John Baron MP attends Basildon Levelling Up Roadshow at Basildon Sporting Village

County Councillor Jeff Henry, County Councillor Tony Ball, Cllr Andrew Schrader, Councillor Andrew Baggott – Leader, Basildon Council, County Councillor Louise McKinley, John Baron MP, County Councillor Tony Hedley, County Councillor Malcolm Buckley

MP: Community activism key to success

John Baron MP today attended the Levelling Up meeting held at the Sporting Village in Basildon which was hosted by Essex County Councillor Louise McKinlay.

John said:

“Thank you for inviting me to say a few words about this important initiative. Levelling up is one of the central missions of the Government, and last month it published the White Paper describing its ambitions and how it intends to give every part of the UK a better opportunity to flourish and realise its full potential – Essex is well-placed to benefit.

“As a County, we have many strengths. As Essex County Council’s ‘Levelling Up Essex’ paper notes, our county already does well, with a £40 billion local economy and with strengths across quantum technologies, medicine, data science and manufacturing. We also have excellent schools, universities, other higher education establishments, a skilled work force and a strong charitable ethos.

“I am optimistic at the prospect of freeports, including Freeport East which will capitalise upon its proximity to major European and global trade routes. Essex will also get its fair share of the UK-Wide Community Renewal Fund, the Towns Fund, Project Gigabit and indeed the Levelling Up Fund which total over £12 billion in available funds.

“However, at the same time, the County has many challenges. There is on average a 12-year life expectancy gap between the most and least deprived areas of the County. There are also more than 123,000 people in Essex who live in places which feature in the 20% most deprived areas across the UK. So, there is still much to be done.

“Community activism and what communities can themselves do to help deliver Levelling up in their own local area is going to be key. And, as the local MP, I will do all I can to support such initiatives.”