A Nottinghamshire council leader has decided to stay in post after reflecting on his position due to his area being "abandoned" by the Government's Levelling Up Fund. Councillor Milan Radulovic, the Leader of Broxtowe Borough Council, previously told Nottinghamshire Live that he felt "bitter and betrayed" by the allocation of levelling up money.
It was announced last week that whilst Nottinghamshire had been given £57 million, several major projects missed out on funding. This included Nottingham's Broad Marsh project and town centre improvements in Bulwell.
In Broxtowe, despite Kimberley receiving £16.5 million from the Levelling Up Fund, Councillor Radulovic said his own area of Eastwood had been "abandoned" after being unsuccessful in its bid for £20 million. The money would have been used for projects including a new health and wellbeing hub, community centre and cycle network.
Read more: New multi-million pound leisure centre and community hall to open next month
After spending the weekend reflecting on his position as council leader, Councillor Radulovic has confirmed he will be staying in post to "salvage" what he can from the bid. He says that he at least wants to carry out the community centre project and that he is meeting with figures including Nottinghamshire County Council leader Ben Bradley to see how the health facility can be delivered.
Councillor Radulovic said: "I'm self-analytical and I do take time out to reflect. I've decided that I want to try and see what we can salvage from the bid to address the inequalities in and around the Eastwood area. The fight goes on and we're looking now at ways that we can address some of the major issues that we raised within that bid.
"I'm delighted for Kimberley and it will make a transformational difference there. But Eastwood has been abandoned again, it seems abandoned by Government and abandoned by Parliament.
"We never get our share and it's not fair. It offended me enormously, the Prime Minister's own constituency manages to get £19 million and quite why places like Rutland are deemed to be in urgent need of levelling up I do not know."
Speaking about why the funding for Eastwood was needed, Councillor Radulovic added: "The issues do not go away simply because we have been unsuccessful. The health inequalities, particularly in and around Eastwood, are stark to say the least.
"We have much higher incidents of things like heart attacks, dementia and respiratory diseases associated with the former mining industry and that takes an enormous toll. They haven't goner away and we now need to look at ways in which it is possible to try and carry out the much needed primary care facility without any Government help or support."
Announcing the results of the Levelling Up Fund's second round, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak previously said: "Through greater investment in local areas, we can grow the economy, create good jobs and spread opportunity everywhere.
"That's why we are backing a number of projects with new transformational funding to level up local communities in the East Midlands. By reaching even more parts of the country than before, we will build a future of optimism and pride in people's lives and the places they call home."
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