West Lancashire MP, Rosie Cooper, is pleased to announce that West Lancashire has secured over three-quarters of a million pounds in extra funding from the Labour Government. Under the incentive scheme aimed at encouraging local business growth West Lancashire District Council received £778,313 and Lancashire County Council got £2,484,860. They are just two of 250 local authorities to benefit from the £316 million funding as part of the Local Authority Business Growth Incentives scheme.

Local authorities can decide how they wish to spend their funding windfall – whether it is to provide better public services for their communities, invest in further business growth or to reduce council tax increases.

On announcing the windfall local MP Rosie Cooper said:

“This year West Lancashire District Council has been given £778,313, which is £350,000 more than they got last year.”

“I have been listening to local people who would like to see this money spent on having a weekly waste collection service, or putting the money towards new burial grounds here in West Lancashire. Perhaps the Council could make a serious investment in public and community transport services rather than waste it on one of their projects like the ‘pods’ or the new civic offices, which would not be so welcome.”

“However the District Council chooses to invest this money we need to ensure that the maximum benefit is secured for local residents and local businesses. Perhaps the Council will be more open about how they spend this extra money from Government than they were with the funding for the concessionary travel passes.”

This is the second year in which both authorities have received this extra funding from central government.