£20m more Levelling-Up cash to transform Worksop's town centre

It is one of five Nottinghamshire towns to be awarded the additional funding.

The £20m will be split over ten years to address issues with ‘run-down’ high streets.

The Government says priorities should include improving transport and connections, tackling crime and anti-social behaviour and making high streets more attractive.

The money comes on top of tens of millions of pounds in separate funding already confirmed for various parts of the city and county.

Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith said on social media: “The levelling up money we have already received will help us turn our town centre into one we can once again be proud of, but this money will now mean it can be truly transformative.

“I have always said that the key to improving the town centre was continuing to attract further investment, both public and private.”

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said towns were allocated funding according to a levelling up ‘index’.

This takes into account metrics like skills, pay, productivity and health to ensure funding goes directly to towns which will “benefit most”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak added: “Politicians have always taken towns for granted and focused on cities.

“The result is the half-empty high streets, run-down shopping centres and anti-social behaviour that undermine many towns’ prosperity and hold back people’s opportunities.”

But one local political leader said that the amount of money being awarded to the town was nowhere near enough.

Councillor Jo White, who is Bassetlaw District Council’s deputy leader and Labour’s prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bassetlaw, said: “This £2m a year over ten years is peanuts in terms of the level of investment that’s really needed.”

“The decline of Worksop town centre has been appalling. “There are too many empty shops, with Wilko being the latest to close.

“The buzz of yesteryear has long gone and local people are desperate for it to return.

"The Government should have intervened earlier, the years of damage to Worksop town centre will be very difficult to undo.”