About the Towns Fund

The Towns Fund is a funding scheme launched by the government for towns like St Helens to improve their economy. More information about the scheme can be found in the Towns Fund Prospectus published in November 2019.

The government invited 101 towns to develop proposals for a Town Deal, as part of the £3.6 billion fund. St Helens was one of the towns across the country eligible to bid for up to £25million from the Towns Fund.

A Town Deal Board - a partnership between local business, community and political leaders - was established and, in July 2021, the board was successful in securing £25million in funding.

The money will assist in regeneration and contribute to delivering jobs, homes, skills and action to reduce our carbon emissions.

The objective of the Town Deal Fund is to drive the economic regeneration of towns to deliver long-term economic and productivity growth via:

• Urban regeneration, planning and land use - ensuring towns are thriving places for people to live and work, including by increasing density in town centres; strengthening economic assets including local cultural assets; site acquisition, remediation, preparation, regeneration, making full use of the planning tools to bring strategic direction and change.
   
• Skills and enterprise infrastructure - driving private sector investment and ensuring towns have the space to support skills and small business development.
   
• Connectivity - developing local transport schemes that complement regional and national networks as well as supporting the delivery of local digital connectivity.
   
• Local - most importantly, local communities must have a say on how the money is spent.

The Town Deal is the agreement signed by government and the council, as lead organisation for the project.

The council established a Town Deal Board in accordance with the guidance detailed in the Towns Fund prospectus. Board membership includes local businesses, MPs, members of the local community, and other partners committed to improving the town.

The Town Investment Plan (PDF) [20MB] (opens new window)  represents our future vision and ambition for St Helens and will help us towards taking steps to achieve many of our objectives. It is our prospectus for the future, showing both public and private funders and investors that we are open for business.

The objective is to use the £25million funding to provide jobs, homes, skills and take actions to reduce our carbon emissions, benefitting residents across the whole town. You can find out more about the Town Deal on the government's website.