Levelling Up Funding bids for Sedgemoor and Mendip areas
A £19.3 million bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund was submitted on 1 August 2022.
If successful, the bid will support a range of town centre regeneration, local transport, and cultural and heritage projects within the Wells parliamentary constituency. The bid is being supported by £2.4 million in match funding from former Sedgemoor and Mendip District Councils, bringing the total value of the potential investment in the area to £21.9 million.
How will this be used
The Levelling Up Fund bid brings together a variety of projects in Highbridge, Cheddar, Shepton Mallet and the surrounding area. These projects have been identified as having potential to deliver economic benefits and help revitalise the local economy. This will allow residents to have more pride in the places they live and will help to tackle local deprivation issues.
In Highbridge, the funding has been earmarked to deliver regeneration in Market Street and Bank Street including:
- improvements at Highbridge Railway station
- the creation of a new community centre at Trowbridge Close
- improvements to the cycle route from Highbridge to Burnham-on-Sea through Apex Park.
In Cheddar, the funding would help to:
- enhance public spaces within Cheddar Gorge providing for example new or widened pavements and local traffic calming
- support a new travel hub at Cliff Street Car Park to help encourage and enable sustainable tourism.
Across parts of Sedgemoor and Mendip, the funding has also been earmarked to:
- support new tourist signage
- further improvements and extensions to the Strawberry Line cycle route
- a new travel hub at Natural England’s Avalon Marshes Centre
- a new online tourism resource.