Our town needs you!

In his weekly column, North West Norfolk MP James Wild discusses the Town Deal Board…Lynn – our town needs you! Or to put it more accurately the King’s Lynn Town Deal Board needs a new chair to help oversee £37million of investment in improving skills, attracting growing businesses, strengthening the local economy, and bringing more visitors to West Norfolk.This is an exciting opportunity for someone from the private or community sectors to play a leading role in shaping the economic regeneration of the town. It comes halfway through the Towns Fund programme to deliver a series of projects including making the most of Shakespeare’s St George’s Guildhall & Creative Hub; new library, adult skills, and community hub; riverfront regeneration; and improving cycling and walking to get around town.

As an indication of what a difference these will make just look at the two projects already delivered successfully – the new CWA School of Nursing Studies offering skills healthcare training locally and the Boost programme helping young people into training and jobs.Only a few weeks ago we had the brilliant news that Lynn has also been allocated a further £20million from the Long Term Plan for Towns Fund. This mix of capital and revenue funding will be provided for new investment in the town over ten years. So now the Town Board will also lead on the great opportunity to develop new projects to improve heritage and regeneration, safety and security, or transport. Importantly this will involve local people helping shape the plans and priorities. There is a well-established board in place made up of private, public, charitable, and council representatives who are all committed to working collaboratively to deliver improvements for Lynn. Its role is to make strategic decisions during the development and delivery of the agreed projects. The chance to become chair comes after the end of the very successful tenure of Graham Purkins of local firm Merxin who led the board so ably from the beginning – I’m very grateful for his commitment and drive in leading us to this point.Having been a member of the Town Board from its inception and when we developed the original projects, I can say this will be a genuinely exciting time for someone new to join and to take on the Chair role. Sadly, MPs are not allowed to chair Town Boards.Do you have what it takes? If you are a business or community leader with a strong track record of delivering projects, are passionate about the town, forward-thinking, open-minded, collegiate, with an entrepreneurial spirit then you are the type of person who could take on this role. Please consider applying or help spread the word as the closing date for applications is May 3 – visionkingslynn.co.uk/towns-fund-town-deal-boardOne of the strengths of West Norfolk is our local community and how people work together. Here is a rare chance to help shape the long-term development of our area with funding in place to make it an even better place to live, work, invest, and visit.