'Neighbourhood Renewal Fund'

Last week saw the announcement that South Tyneside has secured extra funding from the Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.

The Neighbourhood Renewal Fund was created by the Labour Government to help local authorities in certain key target places to improve services and help neighbourhoods to renew and re-develop themselves.

Key areas funded by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund include increasing employment, improving economic performance, reducing crime, improving young peoples' educational performance, improving health and delivering better housing.

Neighbourhood Renewal Funding aims to help our communities to raise their productivity, to extend opportunities to all, to help develop strong, secure, self-sufficient communities.

All this is very good, but how does it benefit South Shields and the wider area of South Tyneside?

Well, under new funding arrangements made by the Government, South Tyneside is to benefit from a massive £16 million in Neighbourhood Renewal Fund monay over the next three years.

That;s right, £16 million over the next three years.

£16 million to increase employment and economic performance in our Borough. To reduce crime in our local area, to improve our young peoples' educational performance. To help improve the general health and healthcare in our communities, to improve our housing provision.

This is fantastic news for our Borough and our communities.

Recently it was announced that South Tyneside is one of the 10 most deprived areas in the country. 12 out of our 20 Council wards are counted in the most deprived 10% of Council wards nationally.

This £16 million in extra Neighbourhood Renewal Funding represents a massive vote of confidence in South Tyneside, our services, our people and our communities from the Government.

This money will help us continue to make South Tyneside a place where people want to live, not to leave.

So, how will the money be spent in South Tyneside? Who will decide where the money goes?

Well, in South Tyneside these decisions will be made by the Local Strategic Partnership.

The Local Strategic partnership (LSP) is made up of the Council and its economic and voluntary sector partners, such as STRIDE.

Organisations like this know South Tyneside very well, and know what our local needs, problems and issues are. Allowing the LSP to allocate Neighbourhood Renewal Fund money means that the funding will go to areas where it is needed most, to ensure maximum benefit for South Tyneside. Only a 'grassroots' organization like the LSP could achieve this, making use of the local knowledge of its members. "

How we use this money is critical to the future of the Borough. I believe we should not spend the money on dozens of small projects, but instead use the money to make real progress in a key area.

One thing that I think is key are the opportunities available to young people. How often have you heard people say "there is nothing for them to do". Well here is a chance really to make a difference. We could pay to ensure that school playing fields and facilities are open at weekends and after school for use by the entire community. We could upgrade youth facilities, for example by following the example of Sedgefield which has invested in a network of mobile skateboard facilities that are set up, complete with floodlights, in supermarket car parks.

We could ensure that for young people with interest in arts, or sports, or music there are facililties and opportunities to develop their skills with high quality coaching and support. Children and young people are 100% of our future, and I hope we can use the money to make a real, difference to their lives.

Too often we hear about the negative things that affect our communities, about crime, unemployment, poor housing. About high social and economic deprivation.

We can't deny that we have problems here in South Tyneside. But this £16 million shows that the Government has faith that we can solve these problems. But more importantly, it shows that the Government has faith that we can solve our problems ourselves, that we can regenerate and renew our own communities, setting our own goals and determining our own priorities. And that is something we should really be proud of.