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23
Feb 2023
North Yorkshire’s Levelling Up failure blamed on ‘too many bids for too small a pot’
North Yorkshire County Council's leader has blamed the county’s failure in securing Levelling Up funding on “too many bids” across the country for “too small a pot”.
Last month the government revealed the winners of the second Levelling Up Fund round that saw £2.1bn up for grabs.
Several district councils in the county made bids for funding, including £20m to redevelop Harrogate Convention Centre. North Yorkshire County Council also submitted a £39.3m bid to upgrade Thirsk, Seamer and Scarborough stations.
In total, bids worth £118.4m were made for projects in the county but only Richmondshire District Council received funding, which will see £19m spent regenerating Catterick town centre in prime minister Rishi Sunak’s constituency.
At a full meeting of the county council in Northallerton this week, Cllr Bryn Griffiths, Liberal Democrat member for Stokesley division, asked council leader Carl Les why most of the bids in North Yorkshire had failed.
He said:
Cllr Lindsay Burr, independent member for the Malton division, said the rejections were both “concerning and disappointing” for the county. She added:
‘Too small a pot’
Cllr Les said NYCC had received feedback from government on why bids failed but added that he believes not enough money was available for all the bids to be successful. He said:
Read more:
- Harrogate council spends £45,000 on outside help for failed Levelling Up bid
- Government rejects £20m levelling up bid for Harrogate Convention Centre
During the first two rounds of the Levelling Up Fund, 834 bids were submitted but only 216 were successful.
The government scored each bid out of 100 with criteria including deliverability and the characteristics of each place.
It will be opening a third round of funding with a further £1bn available to councils.
Earlier this month, the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed that Harrogate Borough Council spent £45,000 on consultants to help prepare its failed Levelling Up bid.
Liberal Democrat member for the Kingsley division, Cllr Chris Aldred, asked Cllr Les how much was spent in total in North Yorkshire for consultants to help with bids.
Cllr Les promised to answer his question before the district councils are abolished in just over a month.
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