Gateshead is set for an £11m cash boost – but council chiefs warn it is a "drop in the ocean" compared to previous EU funding.
Council bosses have agreed plans to secure £11.6m of government money from the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund, a £2.6bn post-Brexit pot for local authorities across the UK to access to replace European funding streams which come to an end in 2023.
The local authority's cabinet agreed on Tuesday morning to submit an investment plan to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) in order to collect its funding allocation.
But both councillors and civic centre officials stated the amount of money being offered was significantly less than previous EU funding.
Labour councillor Gary Haley warned: “We need to accept this, I don't want to be a downer about this, but let's put this into perspective. This is the Brexit dividend being delivered to local authorities.
“Over seven years, the seven local authorities in the North East received £498m from the EU, this is £113 over three years, unless there are some big changes in the following four years, it looks very much like we are going to receive less than half of what we got from the EU.
“£11m for Gateshead council over three years, with £600,000 for capital is a drop in the ocean.”
According to government literature the UK Shared Prosperity Fund aims to boost productivity, jobs, and living standards across the country. It also aims to improve public services and “empower” local leaders.
Gateshead Council wants to spend its share of the money on, among other things, improving town centres and high streets, supporting the arts, and employment support for economically inactive people in the borough.
The authority must submit its investment plan by August 1, 2022.
A council report stated: “Replacement allocations under UKSPF are smaller, the strategic objectives wider, and demand for investment higher as other key funding streams start coming to an end.”
