A FUND to help revive high streets across England will see £17.2m coming to the North-East and Yorkshire, with Middlesbrough and Northallerton set to benefit.

The Government has revealed the 69 high streets across the country that will benefit from a £95m fund to revive historic shopping areas.

Ministers said towns will now be able to start spending the cash, which had previously been announced in May.

Funding for the projects had already been earmarked earlier this year, with towns and cities invited to apply in May. The fund includes £40m from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and £52m from the Government’s Future High Street Fund. A further £3m will also be provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The majority of the cash will be spent on essential repairs to historic buildings, developing educational projects to turn the sites into community hubs, and helping to increase skills shortages in areas like stonemasonry.

In Northallerton, a shopfront improvement scheme and refurbishment of some of the main ginnels off the High Street have been designed to address business needs, and a small project will explore the possibility of creating above-shop accommodation to address the need for affordable housing. The town will receive £225,000 to set up a Heritage High Streets Action Zone.

Richmond MP Rishi Sunak said: “This is more good news for our county town following on from its success in being shortlisted for the Future High Streets Fund, the imminent start of work on the Treadmills development and the arrival of the UCI World Cycling Championships later this month.”

Leader of Hambleton District Council, Councillor Mark Robson, said: “Revitalising our market towns is one of the key focuses of this local authority to drive up the local economy.

“We start work on the redevelopment of the town’s former prison this month which will have leisure, retail and business strands to it and this funding could further help us boost the link between that development and the High Street.”

Middlesbrough is also set to benefit from the scheme, and Scarborough will make repair works to buildings.