kirkby is expected to benefit from £20m of this levelling up investment over the next ten years.
Previous rounds of funding were allocated after a bidding process, but the Government has this time announced allocations without any advance notice and without asking for submissions or proposals. It is anticipated that the money will be allocated to local authorities and that a number of conditions and requirements will also be announced in due course.
Councillor Graham Morgan, Leader of Knowsley Council, said “We welcome the £20m investment in Kirkby, which is one of the towns in our Borough which has been forgotten about by the national Government as far as previous funding support is concerned.
“We didn’t have any advance notice that funding was being allocated to Kirkby and received the notification via the media.
“While we are pleased to see Kirkby being supported and will make the best possible use of this funding, our recent levelling up bids had focussed on Huyton and Prescot – both of which have been overlooked yet again. As well as Kirkby, Huyton and Prescot need Government investment to level up and align them to other towns across the country.
“The emphasis on this latest round of funding is local people and ensuring the investment is used to address their priorities. We are continuing to deliver the priorities identified by our communities who will once again be pivotal in deciding how this latest investment will be used.”