Some of the most deprived areas of Merseyside are still waiting to hear if they will receive essential funding to help kickstart regeneration projects years in the making.
The Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ fund has been a key part of its Levelling Up agenda which contributed to the Conservative’s landslide election victory in 2019. A near £5bn funding pot was established and promised to invest in previously overlooked areas of the UK in need of support with infrastructural and development projects.
The first round of the fund was handed out in October 2021 with an initial deadline of July 2022 for second round of bids. Announcements on successful bids were scheduled for October 2022, but the date was eventually moved due to technical issues with an online submission portal in the summer.
READ MORE: Two Merseyside towns and two different 'Levelling Up' realities
There had been hopes that local authorities would find out their fate before the end of 2022, but in December the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities confirmed that the announcement would be delayed for a second time. The Department of Levelling Up has said that winning bids will now be revealed by the end of January.
The Goverment said that the delay was in part due to the volume of "high quality of applications received." It added that it wanted "take the time to carefully consider the bids to allocate additional funds."
The delay to the announcement means areas in need of funding like Liscard, Wirral, have had to wait longer than expected before pressing ahead with plans. Wirral Council is hoping to secure £12m which would go towards regenerating the town centre and building a new community hub in what remains one of most deprived parts of the borough.
Other bids waiting to hear if they were successful focus on areas like Everton. Here Liverpool Council is hoping kickstart investment in the north of the city by improving Great Homer Street market, with Sefton Council once again targeting Bootle for support as it presses on with its canal side regeneration project. Huyton will also feature in one of three bids put together by Knowsley Council.
The proposed £20m of funding is seen as a catalyst to ramp up work on delivering a 10 year development plan for the village centre. While the funding would help move these projects along, there has been some frustration with the ranking of areas, with the Government's ‘index’ placing areas in tiers one, two, and three - one being the most in need of support, three the least.
Sefton Council is currently in category three despite being home to some of the most deprived wards in the country in Bootle. Sefton Council leader Cllr Ian Maher previously told the ECHO this decision “makes no sense”.
Wirral saw its category raised from two to one in March 2022. In recent years, the borough has secured close to £140m through levelling up funds, the town deal and support from the city region combined authority.
In the first round of funding, areas like Birkenhead and Liverpool waterfront were successful in securing around £20m each to go towards transformational projects. However, Bootle and Crosby in Sefton saw its bids knocked back, with Huyton in Knowsley also unsuccessful despite being seen as an area most in need for support.
Commenting on when local authorities can expect to hear if they are successful, a spokesperson for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "With so many high-quality applications received to the current second round of the Fund, we want to take the time to carefully consider the bids to allocate additional funds and we will be announcing the outcome of round two by the end of January."
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