It has been announced this lunchtime that the Vale of Clwyd is to receive £19,973,283 in Round 3 of the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund (LUF).
The funds are expected to help regenerate Rhyl, Prestatyn, Bodelwyddan and Denbigh, with key project locations likely to include Rhyl Town Centre, Rhyl Promenade, Prestatyn Town Centre and the former North Wales Hospital in Denbigh.
Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies has been working closely with Denbighshire County Council, the Department of Levelling Up and senior ministers to progress the bid and is therefore very pleased by today’s news.
He said:
“The £4.8 billion ‘Levelling Up Fund’ is the Government's major regeneration programme, providing £3.8bn of grants to support capital investment projects across the United Kingdom since 2021.
“The £20m which has been announced today for the Vale of Clwyd will bring many welcome changes to local communities.
“The projects which will benefit will support economic recovery, through regeneration and growth.
“The Vale of Clwyd’s successful bid follows hot on the heels of the county's success in Round 2 of the LUF earlier this year, when the Government awarded £11m to support the development of 10 projects intended to protect Ruthin’s unique heritage, support rural communities and well-being.
“Llangollen and surrounding areas also benefited from LUF funding in Round 1, when Denbighshire was awarded £3.8m.”
“I call that a hat-trick for Denbighshire!”
James added:
“The Levelling Up Fund has already been incredibly positive for North Wales, with the region having received more financial support per head of the population than virtually any other area of the United Kingdom. Now Denbighshire has had successful bids approved in all three rounds.
“The County was also allocated £2.9m from the Government’s UK Community Renewal Fund and £25.6 million from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund – other levelling up schemes. The Salusbury Arms in Tremeirchion has been able to reopen thanks to a £175,000 investment from the UK Government’s Community Ownership Scheme (COS), and the Llandyrnog Community Shop is also set to reopen thanks to £200k from the same fund.
“In total, Denbighshire will have received £63.7m in levelling up funds since 2019.”
“All this investment in North Wales will make the region a more prosperous place to live, work and visit and will benefit generations.
“I thank all those involved in ensuring the success of the Levelling Up Fund bid for the Vale of Clwyd. It has been a long and arduous process – and the Department rightly has to ensure value for money for the taxpayer - but the hard work has paid off and there is much to celebrate in the Vale of Clwyd today. There is now much work to do to firm up investment choices and deliver those by April 2026 and I look forward to working with the council to achieve this.”
Note to Editors:
Funding received or allocated by HM Government to level up North Wales in recent years amounts to over £1.4bn:
£20m Vale of Clwyd LUF
£11m Ruthin (Clwyd West) LUF
£13.3m Corwen and Llangollen (Clwyd South) LUF [£3.8m Denbighshire, £9.5m Wrexham, circa £10m of which is in the Llangollen area]
£18.6m Conwy Valley (Aberconwy) LUF
£20m Wrexham - Long Term Plan for Towns
£17m Holyhead (Ynys Mon) LUF
£18.8m Gwynedd World Heritage Slate Landscape LUF
£10.8m UK Community Renewal Fund (of which Denbighshire has received £2,890,209)
£126.5m UK Shared Prosperity Fund (of which Denbighshire has received £25,647,958)
£625,000 UK Community Ownership Fund (of which Denbighshire has received £375,000)
£120m North Wales Growth Deal
£26m Anglesey Freeport
£1bn North Wales Mainline Electrification
Plus other allocations including for Grassroots Sports, Holyhead Breakwater, Holyhead Hydrogen Hub and Safer Streets Funding.
