Levelling Up minister Jacob Young pays visit to Hartlepool to see £60m town regeneration projects

Jacob Young, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, visited Hartlepool on Friday to see ongoing improvement projects in the town.

Hartlepool’s Conservative MP Jill Mortimer and Hartlepool Borough Council officers joined him for a walking tour of the on-going “levelling up” programmes.

All of the schemes visited are being funded by more than £60million in government grants awarded to Hartlepool in recent years.

The tour began at Hartlepool’s production village in the Lynn Street/Whitby Street area, which is being developed after the council was awarded £16.5million from the government’s Levelling Up Fund.

The group then visited projects being carried out using the £25million awarded to Hartlepool under the government’s Town Deal.

This includes restoration works at Wesley Chapel, which will renovate the Grade II listed building into a boutique hotel, and the reimagining of Middleton Grange Shopping Centre.

Funds are also being used to provide a new civil engineering academy in the town, and a new health and social care academy in partnership with North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.

Finally, the group walked through the town centre, where council leader Councillor Mike Young outlined plans for the latest funding from government announced last October.

Hartlepool, one of 55 towns to benefit, will receive £20m over a 10 year period targeted at reviving high streets and tackling anti-social behaviour.

Cllr Young has already confirmed some of the funding will be used to scrap a previously proposed saving and keep Hartlepool’s public space CCTV centre staffed and monitored 24/7.

Mrs Mortimer said the various projects visited will make improvements “to the lives of every Hartlepool resident” and open opportunities “for generations to come”.

She added: “When the projects are laid out in front of you, it’s astounding how much the Conservative government are delivering for our town, and the sheer number of on-going projects which will change the face of Hartlepool for our future.

“The production village, new civil engineering academy, new health and social care academy and future town funding are exciting projects which exemplify just how the Conservative government is creating a long term plan for Hartlepool’s future.”