Ipswich Star Column 25.03.26: A Big Week for Ipswich

Where to begin. What a week.  

On Wednesday, we found out that Ipswich has made it through to the next stage of the City of Culture Competition. 

We should be really proud of this moment. Being longlisted in this highly competitive national competition shows the strength of Ipswich’s story and the talent, creativity and ambition that exists here. 

It is a testament to our thriving arts and culture scene and the efforts of so many people and organisations. 

This bid has always been about the future of the town. It is about unlocking investment, creating opportunities for young people and showing the rest of the country what Ipswich is capable of. 

It is also about opportunity. Potential. Unity. Energy. Community. Ambition. Pride. Hope. 

We now get £60,000 to develop our bid and give us the best possible chance of securing the title – which comes with a £10 million cash prize. Thank you to our sponsors Ipswich Town F.C., Suffolk New College, Birketts and Churchmanor Estates who have helped us get this far. 

We need to keep up our energy and momentum and keep putting in the hard work to make this happen – I’m in it to win it - because this is our time to shine. 

This year, we have so much to look forward to, with the Constable 250 exhibition opening at Christchurch Mansion next week. Brighten the Corners coming back with their All Dayer next month, and Ipswich Book Festival returning bigger and better. 

Halo have today announced their new festival at Trinity Park and, fingers crossed, ITFC will get promoted this summer too! 

We had 2,000 people get behind our #BackTheBid rallying call, really showing the groundswell of support and positivity here in Ipswich – and demonstrating what we can achieve when we all pull together to promote our town. 

There is a lot of work still ahead of us, but this is a moment to celebrate and be proud of. 

Alongside this, having secured £1.5 million for our town as part of the Government’s Pride in Place programme, I am pleased we are moving quickly to get this money out into our communities so people can start seeing improvements as soon as possible. 

We have recommended 30 projects for approval, spanning right across town and ranging from youth centres, places of worship, charities and many other organisations.  

These projects have been submitted to Ipswich Borough Council’s Executive for approval, and will each then be subject to due diligence. However, it demonstrates how we are acting proactively and decisively to improve our town and, alongside a number of major announcements for other projects, it shows things are really starting to happen in Ipswich. 

The good news doesn’t end there. I am delighted that I have now secured a further £20 million of Pride of Place funding which will be invested in Stoke Park and south-west Ipswich. 

This will be genuinely transformational for the area: £2 million every year, for 10 years.  

But this is about more than just money, it is about power too, because it shouldn’t be up to people sat in Westminster to decide what is best for Ipswich.  

That is why it is so important that local people and organisations will be the ones choosing how this money is spent.  

Whether it’s restoring places of worship, breathing new life into our pubs, or funding much-needed improvements to our schools and health centres, this is renewal in action, led by the people who know the area best. 

This week has been momentous for our town. It is a marker of things to come, and the bright future we are building for our town.  

While there is a lot more work to do, we really are making progress, and we are building a new future for our town.