CRAWLEY will benefit from millions in funding as part of recent measures announced by the Chancellor to boost towns.

Rishi Sunak announced £1bn towards 45 areas of England as part of his Budget yesterday.

The list of places receiving money from the Towns Fund is dominated by the North West, Yorkshire and the Midlands, however, Crawley is one of two places in the South East to benefit.

The Sussex town was hit hard by the impact of the pandemic on travel will share a slice of £43 million with Margate.

The government said the money would help to "level up" towns and aid recovery from the impact of Covid-19.

Announcing the funding, Mr Sunak told MPs: "Redrawing our economic map means rebalancing our economic investment.

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"I am announcing today over £1 billion for 45 new towns deals, from Castleford to Clay Cross, from Rochdale to Rowley Regis and Whitby to Wolverhampton.

"Our future economy demands a different economic geography... that starts with the institutions of economic power.

"We will establish a new economic campus in Darlington."

Around 750 jobs are expected to move out of London to the market town and top officials, including Mr Sunak himself, are expected to be regular visitors.

It is all part of billions of extra spending to help the economy through the coronavirus crisis – but there will be tax hikes to pay for it.

The Argus: Crawley relies heavily on GatwickCrawley relies heavily on Gatwick

The furlough scheme will be extended to the end of September, as will support for the self-employed.

The Universal Credit uplift of £20 a week will continue for a further six months, well beyond the end of this national lockdown.

A new restart grant will start in April to help businesses reopen, with £5 billion of funding.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is now forecasting “a swifter and more sustained recovery” than they expected in November, predicting the economy will be three per cent smaller than it would have been in five years’ time because of the coronavirus crisis.

But the economy, according to the OBR, is forecast to grow this year by four per cent, by 7.3 per cent in 2022, then 1.7 per cent, 1.6 per cent and 1.7 per cent in the last three years of the forecast.