The Government must stop forcing councils to compete against each other in “beauty pageant” contests to secure critical money, leaders from across the North have pleaded.
North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll and other top figures have united in calling on ministers to ‘hard-wire’ the promise of levelling up into UK law and put an end to competitive bidding systems for funding. It comes after anger over the Levelling Up Fund (LUF) announcements made last week, which saw many areas miss out on cash.
The fund was branded a “Hunger Games-style contest” by Labour as it was pointed out that both London and the South East had been awarded more money than the North East – though the North East did receive the third most generous allocation based on population. Winning bids in our region included £20m to support the building of a “world class” arena complex on the Gateshead Quayside, £20m for new electric buses, and almost £15m for new walking and cycling routes in Northumberland.
