Sudbury: The town that feels bypassed again and again

The government has announced long-promised plans to close the gap between rich and poor parts of the country.

But what does the "Levelling Up" strategy mean in a town which has already had a bid for cash turned down?

The Suffolk market town of Sudbury wanted to move its existing bus station and build a cinema, hotel, a new shopping centre and new homes on the site.

But when Babergh District Council asked the government for £6.4m in levelling-up cash last year its bid was rejected.

Turned down by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), the council said it would have to look elsewhere for "alternative funding options" or apply again this spring.

Ellie Stock Bishop, 36, says the failure of the Sudbury bid for cash is "unfortunate".

Having moved to Sudbury from London, she says she is keenly aware of the differences between rich areas and poorer ones.

But Mrs Stock Bishop remains confident about the future of towns like Sudbury, especially if they can secure extra funding for small improvements in the future.

She is the co-owner of Nell & Green Botanics in Sudbury. The business has merged an indoor plant shop and a coffee shop which was next door.

"We had one lockdown too many really," she says. "And we had to make the decision to combine the two businesses under one roof.

"Regeneration of this area is needed and would be good for us small businesses.

"The thought of having a better precinct, more restaurants and perhaps a cinema would definitely increase footfall in the town with people outside of the area coming into town, and perhaps those people from the area not having to go out of town to do their shopping.

"Any money that can come our way and to places that have been left off the map a little bit is a good thing. Any money that comes our way will be great.

"Sudbury as it is now is quite a nice, busy little town and there is quite a lot to do. There's quite a bit to see, but not enough I suppose at the moment.

"Better facilities would be great."

Sisters Stacy and Kayleigh Reid, aged 31 and 27 respectively, say the town centre is "dated".

They had not previously heard of the Levelling Up programme.

"You can't take your children anywhere," says Kayleigh Reid. "There's nothing to do around here for them."

"It needs newer shops," says Stacy Reid. "If someone says 'I want to go shopping' you don't go to Sudbury, you go to Colchester or Ipswich where the bigger shops are.

"The parks are always vandalised, it's just full of takeaways, hairdressers and charity shops really, isn't it?"

Asked about the Levelling Up announcement, 66-year-old Vernon Hodgson says: "It is a great idea but whether or not they come up with the goods is another thing.

"You can say one thing but unless you do it then it doesn't matter, does it?

"And it is very convenient to do it now isn't it, with everything that is going on.

"All the infrastructure here is old. It needs to be updated and we need a lot more bus services here.

"We don't need less, we need more, and it's just about time money was put in to the east of England which has been sorely lacking for so long."

Mr Hodgson, who lives just outside Sudbury, grew up in the north of England.

He says poverty levels in some parts of the eastern region are as bad as they are in some parts of the north.

"You never hear anything about the east of England," Mr Hodgson says.

Michael Holt is Babergh District Council's cabinet member for economic development.

The Conservative councillor says while the government's announcement was "encouraging" it is something "we have seen many times before".

"The proof will come in what is delivered at the end of it when they get to the detail," he says.

"We've got to get into the fine details to find out what it means for the small districts like us in Babergh."

He says the £6.4m bid put into the government last year for what is known locally as the Hamilton Road project was "one of the key issues that we think will unlock Sudbury".

"The people of Sudbury now feel they are missing out on a lot of things," he says. "There's a feeling in the town that we are just going to be bypassed time and time again."

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]