Pride in Place: 'Strong communities' to share £40m

Daniel Childerhouse from Future Projects said while Bowthorpe had a strong local community, it faced challenges of deprivation

Youth services and employment support will take priority in deprived city areas that are set to receive £40m in government funding, community leaders have said.

Two areas of Norwich - Bowthorpe and West Earlham, and Heartsease and Pilling Park - will each receive £20m over the next decade under the Pride in Place programme.

While it has not yet been decided what the money will be spent on, the government hoped communities would be able to have their say.

Labour councillor Claire Kidman said: "Not in my time have I ever heard of any investment quite like this. This is absolutely ground-breaking."

The two neighbourhoods are among 169 areas to receive the funding.

Kidman said: "Ideas will be coming from communities because it's communities who best know their areas."

Claire Kidman hopes the money will have a "really big impact" as it is spent on specific areas rather than being shared across the city

She said the areas were chosen based on a ranking of neighbourhoods using the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) and Community Needs Index.

Providing money to specific areas would make "a really big impact" and could be spent on affordable cafes, spaces for young people and green spaces, she added.

Anne Martin says Heartsease in Norwich has become "run down" and looks "shabby"

In Heartsease, Anne Martin, who runs Great Eastern Models on Plumstead Road, said the area lacked facilities which would make it more appealing to visitors.

"Over the years things get run down," she said.

"The bus stop has been run down, there's no seating area, the railings need painting, there's no bins, there's no parking, there's no toilets.

"The place looks shabby and if a place looks shabby people don't care and when people don't care they chuck litter down, they have anti-social behaviour and they don't want to visit because they think it's a bit of a rough and ready area."

Daniel Childerhouse, chief executive of Future Projects, said having investment spanning 10 years meant the community could build something "really sustainable".

"Bowthorpe is a place with a really strong community... but there are challenges around every day deprivation and poverty that a lot of communities in Norwich experience but are often hidden," he said.

"There's issues with education, training and skills in and around that area, there's employment issues as well and there are a number of families that are really struggling financially, struggling to put food on the table and heat their homes."