A war of words has broken out over a failed attempt to secure levelling up funding for Kempston Central after it was announced an application submitted by Bedford Borough Council was rejected a second time.
The Government announced yesterday that £4bn was being awarded to various areas across the UK in the second phase of their ‘levelling up’ funding plan.
However, we broke the news yesterday that a bid for £15m, to “improve the economic vitality of Kempston town centre” was not included.
Read: Accusations of “betrayal” as Kempston misses out on levelling-up funding for second time
This is the second time an application for this money has been rejected. Bedford Borough Conservatives believe it’s because the application did not “present a convincing case on behalf of Kempton’s residents”.
A spokesperson for Bedford Borough Council told us yesterday that all feedback from the failed first bid was taken on board.
But, Conservative Cllr Sarah Gallagher (Eastcotts) believes more could have been done and the Mayor should have done more to make sure the application was successful.
“In his first proposal for Kempston, the Mayor failed to demonstrate good value for public money while not providing enough clarity on costs and timescales for the projects,” she said.
“After receiving robust feedback from Government officials to support a second bid he again failed to present a convincing case on behalf of Kempton’s residents.
“Those residents will now be missing out on nearly £15 million from the Government Levelling Up fund as a consequence of the Mayor’s ineptitude.”
Naturally, Bedford’s Liberal Democrat councillors don’t see it that way and have even gone so far as to call the decision not to award funding a “betrayal”
“The Conservatives’ betrayal of Kempston is confirmed through this lack of funding,” said Cllr Henry Vann, (De Parys, Lib Dem) Portfolio Holder for Town Centres and Planning.
“This Government is not interested in levelling up at all, but in letting people down. Whilst the Liberal Democrats continue to champion investment in our local Kempston library and other services, the rejection of this bid is deeply disappointing.”
The Mayor also weighed in. Upon hearing the announcement yesterday, Dave Hodgson (Lib Dem) said the Government was “wrong” in their decision to cut local authority funding, “whilst offering ‘bids’ for one-off funding to councils”.
“Baffling”
Conservative Mayoral Candidate Cllr Tom Wootton, however, suggests the reason the bid failed is closer to home.
“It is baffling how the Mayor managed to show such complete incompetence in reattempting to secure the Government’s Levelling up money despite being advised where their original case was weak,” said Cllr Wooton (Wyboston).
“Instead of putting forward a compelling second bid for Kempston both Labour and Liberal Democrat politicians and the Mayor are trying to construct a ‘fig leaf’ defence by blaming the Government for refusing to hand out money for what was in effect a poorly prepared and presented bid.
“Kempton’s residents are the real losers here, they deserve better.”
Nationally the Government was met with criticism after analysis found that the fund appear to disproportionately benefit Conservative constituencies, including the Prime Minister’s own wealthy Richmond
Research by the Guardian found that the money allocated so far would disproportionately benefit people in Conservative seats.
Their research shows that voters in Tory seats got £19.47 more a head than those in similarly deprived non-Conservative constituencies in this latest round of funding.
“Hunger Games”
The newspaper also found that Conservative marginal seats, those with majorities of fewer than 8,000 votes, received 1.5 times the amount of funding per person than all other constituencies under the £4bn budget – £76 a head compared with £53 a head.
Alex Norris, Labour’s shadow communities minister, said the way the council had to apply for levelling up funding was like a “Hunger Games” approach to regional growth.
Many other regional leaders across the country also criticised the bidding process, including Kevin Bentley, the Conservative leader of Essex council, who urged the government “not to keep these ever-rounds of bidding going on because that takes time and resource, let the evidence speak for itself.”
The Prime Minister, however, defended the successful bids and the process.
“I think around half the funding we have announced over the course of today, or both funds, has actually gone to places that are not controlled by Conservative MPs or councils,” said Rishi Sunak.
“I don’t think anyone can say it is being done on that basis, there’s a completely objective, transparent criteria,” he said.
A government spokesperson also added, “successful bids are spread fairly across the UK, with about 45% of investment across both rounds allocated to areas held by opposition parties,” the Guardian reported.
Details of when local authorities can apply for a third round of funding are expected to be announced soon.
