A £20M fund to remake Bolton town centre that had been left in the balance after the last election will now go ahead. The money will be used for a range of projects including creating a new hotel and conference complex on Le Mans Crescent with a remodelled shopping centre and new green space. Having been granted back in November 2023, the fund was left without having been signed off at the last election but has now been confirmed in this week’s budget.
Bolton North East MP Kirith Entwistle said: “I’ve been lobbying government ministers since the election to deliver on this funding because we need to keep investing in Bolton’s future. “I’m delighted that, even in the face of difficult economic circumstances, the chancellor recognised how valuable this investment would be and chose to back Bolton.” The fund will be used for a range of projects (Image: Bolton Council) Ms Entwistle said that she and her colleagues Yasmin Qureshi MP, of Bolton South and Walkden, and Phil Brickell MP, of Bolton West, have all lobbed for the fund to be paid.
The fund was granted in November last year as part of the latest phase of the previous Conservative government’s “levelling up programme.” It had previously been turned down for the previous phase of schemes around the country after an original bid sponsored by Labour’s Ms Entwistle’ s Conservative predecessor Mark Logan. But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the election of July this year before the money had been offic.