'Overlooked' suburb to receive £20m in funding

The Hartcliffe area will have £20m spent on community revival projects

A city suburb will receive £20m in government funding over the next 10 years.

Hartcliffe in south Bristol is one of 339 places in the UK which will receive the Pride of Place funding - up to £5bn of investment for "overlooked" communities across the UK.

Alistair Dale, CEO of the community charity Heart of BS13, said: "It gives us a chance to level up with the rest of the city because it does feel like Hartcliffe and Withywood can be left behind compared to other areas."

Parts of Bath and Swindon are also to benefit from an overall £5bn fund.

Locals will now be involved in deciding how the money will be spent with plans to revive high streets, parks and public places.

"It's an opportunity for this community to take control of money and decisions and to decide what they want to do," added Mr Dale.

"It's always important that you have community voices - it's really important that we have resident voices heard throughout the process."

Government minister Miatta Fahnbulleh visited Hartcliffe as part of the funding announcement

"A really important part for me is how we bring the community together," said Miatta Fahnbulleh, minister for devolution, faith and communities on a visit to Hartcliffe this week.

"At a time when there can be a sense of division in our communities, actually bringing people together around the table to say, 'what do we want this area to look like?'

"And the second thing is long-term. So a 10-year investment fundamentally saying that this is a long-term strategy for the area and all the dividends flow back to the community."

New community powers

Under its Pride in Place programme, the government has also said it will give communities help to save pubs and libraries from closure and encourage councils to block "fake" barbers and "unwanted" betting and vape shops.

The UK government is already supporting 75 deprived neighbourhoods with up to £20 million each over a decade, through the Plan for Neighbourhoods, to regenerate communities and restore local pride.

The investment will see 169 areas get £2m every year for a decade, while a further 95 places will get a one-off payment of £1.5m.

Other areas in the West which will get £20m - to be allocated as £2m a year for 10 years - include Walcot and Penhill in Swindon and Twerton in Bath.

Under the government's new plans communities will also be given new powers to seize boarded-up shops, block nuisance businesses and buy local assets before they close.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the government was, "investing in Britain's future, by backing the true patriots that build our communities up in neighbourhoods across every corner of the country."