It’s been a busy summer, with work progressing at pace on a number of exciting projects for the borough.
Plans to transform St Helens town centre received a major boost as it was announced that the ambitious Town Deal bid for regeneration funding was successful in winning up to £25m funding. The Board includes Council Leader David Baines, Cllr Richard McCauley – Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Planning, and both our MPs Conor McGinn and Marie Rimmer, and will now begin work on producing business cases for each project in the Town Investment Plan: https://www.sthelenslabour.org/latest-news/2021/07/15/st-helens-wins-25m-towns-fund-bid/
At Cabinet we published our Economic Reset and Recovery Plan for the borough. The plan aims to develop and support the borough’s businesses to survive, adapt and thrive in the new economy; invest in people and skills; ensure major investments progress to secure inclusive growth; and maximise the opportunities of a green recovery to drive inclusive growth and transformation: https://www.sthelenslabour.org/latest-news/2021/07/16/labour-council-agree-new-economic-recovery-plan/
Our local Nightlife Aware Accreditation hospitality support scheme was singled out for praise: https://www.sthelenslabour.org/latest-news/2021/07/23/st-helens-borough-hospitality-scheme-singled-out-for-praise/
We hosted the latest free-to-attend webinar for local businesses ton 22nd July to help the council listen and gain a better understanding of how the we can further support local businesses and encourage people back safely to shop on their local high street: https://www.sthelenslabour.org/latest-news/2021/07/16/businesses-asked-to-have-their-say-on-high-street-recovery-in-virtual-forum/
On 26th July we launched a £500,000 grant scheme to support businesses and help to develop business premises across St Helens and Earlestown town centres, offering small grants of up to £5,000 to help with smaller scale projects such as amendments and improvements to existing premises, and medium-sized grants up to £50,000 for bigger investments: https://www.sthelenslabour.org/latest-news/2021/07/26/500000-support-scheme-launched-for-town-centres/
And we highlighted the fantastic story of Thomas, a young autistic man from St Helens who has come in for high praise after thriving on the Kickstart employment scheme run by St Helens Borough Council (pictured on front page): https://www.sthelenslabour.org/latest-news/2021/07/21/labour-councils-kickstart-programme-helping-young-people-into-work/
Remember to keep up to date with exciting announcements and all the latest news by following us on social media @StHLabour and online at www.sthelenslabour.org
