Residents needed to help spend £20m of funding

An MP hopes that millions of pounds in funding for Norwich's most deprived areas will make a "real difference".

Bowthorpe and West Earlham will receive up to £20m over the next decade under the government's Pride in Place programme. The Heartsease and Pilling Park area of the city with also receive £20m.

People who live or work in the areas will be selected to sit on boards to make decisions about the regeneration projects.

Clive Lewis, MP for South Norwich, said he hoped the money would "give people chances" and "experiences", and would "make a real difference to how people live their lives here locally".

The Pride in Place programme has a £5bn fund going towards 284 areas in the country that the government deems as "doubly disadvantaged" by both "the highest deprivation levels and weakest social infrastructure".

Norwich City Council said independent people who worked or lived in the areas would sit on two neighbourhood boards. Members would engage with communities and make funding decisions.

Lewis said the scheme would be "people-centred", adding: "This is significant funding for some of the most needful communities in our city to be able to take control of that money and invest it where they see fit, and I think that is very important."

"In terms of how we invest the money, [its] making sure there is a long-term return for this community once the money stops, so that there are activities and things going on that we can fund."

Rebecca White, independent chair of Pride and Place neighbourhood board for Bowthorpe and West Earlham, said: "We can all walk around this neighbourhood right now and say, 'What do you want to do?' and people will say CCTV, or they'll say litter."

She said the board would "weigh up all of the ideas" given by residents, adding that "one of the principles will need to be long-term thinking".

A website and Facebook group had been created to "reach people who aren't always reached", White added.

The city council said it was currently in the process of recruiting neighbourhood board members.

Great Yarmouth will also receive £20m funding, with its borough council stating that residents wanted to see crime reduction, improvements in health facilities and better green spaces.

As part of the scheme in the seaside town, a task force to tackle anti-social behaviour was launched.

In Norwich, Jenny Knight, Green councillor at Norwich City Council and cabinet member for culture and wellbeing, said: "The entire point of the project is that we make sure the money goes into the hands of residents so that they can actually make those decisions."

She said "guidance is going to be very loose" from the council.

"The council doesn't really want to have to tell people how that money is spent, as we will think the communities will make the decisions right themselves," Knight added.

"Whether or not the communities decide to put more investment into services or into improving the area themselves, that will be up to them, and they can also invest into projects that will be able to have some return to that community."

The deadline for people to apply to join the West Earlham and Bowthorpe Neighbourhood Board, which will decide how the funding is spent, is midday on 4 June.

Plans will then be submitted for government approval in November.

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