You can help decide how to spend £20m. in Levelling Up funding on Burnley

The Burnley MP helped to secure the third pot of Levelling Up funding from the Government in October.

The public will have a chance to suggest how it should be spent before a town board made up of local people will make the final decision.

What do I need to know about the funding?

It is to be spent over the next decade.

Unlike previous Levelling Up rounds, there are no themes limiting how the money should be used. The board will make the final decision after consulting the public.

What do I need to know about the town board?

The town board must be chaired by an external person and formed by April, and a public consultation must be held before the final decision is made, as legal requirements of the funding. The board will also comprise three or four Burnley Borough Councillors, the MP, and several major employers in the town.

When will the public consultations take place?

It is yet to be decided how and when the public will have their say.

What has the MP said about it all?

Burnley MP Antony Higginbotham said: “If the public say want they want something to be built and the cost is £15m, we can potentially do that. I’m not going to allow this to be one of those things where one person or group says, ‘This is how we should spend it’.

“There are no themes, so it’s total blanket space. We can create a plan and ask, ‘What do we want Burnley to look like? What do we want Burnley to be? What are the barriers to making that happen?”

What else can you tell me about the funding?

It is part of a 10-year Plan for Towns announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, with 55 towns across the country sharing more than £1b.