Warrior Square Gardens. The council is considering which of the town’s parks should benefit from the funding on offer.

Parks fund monies offered to Hastings and Rother

Hastings and Rother are among the local authority areas chosen to benefit from the government’s Levelling Up Parks Fund aimed at improving existing parks and creating new ones. To receive their funding, local authorities must submit a package of proposals for government approval. Nick Terdre reports.

The Levelling Up Parks Funds is a £9m pot which, in the words of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, “will create new and improved parks in urban areas, helping communities to come together and enjoy the outdoors.”

Hastings and Rother, and Eastbourne too, are the East Sussex local authorities among a group of 85 councils in England which have been chosen as eligible for funding due to rating highly on the Index of Multiple Deprivation and having limited access to green space.

“We are offering these grants to areas that need them and are not asking councils to follow a competitive bidding process,” the department pointed out. It has been criticised for the competitive bidding system used for judging applications for the general levelling up fund.

Deadlines

Councils selected as eligible for the parks fund must now submit a package of proposals for how the money – up to £85,000 is on offer – would be used. They have until 5 September to opt in to the scheme, and must submit their plans by early October:  these will be confirmed as accepted and funding disbursed from 3 October, according to the government prospectus.

Both Hastings and Rother councils have confirmed to HOT that they will opt in and submit proposals. Alexandra Park would not be one of the parks where the money would be spent, a spokesperson for Hastings council said.

A spokesperson for Rother District Council said: “We have confirmed to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities that we wish to opt in to the Levelling Up Parks Fund grant funding that Rother is eligible for.

“We are currently considering which sites, across the entire district, have the scope to fulfil the funding criteria before submitting our project proposal to the DLUHC before the deadline in early October.”

MP delighted

Hastings and Rye MP Sally-Ann Hart declared herself “delighted that both Hastings and Rother have been awarded a share of the £9 million Levelling Up Parks Fund and, thanks to this investment, local people of all ages will be better able to enjoy the parks and green spaces in our area.”

£2m of the funding is earmarked for tree-planting in new parks. The parks fund seems a curious offer at a time when the country is in the midst of a cost of living crisis and the candidates for prime minister are being urged to provide more help for those worst affected.

The initiative is a relatively minor part of the government’s levelling up agenda intended to erase the disparities in the urban environment experienced by residents in different towns and areas across the country. The general fund is a £4.8bn pot.

While Rother has said it will bid in the second round, Hastings council is still trying to persuade the government to tweak the criteria for assessing applications and aims to make a bid in the third round next year, assuming there is one.

Gensing Gardens: possible beneficiary of the Levelling Up Parks Fund?

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