Joining alliance set to bring millions of pounds of investment into Hartlepool's 'left-behind' communities

Hartlepool Borough Council Finance and Policy backed the move to join the Community Wealth Fund Alliance, stating it was a ‘no-brainer’.

The alliance, made up of 290 other civil society, public and private sector organisations, is calling on the Government to release dormant assets of up to £4billion to benefit ‘left-behind communities’.

Four particular areas in Hartlepool: Jesmond, Headland and Harbour, De Bruce and Manor House, have been identified among the 225 wards across England most likely to be left behind.

This means if the progression of the Community Wealth Fund was successful all four wards could be awarded ‘£2 million for a period of 10-15 years’ according to council reports.

Councillors unanimously backed joining the alliance, and officers explained while there is no guarantee of funding, there is no financial risk to the council.

Jill Harrison, director of adult and community based services, said: “There is no financial risk, there is obviously at this point in time no guarantee that this funding will be released.

“But it is a case of if Hartlepool signs up to this, and the funding is released, we would obviously be in a position to access additional resources for our most left-behind communities.”

Council leader Cllr Shane Moore led the way in backing the move.

He said: “Personally I don’t see any negative side of this at all for us, in fact it seems like a no-brainer.”

Cllr John Tennant added: “There are no risks to the council itself.

“I think it’s well worthwhile signing up to this because the potential for it is far greater than not being signed up to this.”

Cllr Christopher Akers-Belcher warned people need to be realistic however, and called for a history of the organisation to be provided to councillors and an update on progress they have made so far.

He said: “It is a no-brainer we should go with it.

“But we also need to be realistic because what I don’t want people to think is that this council is just going to receive a share of £4bllion for these wards, and we need to put it into context.

“It might be worth getting some sort of timeline history into the alliance so that we can put that into the public domain, so people know what timeline we’re working towards.”

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