Residents in two ‘left behind’ areas of Salford will get to decide how to spend £40m of government cash.
Pendleton and Peel Green each received £20m to spend on improvements over the next ten years under the government’s ‘Pride in Place’ scheme. The programme is supposed to bring much-needed investment to areas with high levels of deprivation.
Now residents in those areas are invited to choose how the money is spent by becoming a part of neighbourhood boards – with residents stating they want ‘more for kids to do’ and ‘more local businesses’.
Letters will go out to all addresses in the neighbourhoods, after Salford bosses agreed to handover the decision-making to locals at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, April 14.
The boards will be made up of people who live or work in the neighbourhoods, alongside the local MP and at least one ward councillor.
Council boss Paul Dennett said: “I’m really pleased that Salford secured £40m from the Labour governments Pride in Place Programme, with £20m each for schemes in the Pendleton and Peel Green areas, parts of the city left behind when you look at growth in Salford over recent years.
“This is fundamentally about elevating local voices, empowering local communities, and ensuring the people of Pendleton and Peel Green are at the heart of decision-making, and delivering on the priorities that really matter to them. So they can build stronger communities, revitalise their public spaces and take back control of the future of their areas.”
Both areas have already received a kickstarter fund of £150,000 to help get the group going. The board will then have to decide what to invest in, with options ranging from creating green spaces, community hubs and youth centres, to road and transport infrastructure improvements.
Chris Kenyon, 54, a Peel Green resident previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the area ‘needs more for kids to do’. While Scott White, 57, believed Pendleton wanted a return of its local businesses – ‘butchers, convenience stores, hairdressers’ – as most have closed down in recent years.
The council is hoping to put the teams together by June, so they can submit their visions for Pendleton and Peel Green to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government by November.
