A BOARD which will oversee the delivery of £200 million in funds to transform Barrow has met for the first time.

Members of Barrow Delivery Board, including the cabinet secretary Simon Case, chief executive of Westmorland and Furness Council Sam Plum and Steve Timms, managing director of BAE Systems Submarines, met at Barrow Town Hall.

This comes after MP for Barrow and Furness Michelle Scrogham confirmed the government would be providing the Barrow Transformation Fund with £20 million a year for 10 years from 2025/26.

The area will also receive £5 million over five years for a social impact fund which will be given through grants to community and voluntary organisations.

In March the previous Conservative government committed an immediate £20 million and a further minimum of £20 million a year over the next 10 years to make Barrow an attractive place to live, work, and build a nuclear career.

The Barrow Transformation Fund comes after the formation of Team Barrow -a partnership between central government, Westmorland and Furness Council, and BAE Systems to help transform the town.

Leader of Westmorland and Furness Council councillor Jonathan Brook said: “With the first Barrow Delivery Board, programme set up and staffed and funding confirmed, everything is in place for us all to hit the ground running and grasp this opportunity to drive meaningful change which will impact every single person in Barrow, and Westmorland and Furness.”

BAE Systems, which already employees more than 13,500 people, needs to grow its workforce to enable delivery of the Astute, Dreadnought and SSN-AUKUS submarine programmes.

Managing director of BAE Systems Submarines Steve Timms said: “Barrow is at the heart of our national endeavour and the custodian of the UK’s submarine design and build capability, which is critical to both national security and the economic prosperity of our town.

“The Barrow Transformation Fund will support this and help transform and revitalise the town, to ensure we can continue to deliver critical sovereign defence capability now and in the future.”

Mrs Scrogham also attended the meeting. She added: “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make Furness a centre once again not just of the manufacturing industry in this country, but a centre for education, sport, arts, transport, tourism and healthcare.

“This is real, lasting investment in our future. I’m delighted that the delivery board is starting its work and I look forward to working with them to bring lasting change to our communities.”

The delivery board is due to meet again in January while members of the community can expect to hear more regarding future plans shortly, including ways in which to become involved.