Yorkshire Forward, the county's regeneration agency, and the Countryside Agency today announced the second set of six market towns to receive regeneration funding following the launch of the pioneering scheme in Yorkshire and Humber last year.

Yorkshire Forward and the Countryside Agency were the first to draw up proposals for the market towns initiative, subsequently adopted by the Government in its Rural White Paper heralding today's announcement by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

The six winners are:

Pateley Bridge, Whitby and Thirsk North Yorkshire; Otley, West Yorks, Penistone; South Yorkshire; and Market Weighton; East Riding.

Each town will benefit from new investment over the next 3-4 years amounting to at least £1m.

Following last year's announcement of the initial six towns, already receiving regeneration funding - Malton and Norton; Bentham; Todmorden; Thorne, Hornsea and Brigg - there was considerable interest from other market towns to be selected for the next round.

The latest six were chosen on the basis of need, opportunity and commitment of local partners and a wish to continue to test how best to use market towns as the drivers of the regeneration of rural areas and to develop their own niche market role. Yorkshire Forward hopes the market towns will spearhead rural regeneration in coming years.

Pam Warhurst, Yorkshire Forward Board Member with responsibility for rural interests and Deputy Chair of the Countryside Agency, making the announcement, said:

"The market towns initiative is crucial to the reinvigoration of rural centres. It provides the opportunity for the towns to direct funding towards a strong and deliverable vision of the future, attracting and retaining business and jobs, as well as re-establishing themselves as service providers to their surrounding areas."