Mixed feelings in bellwether town over Budget cash

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt promised £20m for community regeneration in 20 more towns in the UK as part of his Budget last week.

The bellwether town of Harlow was one of them.

For the past 40 years, whichever party has won in the Essex town in the general election has gone on to take the keys to Downing Street.

The BBC has asked what people make of Mr Hunt's pledge and could it impact on how they vote?

Mid-morning and Harlow town centre is a mixed picture.

It is busy near the modernised Water Gardens shopping centre, which has popular chains, independent cafes, restaurants and shops, but as you walk towards the market square, there are derelict-looking units.

What remains is a large concrete open space with a pub, surrounded by largely empty post-war buildings.

A handful of people are present, with some teenagers circling the square on bikes.

Rasna Patel said the funding announcement was "great news".

"There used to be the old market, it used to be so vibrant and busy and now there is nothing there anymore," she said.

"So many places are closing."

Ms Patel said the funding could "possibly" change how she voted in the general election, but was yet to decide.

The government has already given £44m to Harlow for town centre improvements, and the council is planning a new arts and cultural quarter.

Chloe Algar, who lives in Harlow, said how she voted at the next general election may depend on how this latest funding was spent.

"Some people listen to what we actually want for the town and some people just want to spend it on expensive shops that most people can’t afford because of the cost of living crisis," she commented.

Ms Alger said she wanted to see "who can regenerate Harlow properly".

Alex Sandu said the chancellor's announcement would not affect her decision at the ballot box.

She wanted to see public transport improved, with the Central London Underground line extended to the town from Epping.

"A lot of people are coming in full buses to Harlow town station and a lot of people are going to London for work.

"The Central Line is going to be much cheaper – I hope."

There are no current plans to extent the Central line, but it is something that has been proposed by councillors in the past.

Dan Swords, the Conservative Harlow Council leader, told the BBC he hoped the Oyster card system would be extended to the town in 2024 so it would be "30 minutes to Liverpool Street, but at tube prices".

In terms of demolition of old buildings in Harlow, he said this was "significantly going to step up over the next few weeks".

"There is an enormous amount coming down the road," he said.

Only the Water Gardens and the Harvey Centre are set to remain as it transforms into the "town centre of the future that people can enjoy all times of the day", Mr Swords added.

The local Conservative MP and government minister Robert Halfon described the extra money as "another major boost to make our streets safer and deliver the rebuilding of the town centre".

It has been nearly 20 years since the town voted for a Labour MP.

Chris Vince, the party's candidate for the next general election, was out trying to convince voters whilst the Commons debated the Budget.

Mr Vince welcomed the regeneration money but said: "We have seen a lot of promises from the Conservatives for Harlow that have been let down.

"We only have to look at the promise of the hospital as one example."

In 2019, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged before the general election that Harlow would be one of the first of 40 new hospitals.

More than four years later a planning application is still to be submitted.

Plans to set up a new national health security campus on the former GSK site have been called into question as the costs have skyrocketed from £530m to more than £3bn.

The plan to move laboratories from Porton Down in Wiltshire, to Harlow, was announced in September 2015 by then-Chancellor George Osborne.

The original designer of the town, Sir Frederick Gibberd, once described Harlow as "an organism which would go on changing and being rebuilt as the needs of the people altered".

With works on Harlow’s regeneration about to get under way, and the council promising it has the money and the contractors, local people are hoping those words ring true.

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