Janine GriffithsA £20 million investment is set to breathe new life into Seacroft North and Monkswood and, for once, it will be local people who decide how every penny is spent.
Leeds East MP Richard Burgon said the funding, to be rolled out over the next decade, will be guided by a new Neighbourhood Board made up of local residents and organisations. The board will be responsible for shaping priorities, deciding on projects, and ensuring that community voices drive change from the ground up.
“What will need to happen is the neighbourhood board will be established for the purposes of spending this money, and it’s really important that the board properly reflects the community,” he said, adding: “The neighbourhood board will also ensure there’s maximised public consultation.”
The scheme, which will direct up to £2 million a year into the area, is focused on communities that have been “particularly left behind from the previous government,” Burgon explained. He said the funding will only be released if local residents and organisations are fully involved in the decision-making process.
“The key thing is that the government will only approve the spending if community groups, local organisations and social clubs have been included in decisions on how the money should be spent. So that’s what makes it different from previous schemes – the money will only get spent with the kind of approval of local people. It’s not just going to get spent via people in the Department of Local Government or in Whitehall.”
The MP described the plan as a refreshing break from top-down initiatives of the past. “It’s not people in Westminster or Whitehall deciding how the money should be spent. It’s actually local people and local organisations, as they should, because they know better than anyone else exactly what the areas need.”
The funding can be used to revive high streets, parks and public spaces, and to support community ownership of neglected assets. Burgon said communities will have the power to “seize boarded up shops, save their treasured local pubs or libraries, and clean up the eyesores in their areas.”
“There’ll be a Community Right to Buy, handing local people the power to buy beloved assets,” he added. “Helping them turn around early pubs, grassroots football clubs, tennis courts, create new parks and regenerate treasured space in our communities.”
He said success will ultimately be defined by the residents themselves: “That’ll be the community to measure the success of it. And I’m sure it will be a success, because it’ll be the community who decides how it’s spent.”
A consultation will be held once the board is in place, giving residents the chance to put forward their ideas. Burgon said he hopes to see “a broad cross section” of local people involved.
“It’s been stressed by the government that they don’t want the neighbourhood boards to be what they call the kind of usual suspects,” he said. “The aim is for access to be genuinely representative of the community – that will be a job for the neighbourhood board to deliver on, and I’ll obviously help in any way I can.”
He also encouraged residents to get in touch if they want to be involved. “If you’re from Seacroft North or Monkswood and you want to get involved, email me, tell me your ideas and that you want to be involved and I’ll keep a note of that for when the neighbourhood board is created,” he said.
For Burgon, the scheme marks a rare opportunity for local people to take control. “It’s something they can decide and discuss on how they allocate this money, and that’s really important,” he said. “That makes it quite unique. Usually it’s the government allocating money and then they decide how it’s spent – this really flips that idea on its head, so from that perspective, it’s really refreshing and exciting.”
For more information on how to get involved, email Richard Burgon on: richard@richardburgon.com.
