UP to £865,000 is set to be invested in communities across the Malvern Hills District to help reduce the cost-of-living for residents and improve wellbeing.

It is intended that Tenbury and the rest of the district will benefit from the investment.

Malvern Hills District Council Executive Committee has approved a plan to invest the three-year UK Shared Prosperity Funds in four projects.

The projects are within the ‘Communities and Place’ objective of the Investment Plan submitted to Government in August.

It involves an allocation of £350,000 that will go to help people living in the district to cope with the cost of living crisis that currently has inflation running at a 40 year high of 11 per cent.

There is an allocation of £250,000 for what are described as community builder roles.

Then £130,000 will be spent in the recruitment of an active travel officer to develop infrastructure to get more people walking and cycling.

Another pot of £130,000 will be spent on community arts.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025.

“By investing in the development of the Community Builder roles, and the recruitment of an Active Travel Officer and Community Arts Officer, we are helping to improve the wellbeing of residents and empower communities to achieve great things,” said Councillor Tom Well, leader of Malvern Hills District Council.