CREWE has been selected as one of 72 towns across England to receive a share of £831 million investment in the high street.

It is set to receive a cash injection of £14,148,128 which can be used to transform a town centre, which is already feeling the effects of a regeneration strategy with the demolition and plans for the Royal Arcade.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick says the Future High Streets Fund will help "much-loved town centres" get through the effects of the pandemic and "prosper into the future".

Crewe is among 57 towns to receive provisional funding offers under the UK Government scheme, which was first pledged in 2018 to help areas struggling long before coronavirus struck businesses.

The government says the cash injection is a "key milestone" in its levelling-up agenda and will "transform the high streets of the chosen towns into vibrant hubs for future generations and protect and create thousands of jobs".

A total of 15 towns and cities, including neighbouring Winsford (£9.98m), Birkenhead (£24.58m) and Sunderland (£25m), are to receive all the money they had bid for, totalling £255m, while Crewe is among another 57 areas who have provisional funding offers worth a combined £576m.

Crewe is in the top 20 out of 101 places set to receive funding. It is also in line to secure up to £25m funding as part of the Towns Fund for regeneration projects with Crewe Town Board preparing to submit ready-to-go schemes in the new year.

The latest funding announcement has been welcomed by Crewe and Nantwich MP Kieran Mullan.

The MP said: "This government has places like Crewe and Nantwich front and centre now. People are going to see the difference, they are going to see what it means and what they voted for led to change.

"This funding is just the start. I am ambitious for what we will get from the Town Deal fund as well as the whole Town Board has been working very hard on the application we will put in.

"When Crewe thrives the whole area thrives, everyone benefits in terms of jobs and infrastructure and things for people to do - this is good news all round."

The Communities Secretary says the government is determined "to invest in places like Crewe and that is just the first stage of us doing exactly that".

"We are working with Kieran to make sure Crewe gets the support it needs. I know Kieran has been working hard with the Crewe Town Board to secure even more funding for Crewe as part of its Town Deal and we look forward to seeing the plans they will put forward," said the government chief.