Town in running for funding boost

WARRINGTON is in the running for a major funding boost to improve the sustainability of housing growth sites in the borough.
The borough is one of only 26 out of more than 100 bids to reach the second stage of the bidding process for the funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
Areas of housing growth involved in the borough council’s bid are at Chapelford and Bruche.
Measures expected to cost more than £2 million include:
*Improved pedestrian and cycle ways linking Chapelford to local schools and employment areas.
*Improved pedestrian crossing facilities at junctions along the A57 Manchester Road.
*Enhancement of the greenway network in Woolston Park.
*New pedestrian and cycleway links along Blackbrook Avenue.
Warrington’s bid is for £1.76 million towards the total cost.
Coun Bob Barr, (pictured) the council’s executive member for planning, regeneration and housing said: “As well as improving access to future housing developments, if the bid is successful, these schemes will be of immediate benefit to the many local residents who currently live in these areas.
“The council is now preparing for the next round in the process towards the end of May, where competition with other projects will again be intense. If successful, the funding will be spent over the coming and 2010-11 financial years.”
Last summer Warrington, along with Halton and St Helens, was awarded housing growth point status by the DCLG. The partnership has been formally named the Mid-Mersey Growth Point.
This status essentially underlines the town and surrounding areas as a site for accelerated delivery of housing in the near future.
The DCLG emphasised the need for improvements capable of being delivered in a relatively short timescale to improve the sustainability of prospective housing growth sites.
Linked to this, the Community Infrastructure Fund (CIF) complements mainstream transport funding uniquely linking the provision of funding for transport infrastructure to the delivery of housing.
CIF funds the type of schemes needed to unlock large housing development sites, enabling the acceleration of housing development and improving the sustainability of major locations of housing growth.