Derry and Coleraine are both set to receive a share of a £1.5 billion UK funding pot for neighbourhoods.
The city and town in the north west of Northern Ireland are among 75 communities across the UK to benefit from the Plan for Neighbourhoods.
Each of the selected areas are to received up to £20 million of funding and support over the next decade through the plan.
Ministers have vowed it will help transform areas that may have been left behind, and unleash their full potential by investing in delivering improved vital community services from education, health and employment, to tackling local issues like crime.
Neighbourhood boards, made up of residents, local businesses, and grassroots campaigners, are set to implement a local vision for the plan.
Options range from repairs to pavements and high streets, to setting up low-cost community grocers providing low-cost alternatives when shopping for essentials, as well as co-operatives or even neighbourhood watches.
This is the latest step in the Government’s Plan for Change missions to grow the UK economy, deliver safer streets and create opportunities for everyone.
Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Angela Rayner said the plan puts local people in the driving seat.
“For years, too many neighbourhoods have been starved of investment, despite their potential to thrive and grow,” she said.
“Communities across the UK have so much to offer, rich cultural capital, unique heritage but most of all, an understanding of their own neighbourhood.
“We will do things differently, our fully funded Plan for Neighbourhoods puts local people in the driving seat of their potential, having control of where the Whitehall cash goes, what issues they want to tackle, where they want to regenerate and what growth they want turbocharge.”
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn added: “I am delighted that the UK Government’s Plan for Neighbourhoods will deliver £20m worth of investment each for Coleraine and Derry, providing a hugely welcome boost for those communities.
“This Government is committed to supporting growth and public service transformation in Northern Ireland, and through the budget we are delivering the largest real-terms funding settlement for Northern Ireland since devolution.”
Tags: