King's Lynn and Great Yarmouth transport plans get £44m

Transport links that will preserve King's Lynn's 15th Century gatehouse are among those benefitting from new funding

More than £44m of government money has been awarded to projects in Norfolk to improve pedestrian and transport links.

Regeneration of the North Quay in Great Yarmouth will benefit from £20m to be spent on pedestrian and cycle links.

In King's Lynn, just over £24m will go towards new bus and cycle routes into the town centre, while preserving the 15th Century South Gate.

They are among more than 100 projects which will share £2.1bn from the Levelling Up fund.

Councils had to bid for the government money back in August.

Graham Plant, the cabinet member in charge of highways at Norfolk County Council, described the funding for King's Lynn as "great news".

"Our visionary bus and active travel project will transform a key gateway into the town and reconfigure the outdated gyratory road system," he said.

A restoration of King's Lynn's Grade I listed South Gate, believed to been constructed on the foundations of a previous gatehouse from the reign of Edward III, (ruled 1327-77), was completed in 1981 at a cost of about £80,000.

The government said the £2.1bn investment would "spark transformational change across the UK".

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "Through greater investment in local areas, we can grow the economy, create good jobs and spread opportunity everywhere.

"That's why we are backing more than 100 projects with new transformational funding to level up local communities across the United Kingdom.

"By reaching even more parts of the country than before, we will build a future of optimism and pride in people's lives and the places they call home."