MICHAEL Gove, the UK levelling up secretary, has been told he has “failed” Glasgow after the city was rejected for any of the latest round of government funding.
Glasgow submitted seven bids for cash from the UK Government’s flagship funding pot, aimed at prioritising areas with high levels of deprivation.
But when the successful bids were announced Glasgow was left with nothing.
READ MORE: More than 180 people saved from rough sleeping in Glasgow this winter
It has prompted Susan Aitken, leader of the city council, to write to Gove to “express my extreme disappointment”.
The city put in funding bids for projects including a cap over the M8, the People's Palace and Winter Gardens, and regeneration projects in Drumchapel, Easterhouse, Maryhill and Possilpark, home to some of the most deprived communities in the country.
The city was successful in the previous round, getting cash for the redevelopment of Pollok Park stables.
Aitken told Gove that on any measure, Glasgow should have received a far bigger share of the funding pot.
READ MORE: New East End cycle route being built past Celtic Park and Emirates
In a letter to Gove, the council leader said: “The announcement this morning takes the value of Levelling Up Fund projects in Scotland to £348m.
“Glasgow City, the largest local authority in Scotland with both the greatest need and opportunity, has been awarded 3.7% of this funding.
“Had the fund been allocated on a population basis, we would have received three times as much. Had it been funded on the size of our economy, we would have received five times as much.
“Had it been funded on proportion of people living in Scotland’s most deprived communities, we would have received 15 times as much.
“Nowhere offers a greater opportunity to level up than Glasgow. On every one of these metrics, you have failed the city.”
She added: “Glasgow cannot be allowed to suffer in this way, and I would once again request an urgent meeting with you to discuss how this can be addressed.”
A regional and national breakdown of the funding shows:
- Yorkshire and the Humber: £120,619,162
- West Midlands: £155,579,834
- Wales: £208,175,566
- South West: £186,663,673
- South East: £210,467,526
- Scotland: £177,206,114
- Northern Ireland: £71,072,373
- North West: £354,027,146
- North East: £108,548,482
- London: £151,266,674
- East Midlands: £176,870,348
- East: £165,903,400
The Government has been criticised for giving levelling up funding to affluent areas in the south east of England, mainly represented by Conservative MPs with 52 Tory constituencies in England getting cash, twice as many as Labour ones.
Gove defended the criteria and allocations.
He said: "I think more of the money is going to Labour-led local authorities than to Conservative-led local authorities and that's because the money's been allocated according to a set of objective criteria and on the basis of deliverability."
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel