Minister refuses to commit over refunds on bids
AMINISTER has refused to commit to repaying money spent by North East councils on failed levelling up bids.
The Government was recently urged to reimburse Durham County Council the £1.2m it spent on developing five bids that fell short in both the second and third rounds of the Levelling Up Fund (LUF).
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) told earlier this month how county hall chiefs had been left incensed after not being told about changes in the fund’s criteria that left Durham unsuccessful.
Two schemes on Tyneside, a revitalisation of South Shields and a project to protect the future of industry based on the northern bank of the Tyne in Newcastle, were awarded almost £40m from the LUF’s third set of allocations. Those winners were announced in November and were made up of projects that had been unsuccessful in the second stage, rather than the Government running another controversial competitive bidding process that have been labelled “beauty pageants” by critics.
Durham’s leaders were already furious after round two of the LUF as they made bids for numerous projects without being told that the county was effectively ineligible because it had already had one successful scheme, in Bishop Auckland, approved in round one.
Amanda Hopgood, the Lib Dem leader of the council’s coalition administration, said earlier this month that Durham had then been “removed as a priority one status area” before round three and requested a full reimbursement of the council’s costs.
Asked by the LDRS in Gateshead this week whether he would reimburse local authorities whose bids failed, Levelling Up minister Jacob Young said: “We are stepping away from the competitive process that local councils have gone through in the past and I made a statement in the House to that effect at the end of November... yes, competition works to help drive best value for money, but ultimately we have listened to councils. They want to see an allocative process and that is what we did for round three of the Levelling Up Fund.”
Mr Young, the MP for Redcar, added: “What I would say for Durham is that we are investing in Bishop Auckland with the Towns
Fund, we are investing in Spenny
moor with the Long-Term Plan for Towns.
“Right across Durham we are seeing levelling up in action. I fully accept that councils are frustrated that Levelling Up Fund bids have not been successful, that is why we took a different approach in LUF round three and why as we announce future funds like the Long-Term Plan for Towns we will do that on an allocative basis so that we are seeing investment directly into communities - rather than, as you describe them, these ‘beauty pageants’.”