MORE than £1 million of funding has been allocated to Colchester Council so the authority can work on 17 community projects, including a food banks scheme and domestic abuse rehabilitation initiative.

The cash formerly came from European structural and investment funds as part of the UK’s European Union membership.

In its place, however, has come what is known as shared prosperity funding, one of the central pillars of the government’s levelling up agenda for small businesses, communities, and health provision.

The total amount of funding amounts to £1.362million.

Colchester based projects which will benefit from the money include the community supermarket in Greenstead, the domestic abuse perpetrator programme, and the construction innovation network.

Another one of the 17 beneficiaries includes A Place to Grow, a programme run by Abberton Rural Training.

Greenstead’s community supermarket, which is run by Essex County Council, offers subsidised groceries to help those who are looking to move away from crisis support, and also operates to support those who are facing ongoing or temporary hardship.

The construction innovation network will be developed by Colchester Institute thanks to the cash, with digital information events to be delivered in the hope it will assist smaller sized construction companies to navigate sophisticated software for tender.

The Change Project, which delivers the domestic abuse perpetrator programme, will also receive a portion of the funding.

The charity looks to increase the safety of victims experiencing domestic abuse as well as working with perpetrators to rehabilitate them and help them stop behaving abusively.

The final project to benefit from the shared prosperity fund is A Place to Grow; run by Abberton Rural Training, the programme provides basic skills courses to help those furthest from education and employment, and provide a safe space for gardening and craft activities.

The council’s portfolio holder for local economy and transformation, Adam Fox, praised the incoming funding.

He said: "Providing opportunities for residents and businesses to boost their skills and access vital resources is a vital part of Colchester’s economic development."

The shared prosperity fund last three years, and will run until 2024-25