Loughborough Town Deal has confirmed a £2.5 million grant to help build on the town’s reputation for sporting excellence and harness that knowledge for the good of its residents.
The funding has been awarded to Loughborough University’s Healthy and Innovative Loughborough project which will create jobs, help new businesses and improve people’s health.
This is one of 11 projects Loughborough Town Deal is supporting after securing £16.9 million of Government funding. In total, the projects are worth more than £40 million of investment for the town.
The University project will support the expansion of SportPark – home to several leading sporting organisations – as well as new businesses and entrepreneurs.
The project will also introduce a programme of interventions to help local people improve their health and create an Impact Hub to assess and analyse the health of the town to help plan for future developments and improvements.
Professor Chris Rielly, lead for the University’s Town Deal project, said: “The University recognises the important local economic anchor role it plays and we are delighted that – through the Town Deal investment – we can work in civic partnership with stakeholders to make Loughborough a healthy place to live and work, while enabling new businesses to prosper.”
Loughborough Town Deal has committed to invest:
- £2.6 million to create a Digital Skills Hub at Loughborough College
- £900,000 to create a Careers and Enterprise Hub in Loughborough’s town centre
- £835,000 to help save Taylor’s Bell Foundry, the last major bell foundry in the UK
- £885,000 to fund towpath improvements alongside the River Soar
- £1.6 million to a creative arts hub at the Generator.
- £1.7 million to support the Bedford Square Gateway Project which has regenerated part of the town centre
To find out more, visit www.loughboroughtowndeal.co.uk
