The UK shared prosperity fund (UKSPF) provides £900 million of funding for local investment, across the UK, up to March 2026. The fund is focused on building pride in place, supporting high quality skills training, supporting pay, employment and productivity growth and increasing life chances in local places.
Fylde Council has been allocated £857,692 over a one year extended funding period (2025-2026). The three core principles for the fund have been set out by Government as:
- Community and Place – building pride in the community, restoring a sense of community and belonging and regenerating town centres
- Supporting Local Business – increasing pay, productivity and employment chances
- People and Skills – supporting high quality skills and training
In collaboration with the Fylde UKSPF project group it has been agreed that the 25/26 Fylde UKSPF programme will support the interventions they consider most relevant to supporting and delivering their local priorities.
The main interventions that have been selected include:
- Funding improvements to Town Centres and High Streets
- Supporting young people who are Not in Education , Employment or Training (NEET) /at risk
- Business Support measures to drive employment growth
- Development of the visitor economy
A full description of Fylde’s UKSPF projects for 25/26 can be found below.
Business support measures to drive employment growth
The Small Business Academy & AFC Fylde Community Foundation have been engaged to deliver business support programmes to pre-start, start up and growth businesses across Fylde.
The partnership with the Small Business Academy is also in conjunction with Blackpool and Wyre Council’s which helps to ensure a seamless business support provision, up until March 2026, across the whole of the Fylde Coast.
For Fylde the Business support projects delivered by AFC Fylde Community Foundation will focus on support for businesses to take on apprentices up to the 31st March 2026, with Fylde’s UKSPF funding also offering businesses bursaries of up to £4000 per apprentice and wrap around support from AFC Fylde Community Foundation to assist the business to identify the apprentice and place them onto a suitable Training/educational course. They will also support the apprentice throughout their journey into and in the workplace.
| The project is estimated to deliver the following outputs from May 2025 to 31st March 2026 | |
|---|---|
| OP10 – Number of enterprises receiving non-financial support | 130 |
| OP11 – Number of potential entrepreneurs assisted to be enterprise ready | 35 |
| OC8 – Jobs created as a result of support | 50 |
| OC10 – Number of new enterprises created as a result of support | 15 |
| OC11 – Number of enterprises adopting new or improved products or services | 6 |
| OC12 – Number of enterprises adopting new to the firm technologies or processes | 8 |
| OC13 – Number of enterprises engaged in new markets | 6 |
| OC14 – Number of enterprises with improved productivity | 3 |
| OP9 – Number of enterprises receiving grants | 8 |
To learn more about how The Small Business Academy and AFC Fylde Community Foundation can support your business through funding provided by the Fylde UKSPF please visit their websites via the links below:
Please note that these links will take you to an external website outside of fylde.gov.uk
Supporting people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) / at risk
AFC Fylde Community Foundation have been engaged by Fylde Council to deliver a number of support programmes to people not in education, employment and training or at risk of becoming so.
This programme follows a very similar and extremely successful programme delivered by AFC Fylde community Foundation in the previous Fylde UKSPF programme that ran from 2022-2025.
The employability and Skills programmes being delivered by AFC Fylde Community Foundation include Training Ground, Fylde Focus & Apprenticeship support. Details of the programmes being administered until March 2026, with he support of Fylde UKSPF can be viewed in the link below.
Please note that this links will take you to an external website outside of fylde.gov.uk
Employability and Skills | AFC Fylde Community Foundation
| The Employability and Skills programmes being run by AFC Fylde Community Foundation are expected to deliver the following outputs and outcomes over the lifetime of the project | |
|---|---|
| OP14 – Number of economically inactive people engaging with keyworker support services | 113 |
| OP15 – Number of people participating in adult numeracy provision | 120 |
| OP18 – Number of people receiving support to gain employment | 10 |
| OP19 – Number of people receiving support to sustain employment | 10 |
| OP21 – Number of people supported to access basic skills courses | 145 |
| OP22 – Number of people supported to participate in education | 128 |
| OC8 – Jobs created as a result of support | 10 |
| OC20 – Number of people in employment, including self-employment, following support | 30 |
| OC21 – Number of people sustaining employment for 6 months | 10 |
| OC22 – Number of people in education/training following support | 40 |
| OC23 – Number of people with basic skills following support | 253 |
| OC24 – People gaining a qualification or completing a course following support | 120 |
| OC26 – Number of people reporting increased employability through development of interpersonal skills funded by UKSPF | 45 |
Alongside the programmes being delivered by AFC Fylde Community Foundation, Blackpool & Fylde College have also been engaged by Fylde Council through its 25/26 UKSPF programme to deliver basic level skills and support to residents across Fylde. This forms part of a partnership with Blackpool & Wyre Council’s to provide seamless ‘Multiply’ support across the Fylde Coast.
More information on Multiply for residents and businesses is available here, and if you feel that you or any of your employees, stakeholders, family or friends could benefit from basic skills support from Blackpool & Fylde College then please contact Blackpool & Fylde College via the following contact methods:
- Tel: 01253 504690
- Email: seasiderscourses@blackpool.ac.uk
| Outputs | Contract total |
|---|---|
| Number of people participating in adult numeracy provision | 84 |
| Number of adults participating in maths qualifications and courses up to, and including, Level 2 equivalent (numerical value) | 14 |
| Number of people supported to access basic skills courses | 76 |
| Outcomes | Final projected forecast |
|---|---|
| Number of people reporting increased employability through development of interpersonal skills funded by UKSPF | 76 |
| Number of people with improved basic skills following support | 76 |
| People gaining a qualification or completing a course following support | 42 |
Funding Improvements to Town Centres and High Streets
Under this intervention, the Fylde UKSPF 25/26 programme will support the St Annes High Street Improvements Phase 2 Pier Link project which is a key project proposal in the St Annes Masterplan, to deliver improved connectivity between the promenade and the town centre remodelling the link between the Square and the Pier, which will also link to the improved public realm space created through the Phase 1 St Annes Improvement Scheme.
The project supports a key aim of the St Annes Masterplan, to revitalise the town centre for it once again to become the focal point, encouraging economic activity and a more diverse mix of uses, stimulating high street businesses. The project will also help to improve pedestrian experience and encourage more visitors to the sea front to explore the town centre and vice versa.
The Project is expected to cost £1,396,736 and will be funded by Lancashire County Council, Fylde UKSPF (UK Government), and Fylde Council’s capital programme.
For more information on this key capital projects and others please visit the link below:
As part of this intervention the Fylde UKSPF programme will also continue to support the Shop Local in Fylde project, which was successfully delivered in the 22-25 Fylde UKSPF programme, and which will help to bring additional footfall into the town centres of Kirkham, Lytham and St Annes and will reward residents and visitors for shopping locally on the high street. This project is currently projected to continue with UKSPF support until March 2026 but it is hoped that it can be carried on in the individual town centres, with the support of the businesses and business groups, after UKSPF support has ended.
Alongside the Shop Local Scheme, Fylde UKSPF will also support the continuation of footfall monitoring across Kirkham, Lytham and St Anne sin the 25/26 programme. This information helps to look at levels of footfall across the three main Fylde towns, consider patterns of footfall and spend, obtain footfall figures for certain events so that we can better understand the economic impact of these events for Fylde and to share this information with key stakeholders for use in ensuring that the Fylde coast continues to thrive as a place to live and visit and do business.
Through its UKSPF programme Fylde Council have also invested further in the development of the Evolutive System which enables our business support partners and Fylde Council to gather and record important business support data to better understand the needs of our businesses and to support them on a regular basis whether that be with the development of new products, increasing employment opportunities, growing the business, purchasing new equipment and helping them to understand the opportunities available to them through external funding opportunities and partnerships.
| The projects above are expected to achieve the following outputs and outcomes pre and post March 2026 | |
|---|---|
| OP3 – Amount of public realm created or improved | 2772 |
| OP7 – Total length of new or improved cycle ways or foot paths | 469 |
| OC5 – Increased visitor numbers | 4000 |
| OP10 – Number of enterprises receiving non-financial support | 140 |
| OC6 – Increase in visitor spending | 1000 |
| OP12 – Number of local events or activities supported | 5 |
| OC5 – Increased visitor numbers | 3000 |
Development of the visitor economy
Under this intervention the Fylde UKSPF programme has invested in a project to deliver new events, enhance existing Fylde Council and partner events and deliver repeat events from the 22-25 Fylde UKSPF programme, where successful, again in the 25/26 programme.
The events will include Fylde Council’s first ever Fylde Fest to be held in St Annes in October 2025, enhancements to the extremely successful St Annes Kite Festival, an Ice Festival to be held on 14th February 2026 in Lytham, building on the successful of the three ice festivals held in Kirkham, Lytham and St Annes in the previous 22-25 Fylde UKSPF programme, support for a St Annes Christmas Market helping to bring the event further into the town centre on the newly improved square thus attracting additional footfall into the main town centre and support for ‘Yoga on the Square’ throughout September 2025 which will help to bring footfall onto the newly improved St Annes square.
| This project is expected to achieve the following outputs and outcomes | |
|---|---|
| OP12 – Number of local events or activities supported | 3 |
| OC5 – Increased visitor numbers | 6000 |
For more details about events being run across the Fylde Coast you can visit Discover Fylde or sign up to the Fylde Council newsletter to be kept up to date with all Council news.
