Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reasons local authorities are not permitted to fund (a) street wardens and (b) town ambassadors to support the reopening of high streets through the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund.
Our £50 million Re-opening High Streets Safely Fund (RHSSF) will provide councils with additional funding to support their business communities with measures that enable safe trading in public places. We have provided guidance for local authorities on the activities that can be funded through RHSSF. This includes the provision of Information Officers to deliver?business-facing?awareness activity, as set out in strand three of eligible activity in the fund guidance.
The RHSSF is not intended to fund all of the interventions listed in the Safer Public Spaces guidance, published in May, which included the option of public-facing stewards and street ambassadors to help manage pedestrian flows. Such roles are not eligible for funding under the RHSSF as they are not aligned with the four areas of eligible activity set out in the Fund guidance.