£12m county funding boost from levelling up

Shropshire is to receive £12.255 million from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to support levelling up initiatives in the county.

The announcement has been welcomed by the council. The funding will help to address some of the challenges the county faces because of its rural nature which often makes it much more expensive to provide many services.

The funding is split into two elements – £10.845 million from the prosperity fund, while a further £1.4 million has been awarded under the Government’s Multiply programme to help support people with low or no maths skills back into work.

The main funding is to support initiatives such as tackling economic decline, helping more people into decent jobs and regenerating high streets – helping to revive communities and reverse geographical disparities.

The council will now pull together a partnership to look at how this funding can be best used in the county and it is required to submit an investment plan by August showing how it would spend the money.

The first payments could be made from October and cover a three-year period.