Landmark levelling up funding will breathe new life into more than 100 communities, with up to £2.1 bn awarded today to transformational projects across the UK.

These include Eden Project Morecambe visitor attraction, a new AI campus in Blackpool, a new rail link in Cornwall, anda major regeneration scheme in Gateshead that will create jobs and grow the economy.

Major government investment will benefit millions of people across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and spread opportunity to historically overlooked areas - with £672m to develop better transport links, £821m to kick-start?community regeneration, and £594m to restore local heritage sites.

A total of 111 areas have been awarded funding from the second of the government’s flagship Levelling Up Fund, providing greater investment in communities that will create new jobs, drive economic growth, help restore people’s pride in the places where they live, and spread opportunity more equally.

Projects to receive funds include:
> Eden Project Morecambe will receive £50m to transform a derelict site on Morecambe’s seafront into a world class visitor attraction.?It will also kick-start regeneration more widely in Morecambe, creating jobs, supporting tourism and encouraging investment in the seaside town.

> A total of £20m is going towards the regeneration of Gateshead Quays and the Sage, which will include a new arena, exhibition centre, hotels, and other hospitality. The development will attract nearly 800,000 visitors a year and will create more than 1,150 new jobs.

> Blackpool Council and Wyre Council will receive £40m to deliver a new Multiversity, a carbon-neutral, education campus in Blackpool’s Talbot Gateway Central Business District. This allows Blackpool and The Fylde College to replace their ageing out-of-town centre facilities with world-class state-of-the-art ones in the heart of the town centre. The Multiversity will promote higher-level skills, including automation and artificial intelligence, helping young people secure jobs of the future.

> There is £5.1m to build new female changing rooms in 20 rugby clubs across Northern Ireland.

The government has also confirmed there will be a further round of the Levelling Up Fund, providing more opportunity to level up places across the UK.

(source: https://www.gov.uk/, image: https://www.gateshead.gov.uk/)