Our discussion began by exploring the Government funding streams available for regeneration. These include the Levelling Up Fund, the Towns Fund, Future High Streets Fund and Brownfield Land fund amongst others.
As with many regions, the leadership in Great Yarmouth is waiting to find out more about The UK Shared Prosperity Fund. It is set to replace the EU money that was available before Brexit.
This £2.6bn programme will run until 2025. It sees monies allocated by a funding formula rather than a competition. The fund aims to direct help where it’s needed most in terms of economic development and tackling pockets of deprivation.
Amongst the projects this has helped enable is the new £26m Marina Leisure Centre, which is being delivered by Morgan Sindall Construction.
Backing was also provided in the form of £2.5m from the Government’s Getting Building Fund, via New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, £1.6m from Sport England, and £500,000 from Pooled Business Rates.
This was far from an isolated achievement. Great Yarmouth secured of £13.7m from the Future High Streets Fund to rejuvenate the town centre as an economic, cultural and community hub.
Marina Centre in progress
Other projects moving forward include the £10m redevelopment of Great Yarmouth Winter Gardens - England's only surviving seaside cast iron and glass winter garden, which had fallen into disrepair. The ambition is to save, restore and reimagine the Winter Gardens at the heart of the town as a year-round visitor attraction that makes the most of the unique building, its seafront location and its horticultural heritage.
Great Yarmouth’s marketplace redevelopment is also underway, backed by a £4.6m investment from the government in April 2021.
Council leader Carl Smith attributes much of its success to the team pulled together by chief executive Sheila Oxtoby, along with getting buy-in from the political opposition and constant dialogue with stakeholders such as New Anglia LEP, Norfolk County Council and the Chamber.
He said that having Brandon Lewis, a Secretary of State, as the local MP hasn’t harmed the town’s ability to read the runes, either. He described their mission simple:
We've got to re-purpose the place where we live. You can't live in the past you've got to look to the future."
I remember when Yarmouth was really busy with holiday makers, but it's never going to be back like that. We know we have a much broader and ambitious offer here now, and it’s important we continue to drive this forward.”
The goal is making lives better for everybody in Norfolk. “We've got East Norfolk College and East Sixth Form College and people going on to places like Cambridge and Oxford. We want to make it attractive for them to come back here. We’ve got some fantastic people with great talent.”
His hope is that the town will be able to tap into the UK Shared Prosperity Fund as Great Yarmouth is still ranked in the top priority bracket – the town still has areas with negative land values, and the aspiration is that the local authority can work with the county council on housing and infrastructure.
David Dukes, head of inward investment at New Anglia LEP, commented that “investment breeds investment”.
He believes that whilst in the earlier part of the century, programmes weren’t integrated, streams like the Towns Fund will lever in more than twice their own value in private investment. He felt the area’s leadership has given investors’ confidence and that he expects to see more tangible investment secured.
For all the achievements to date, Great Yarmouth’s leaders have been cognisant of resistance to change, and how you must take people on a journey, evidencing the wider benefits of projects like the University Learning Centre and residential development to the likes of market traders, for whom increasing footfall is key.
The challenge with levelling up, as David Dukes sees it, comes in competing with other areas of the UK for the funding. However, opportunity could come in offshore wind, for one, some areas to the north have been awarded funding but this hasn't yet been fully capitalised on. It might bring about more opportunities for Norfolk and Suffolk should the government feel the need to look at additional locations.
Norfolk Chamber of Commerce’s Chris Sargisson described levelling up as “a very large hammer to crack a very large nut”, pointing out that Norfolk needs solutions that suit it. The county is a predominantly SME community with high employment, and opportunities created should reflect that.
We've seen some significant developments in the last five years from the investment that has come in, particularly in internet connectivity and infrastructure projects as well as Town Deals in order to support the local community. But I think we're at the beginning of something, not in the middle or the end."
Sargisson believes a key message moving forward is the importance of the East in terms of generating energy and feeding the nation. Messaging is needed on two levels here, he said.
There have to be campaigns to spell out the area’s critical role in both energy and food security, and also lower key engagement, speaking with government to pull enabling structures together.
