Bolton Council is set to consider plans that would see a nearly half a million-pound funding boost for green spaces, planning and district centre regeneration.
The council had previously set aside £470,000 to support local pensioners impacted by changes to the Winter Fuel Allowance.
But recent changes by the national government mean this intervention is no longer needed, freeing the funds to be reallocated across several vital service areas.
An amendment to the budget will be considered at a meeting of Full Council on November 26.
If approved, the plans would see part of the money used to fund a wide variety of neighbourhood services and public green spaces.
A significant portion of the money would be used to fund a dedicated officer to work directly with council tenants using facilities like allotments and bowling clubs.
The aim of the new role is to bring the facilities up to a higher standard while working with users to explore ways of becoming more self-sufficient in the future.
A total of £70,000 would fund improvement schemes at Moss Bank Park, Doffcocker Lodge and Westhoughton Central Park.
Meanwhile, almost £40,000 would be used to support the planting and maintenance of the borough’s trees.
This spending would build on previous new investments into neighbourhood services for parks and green spaces, that were agreed in February last year.
Further funding from the £470,000 would also be used to create two new posts in the council’s Planning Department.
Over the last year, the department has streamlined its process, significantly reduced the number of open cases and been recognised for its excellence in land searches.
The new recruits would help further increase the team’s capacity and support the move to an even more efficient cloud-based planning system.
The remaining allocation would be used to fund an additional Project Manager in the ream responsible for the ongoing regeneration of the town centre as well as district centres across the borough.
Bolton Council Leader, Cllr Nick Peel, said:
“While this money was originally set aside to support our most vulnerable residents during the winter months, I am delighted this can now be reallocated to other essential frontline services.
“We know how much our parks, green spaces, allotments and bowling clubs matter to our local communities, and these funding plans would make a significant positive impact across the borough.
“We are already making major progress on the regeneration of our borough.
“Creating additional posts across our planning and regeneration teams would help this work move even faster to create town and district centres we can all be proud of.”