Funding boost for UK Shared Prosperity Fund Programme in Northeast Hastings

Hastings Borough Council has been allocated £473,873 additional government funding to support the ongoing UK Shared Prosperity Fund Programme. The 12-month funding programme will continue with a focus on communities and place and skills in Broomgrove and expand into Northeast Hastings with a particular focus on Downs Farm. 

The extension of the funding to deliver this programme from April 2025 was announced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in the Autumn Budget in 2024 and was approved at the council’s Cabinet on 3 March this year.

Active Hastings and the Safer Hastings Partnership are hosting a free Community Fun Day at the Downs Farm Community Centre on Thursday, 10 April from 11am – 2.30pm to encourage local residents to share their ideas on how funding should be spent in the area. There will be family activities and more details can be found on their Facebook page.

The current programme in Broomgrove has already delivered several successful and ongoing projects and partnerships in the Broomgrove area, which are directly benefitting local residents, creating a community hub, boosting health and wellbeing through access to fitness programmes and offering business support for local start-ups. More details on the current projects can be found here.

Momentum has been built in Broomgrove with projects and beneficiaries and the newly refurbished Broomgrove Community Centre will be re-opening in April this year with a programme of activities being re-launched for residents, including the Broomgrove Social Supermarket and fitness classes.

Cllr Glenn Haffenden, Deputy Leader and lead for Housing & Community Wellbeing, Hastings Borough Council, said, “I am really pleased about the continuation of funding for 12 months and the decision to focus on the Downs Farm area of the town. The recent three-year funding programme has some excellent well-established initiatives in the Broomgrove area which I hope we can offer to the Downs Farm community”.

In 2022, the council was allocated £1,000,000 to spend over three years in the Broomgrove area, which was identified as one of the town’s most deprived areas. The current UKSPF programme concluded in March this year with several successful initiatives in the area which are benefiting from the funding.

Projects included much needed upgrades to the Broomgrove Adventure Playground, to ensure its safety and accessibility for residents. This included a replacement of the accessible ramp and basket swing and the Broomgrove Moths event by Zeroh as part of Hastings Storytelling Festival. The existing programme engaged with 1,800 people in total across all projects with 1,200 increase in people using facilities and amenities in the area. 10 new jobs have been created and 7 safeguarded. 58 people have been supported to participate in education.

More details will be published on the council’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund page.