Millions to be spent on drive to help young people

4 hours ago

Isabella BonehamWest Midlands

News image — The Tile Hill Community Partnership have launched a play zone in the area ahead of the funding

Nikki Davies Will Davies on the left in a red jumper, brown trousers and black trousers smiling at the camera and Joanne Kerr on the right in a blue patterned dress smiling at the camera. They are standing on the new play zone area in Tile Hill — The Tile Hill Community Partnership have launched a play zone in the area ahead of the funding

Community leaders who will oversee how £20m will be spent in areas of Coventry and Warwickshire said they were excited by how much change they will be able to deliver.

Joanne Kerr and Will Davies, from Tile Hill Community Partnership, told BBC CWR there will be a drive to help young children in the area.

Tile Hill, in Coventry, and Camp Hill, in Nuneaton, have been selected to receive the funding through the Pride in Place programme, a government scheme which gives money to disadvantaged areas and allows residents to choose where the money goes.

Residents in those areas are being urged to come forward to have their say in what improvements they want to see.

Joanne Kerr on the left wearing a dress smiling at the camera and Will Davies on the right wearing a blue jacket and glasses smiling at the camera, sitting in a grey and blue booth chair. — Joanne Kerr (left) and Will Davies (right) from Tile Hill Community Partnership

The funding, worth £2m a year over 10 years, will support improvements to high streets, parks, community facilities and essential services, as well as projects that strengthen community life.

Kerr and Davies told BBC CWR they wanted to use the money to give young people opportunities that will let them "experience the real world", and in turn help "form the next generation".

A new play zone has already been launched in the area, ahead of the funding, and HS2 has offered 150 work experience places for young people where they will be doing hands on work like brick layering.

The organisation will be paying for the coaches to their site in Banbury, and children from Tile Hill will be the first to experience the placement.

A row of 1960s-style three-storey brick and glass buildings lines a local shopping parade, with a Farmfoods store at ground level. Scaffolding is visible on the right-hand side of the building, and cars are parked along the road in front. The sky is overcast and the street is quiet with a few pedestrians visible in the distance. — Funding will be invested into the Tile Hill area of Coventry

Another project will see local children visiting every Premier League stadium by public transport – endorsed by the Football Association and National Railways.

Kerr said: "The first trip we are making is to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, they want us to do the experience of the controlled abseil from the roof.

"A lot of children in Tile Hill have not even been on a train. This is about widening their experiences and showing them the bigger world".

Kerr and Davies will also meet with Coventry City Football club owner Doug King to find out how Sky Blues in the Community, the official charity of the club, can be involved.

There are also plans to put jobs in place, provide support for families, improve literacy, opportunity, and reduce anti-social behaviour to make Tile Hill an "up and coming area in the city".

An annual free community event will be held in Tile Hill on Friday as an opportunity for residents to voice what improvements they want to see.

A similar event took place in Camp Hill where residents said that they want the funding to have an impact on people's lives, Josie Gosling, Labour MP for Nuneaton said.

She added the scheme "needs to be resident-led" with local people "coming forward to tell us what it is that stops them from being the best that they can be".

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