West Midlands 'written off' by ministers after levelling up bids rejected

Just eight of the region's bids for cash from the latest round of the Government's levelling up fund were successful, including only three out of more than a dozen bids from the Black Country and Staffordshire.

Local authorities across the West Midlands were given £155.6m out of a total funding pot of more than £2bn, a figure equating to £26.20 per head.

It leaves the region lagging behind eight other areas, including Wales, which topped the list with £67 per head of population; the North West, which had 15 successful bids totalling £354m at £48 per head; and the North East, where six bids were awarded funding at £40.70 per head.

The fund, which is administered by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, was launched in 2021 with the aim of reducing regional inequalities.

It allowed local authorities to work with MPs to bid for up to £20m for schemes in each parliamentary constituency.

Bids from Black Country authorities – including three from Sandwell and two each from Wolverhampton and Dudley – did not receive a penny, while all of Birmingham's five bids, totalling £82m, were rejected.

Meanwhile the military town of Catterick Garrison in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Richmond constituency in North Yorkshire was handed £19m for town centre regeneration.

The funding announcements have prompted a furious response from Labour MPs and politicians across the Black Country.

Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Pat McFadden, MP for Wolverhampton South East, had worked with Wolverhampton Council on a bid for £20m for the planned Bilston Health and Regeneration Programme.

He said: "The refusal to back Bilston’s bid speaks volumes about the Conservative Government’s attitude to our area.

"Bilston’s health and wellbeing needs are obvious and the bid would have given us a new centre to help tackle those needs.

"The Minister gave no reasons for the refusal. This outcome makes the choice at the next election even more clear and stark than it was already. This is a Government which has run out of steam, run out of ideas and has delivered a judgement that our area did not deserve."

Sureena Brackenridge, Labour's parliamentary candidate for Wolverhampton North East, said it was "deeply disappointing" that the city had received no funding.

"It's even more frustrating to see areas in the south receive hundreds of millions of pounds - including £151m to London," she added. "Surely, levelling-up is about rebalancing places like the West Midlands with successful cities like London.

"Wolverhampton needs high-paid high-quality jobs, improved housing, and better public services but the Tories have let the city down once again and decided to focus on their Conservative heartlands."

Sandwell Council has been awarded £20m to replace Haden Hill Leisure Centre, but bids for homes in Tipton town centre, land for homes and a school in Smethwick and a youth centre in West Bromwich were all refused.

Warley MP John Spellar said the region had been “written off” by ministers and that it was “absurd” that a bid to redevelop brownfield land for housing on Grove Lane, Smethwick, had been turned down.

He said: “The site is ideal for redevelopment and would bring much needed housing to the area. It is exactly the type of area they should be helping.

“For the Government to reject it is not only a tragedy, it’s absurd. This bid should have been an absolute priority, yet they have managed to find the money for Rishi Sunak’s leafy constituency in the Yorkshire Dales.

"All [levelling up secretary] Michael Gove does is play politics and it appears he has written off the West Midlands."

Councillor Kerrie Carmichael, leader of Labour-run Sandwell Council, welcomed the leisure centre funding but said she was "disappointed about the other three".

"This was an opportunity to regenerate Tipton town, the Grove Lane area and put a much-needed youth centre in West Bromwich. The residents in those areas will be as disappointed that they are not going to get ‘levelled up’.

"I really don’t know how the Government has worked out what money goes where but we could have done so much good and made the improvements in our towns for our people in Sandwell."

Suzanne Webb, Conservative MP for Stourbridge, said it was "very disappointing" that Dudley Council's bid for the regeneration of Lye was unsuccessful.

"It would have done a great deal to regenerate Lye and was much needed," she said.

"The challenge now is for the council and businesses to work together with my support to look at what can be done to improve Lye either through other funding streams, private/public partnerships, the West Midlands Mayor or by another application to the Levelling Up Fund.

"I stand ready to do all I can to make progress in any way that will help. I will be writing to the council to ask it to look at its bid and what can be improved with the ambition of applying to round three of the funds while looking at other options."

A Government spokesperson said: “The Levelling Up Fund is investing in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, spreading opportunity to historically overlooked areas.

“All projects were subject to a rigorous assessment process under robust, fair and transparent rules."

Bids for transport improvements in Staffordshire and regeneration in Willenhall were successful.

A third round of the fund is expected to be announced in the coming days.