Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) financial and (b) other steps his Department is taking to help high streets in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England recover from the effect of the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government recognises that this is a challenging time and COVID-19 is having a significant impact on our communities, businesses and town centres.

In December we announced that up to £830 million has been allocated from the Future High Streets Fund. 15 areas have been awarded £255 million, with a further 57 areas to receive provisional funding of £576 million. This investment will support areas to recover from the pandemic and help transform underused town centres into vibrant places to live, work and shop. 10 high streets from the West Midlands will receive funding of up to £146 million from the Future High Streets Fund.

In September 2019, we announced the initial 101 places invited to develop Town Deal proposals as part of the £3.6 billion Towns Fund.

The objective of Town Deals is to drive the economic regeneration of towns to deliver long-term economic and productivity growth through land use, economic assets including cultural assets, skills and enterprise infrastructure, and connectivity.

Through the Towns Fund we will invest up to £25 million in each town, or more in exceptional cases, to drive the economic regeneration of towns to deliver long-term economic and productivity growth.

There are 15 towns in the West Midlands which have submitted Town Investment Plan proposals to MHCLG to secure a Town Deal.

On 3 March at Budget, the Chancellor announced 7 Town Deals for places in the West Midlands.

o Burton-upon-Trent - £22.8 million

o Kidsgrove - £16.9 million

o Nuneaton - £23.2 million

o Rowley Regis - £19 million

o Smethwick - £23.5 million

o West Bromwich - £25 million

o Wolverhampton - £25 million

We will make further announcements on the remaining Town Deals in due course.

Government is also providing support to local leadership through the High Streets Task Force, giving places expert advice to support their high streets and town centres to adapt and thrive. Coventry has been able to benefit from this as one of the pilot areas that have been leading the way in benefiting from expert and tailored support from the High Streets Task Force. More widely in the West Midlands, Stirchley and West Bromwich were also part of the 14-town pilot alongside Coventry. On 20 March we announced the next 70 Local Authorities to receive support from the Task Force, which included Stoke, Walsall and Wolverhampton from the West Midlands area.

In March we also announced the £56 million Welcome Back Fund to further support local authorities and their business communities as we begin to return to the high street. This builds on the £50 million Re-opening High Streets Safely Fund (RHSSF) announced in May 2020 to include an additional £5.6 million for the West Midlands and a further £335,000 for Coventry.

More widely, the Levelling Up Fund will directly support communities across the UK. It will make available up to £4.8 billion over four years from 2021-22 to 2024-25. The Fund will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities - including regenerating town centres and high streets, investing in local transport schemes, and upgrading local culture and heritage assets. The prospectus published at Budget sets out how local areas can access the first round of funding.