TRIBUTE has been paid to council officers for their part in securing funds for a range of improvement projects across Keighley and Shipley.

Each town is receiving £750,000 from the Government’s Towns Fund, which is designed to drive long-term economic and productivity growth.

Administered by Bradford Council, the cash is aimed at delivering “shovel-ready” projects and is in addition to more-substantial plans to invest £25 million in the towns.

The council said it had selected a number of smaller projects for the submission, to ensure as many people as possible would benefit.

Keighley schemes include better CCTV cameras in the town centre (£83,000), improvements to parks including Cliffe Castle and Devonshire Park (£220,500), the development of small ‘parklet’ spaces (£36,050), refurbishments on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway (£86,000), new equipment for the Manufacturing Industrial Centre of Excellence at Keighley College (£123,000), new bus real-time information boards (£96,250), improvements to Postman’s Walk footpath (£90,000) and the creation of a community garden in Devonshire Street (£15,200).

Among projects in the Shipley constituency – which includes Cullingworth and Denholme – are improvements to parks and footpaths, better CCTV and the creation of parklets, and it will also see new bus real-time information boards.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s portfolio holder for regeneration, planning and transport, said: “I’d like to thank our officers for putting together such an excellent set of shovel-ready projects in a very short amount of time.

“We’re delighted to receive this grant, which will deliver significant improvements to key heritage assets in Shipley and Keighley as well as our parks and green spaces.”

The Towns Fund is a £3.6 billion Government project to invest money into 101 towns across the UK, identified as needing extra support to grow economically and promote cultural assets and skills.

Keighley MP Robbie Moore said: “We need to start getting positive projects under way in Keighley and this immediate investment of £750,000 secured from our Government, which is in addition to the Towns Fund scheme monies, will help. It will contribute towards making a positive difference to the lives of people here.”