National ‘Towns Tsar’ urges Scarborough residents to get involved with plan to use £20m on regeneration

Adam Hawksbee was appointed to the role of Towns Tsar by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in January to head the Government’s plan for funding local projects.

In an interview, Mr Hawksbee urged residents to “get stuck in and get your views heard” on how the money should be spent.

The scheme will see Scarborough and more than 50 other towns around the country receive £20m of funding over the coming decade.

The money can be used to deliver long-term projects “including regenerating high streets, protecting local heritage, and cracking down on anti-social behaviour”.

He said he had not yet visited Scarborough but added that he would be “coming up very soon, I can assure you”.

Earlier this week, representatives of the 55 town boards met with Mr Hawksbee at 10 Downing Street, including David Kerfoot, chair of Scarborough’s Town Board.

On the issue of transparency, the Towns Tsar told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The board’s decisions will all take place in a transparent way, the minutes of the meetings will be online as is the membership.”

Scarborough’s town board is a “cross-section of communities” including business and community leaders as well as local MP Sir Robert Goodwill.

Asked what people could do if they were unhappy with the board or its decisions, Mr Hawksbee said: “People can challenge, critique, and make representations through their councillors.

“But hopefully they look at that membership and they see someone who has a relationship to them, whether a business owner or faith leader.”

He added: “The really important thing to emphasise is the time scale of August 1.

“We’ve released to the council £2,000 to support engagement between the formation of the board and that deadline, and hopefully residents will be seeing ways to put forward their ideas.

“There should be lots of opportunities for people to input in the coming months and my plea would be to anyone who sees one of those opportunities: I can understand why you might be sceptical but the long-term nature and flexibility of the funds, means that there’s a real merit to residents getting stuck in getting their views heard.”

Mr Hawksbee was also asked how the money could address deprivation in places with high poverty levels, including Scarborough.

He said: “It cannot just be about dressing up a problem, it has to be about solving them, and I’m confident that this programme will go some way to do that.”

Visit here: https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/community-and-volunteering/community-projects/scarborough-and-whitby-town-deals/scarborough-town-board for more information on Scarborough’s Town Board.