Mark Garnier MP and the Wyre Forest Conservative Councillors are delighted with today’s announcement from the Government, that Kidderminster has received £20.5million funding from the Future High Street Fund.
In a letter from the Secretary of State, the Rt Hon. Robert Jenrick said: “You submitted a strong business case to the department, which scored highly against our assessment criteria, and I was pleased to read about the projects you plan to deliver with the fund, including the new multi-functional public space and public realm improvements.”
On the news of the announcement Mark said: “A brilliant Boxing Day award for Wyre Forest and Kidderminster. £20.5 million to invest in Kidderminster's town centre is the third biggest award across the country, and our bid was amongst the 15 best in the country. This is the culmination of several years work and thanks to Councillor Marcus Hart for getting this started when he was leader of the council. There's a lot of hard work that goes in to all these bids, and it has been a delight to support officers at Wyre Forest District Council to secure this award - something that will make a very real difference to our district.”
Marcus Hart, Leader of the Conservative Council Group and as Leader of the Council in 2018, when the preliminary bid was submitted to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said “The successful bid is great news for Kidderminster residents. As the Leader of the Council, I and the Conservative group were delighted to submit the initial proposals back in 2018 for a bid to transform and regenerate Worcester Street and it was always my vision to open up Worcester Street to Bromsgrove Street to take away the blockages like the former Woolworths building.
I am delighted the Conservative Government with the support of our MP has made this happen.”
Kidderminster Town Council Conservative Group Leader, David Ross, says : “This is extremely welcoming news for Kidderminster. The Conservative Group on the Town Council look forward to getting involved in this exciting investment in our Town.”
Chris Rogers, who was the Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration under the former Conservative controlled District Council in 2018 says: “Having been to all the briefing meetings on how bids might be structured, we started work in earnest creating the Kidderminster bid. With situations such as this, you never know quite where you are in terms of how you're doing compared with other applicants. It’s so rewarding that our efforts have paid off.”