One of Nottinghamshire's Conservative MPs says the Levelling Up Fund is "inefficient" after figures revealed councils across the county have spent £830,000 submitting bids to it. The fund involves councils across the country submitting bids to recieve money for specific projects and was announced by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
There have so far been two rounds of the Levelling Up Fund, with Nottinghamshire having received a collective £95million of investment from it. But there have been calls for a rethink of the way in which the fund operates given the cost of submitting project bids. The £830,000 figure covers Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council, as well as the seven district and boroughs, across both rounds of the Levelling Up Fund.
Ben Bradley is the Conservative MP for Mansfield and the Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council. Councillor Bradley said Nottinghamshire is "net hundreds of million of pounds up" due to the Government's funding schemes.
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But speaking about the Levelling Up Fund in particular, Cllr Bradley said: "It is an inefficient process all of this, and we know that. That's why we're trying to take steps to have more control over it and to not have to go through this process to allocate funding.
"Michael Gove has said we want fewer bureaucratic processes and pots, we want to be able to do this more effectively. That much is clear but in the system as it stands, if you don't bid you don't get so the reality is, you've got to have a go and hope you're successful."
Speaking about a potential third round of the Levelling Up Fund, Cllr Bradley said: "I think we need to get some clarity from Government because we found out last time that for those who had already had successful bids, they weren't likely to get any more allocated. I think councils will want to clarify that before they make decisions about the next round."
The comments come after a motion at a Nottingham City Council meeting on Monday (March 6) labelled the Levelling Up process "incoherent" and "badly directed." Labour's Cllr Georgia Power, who introduced the motion, said at the meeting: "True Levelling Up is not what we have seen from the Tories, it's not about a new planetarium in Ashfield. The Government are presiding over a Hunger Games-style contest where communities are pitted against one another."
But discussing further opportunities around investment in Nottinghamshire, Cllr Bradley said the Levelling Up Fund may not be needed in future if a devolution agreement for the East Midlands is fully implemented. The devolution deal would see a new authority set up with more powers over issues including housing and transport.
Cllr Bradley said: "The bidding cost is one of the reasons we are pursuing this devolution settlement because in the future, we don't want to have to spend lots of money putting together complicated and expensive bids for Government projects. We want to just have that money passed to us to use in a better and more efficient way.
"We've already seen the 1.14 billion that has been allocated to our area and we'll decide how that is spent based on a collective strategy, rather than it being ad-hoc bids to central Government that may or may not fit the bigger picture. Rather than spending money on something you may not get, we can overcome that in the future."
Nottinghamshire County Council spent £9,652.40 on the most recent Levelling Up Fund, but was not successful in its bid for £40m to build a Toton Link Road to the A52. Speaking about that decision in particular, Cllr Bradley said: "We were disappointed not to get the Toton Link Road plans, but we'll improve that based on the feedback and re-submit it because it's a good project."
A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: "The use of consultants is a decision for individual councils we provide clear, straightforward guidance to support those applying for the Levelling Up Fund. However we recognise there are costs associated with bids which is why across both rounds we provided more than £20m to help councils develop bids."
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