Conservatives say they'll pledge an extra £20m for Corby's levelling up if they win election

The party made the announcement yesterday (Sunday, June 2) as part of their election ‘Long-Term Plan for Towns’ pledge.

Corby is one of thirty beneficiaries on the list.

The £20 million investment into Corby was welcomed by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris.

The Town Board – made up of unelected business and community leaders and politicians – decides how the cash is spent.

Corby and East Northants Conservative candidate Tom Pursglove said: “I think its really positive news, that as a Conservative party, we’ve made a really clear commitment to Corby.

“Through the long term plan for towns, providing Corby with a further £20 million pounds investment in regeneration over the coming years.

“We need to continue to sustain that investment, its all about jobs, its all about opportunity, its all about improving our town for the years to come.

“We have a clear plan to get on and do that, which stands in very stark contrast to the Labour party, who are offering nothing like this.

“Rather like the Corby community diagnostic centre and the Kettering general hospital rebuild, where we’re saying very clearly that we will get on and deliver those projects.

“Labour are offering nothing but uncertainty.”

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris added: “We’re announcing a further £20 million pounds for Corby town.

“Tom’s already secured nearly £20 million pounds previously that’s been spent in the town - improving it massively.

“All of this has been achieved through Tom’s hard work and through the Conservative government managing to sort out the economy to make sure money is available for schemes like this.

“Electing anybody else other than Tom, will just take everybody back to square one, and we can’t have that.”

Cllr Jason Smithers, Leader of North Northamptonshire Council stated that: “This investment “will allow us to do so much more within the area, such as things like extending cycleways.

“The possibilities are endless, we know how well the £19.9 million pounds went down, so here’s another £20 million pounds in Corby, spent in Corby, for the people of Corby and North Northamptonshire.”

Corby has already had £19m committed in the first round of the Towns Fund which was announced back in 2021. About £9.6m of that was spent on a new sixth form college which has opened in the town centre. The remainder of the money is to be spent on part-funding a controversial £12m cycle lane, which is still in the planning stages, and a £310,000 project to install air quality sensors.

The Public Accounts Committee have said only ten per cent of the cash allocated nationally through the scheme has been spent.

The Government has previously faced accusations of ‘pork barrelling’ by diverting levelling-up funds to Conservative-controlled areas.

When questioned by the BBC yesterday over why more than half the funding announcements were made in areas which had Tory MPs Conservative leader Rishi Sunak said an "objective set of criteria" was used to select towns. It was the same formula used in the second funding round in 2023 although no details have been revealed about how or when bidding took place.