Cheltenham Borough Council secures £20M of levelling up funding for Golden Valley project

Cheltenham's Golden Valley development has advanced further with the borough council inking a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU ) with the government's department for levelling up housing and communities to secure the £20 million provisionally allocated to the scheme from the latter's levelling up fund.

The MoU will be formally ratified at a cabinet meeting on July 23, paving the way for the council to start drawing down the funding to help deliver the first phase - the construction of the National Cyber Innovation Centre.

READ MORE: Gloucestershire's £1bn Golden Valley cyber project moves closer

Gareth Edmundson, chief executive at Cheltenham Borough Council said: "Making progress to secure this funding is excellent news.

"The Golden Valley Development is moving forward at pace and the £20m Levelling Up Funding helps build on the significant investment already made by the council to deliver this pioneering project and to transform west Cheltenham into an internationally recognised tech and security community with the National Cyber Innovation Centre at its heart.

"The Golden Valley Development will build on our strength as a town and helps to deliver jobs, housing and prosperity to Cheltenham."

The plan is for an "innovation" district covering land spanning 47 hectares and includes more than one million sq ft of commercial space.

The aim is to attract businesses with a focus on science and technology, building on the existing specialist cluster in cyber and the emerging AI, deep tech and future computing/ quantum sectors.

Developer HBD x Factory Ltd will deliver the Golden Valley project, alongside Cheltenham Borough Council and local partners.