101 councils have failed to begin projects supported by Levelling Up fund
New research from the National Audit Office (NAO) has outlined that due to rising costs and planning delays over 100 councils have had to cancel or delay projects.
Within the Levelling Up Funding to Local Government report, which was published last week, NAO discovered councils across the country have so far only spent £900m of the 10.6bn awarded by the government under the Levelling Up scheme.
The Levelling Up fund was established in 2019 and currently, £3.8bn has been awarded to local authorities in England under the first two rounds and has been distributed between 216 projects. The third-round winners were revealed on 20th November, with an additional £1bn shared between 55 schemes.
However, following the £1bn Long-Term Plans for Towns fund, which was unveiled last month and detailed that the government would be funding 55 regeneration projects, and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund launched last year, NAO said this brought the total Levelling-Up investment value to £10.6bn.
Against this backdrop, NAO warned rising costs, delays in planning and a shortage of labour had resulted in pauses to advancing projects.
The report said: ‘Projects are being delivered in the context of rising costs and pressures on public finances. Reflecting this context, DLUHC has taken steps to understand local authorities’ delivery challenges and is piloting a more flexible approach to move money between Towns Fund and Levelling Up Fund projects. However, at this stage it appears unlikely local authorities will be able to complete projects by the original deadlines.
‘To secure value for money and maximise the desired benefits from these funds, DLUHC should review expectations for what outcomes can be delivered by when and support local authorities and their partners to deliver the long-term benefits for people in their local places.’
In addition, Jack Shaw, a local government experts and honorary senior research fellow at Queen Mary University’s Mile End Institute, said: ‘A combination of forces has coalesced to create a perfect storm.
‘All of these funds are not speaking to one another, and the government needs to bring them together so they’re more strategic. The government has also not designed some of the programmes very well. It’s not been very responsive to the rise in interest and inflation rates.’
To combat this, Jack recommended that the government should give councils greater flexibility over deadlines to spend their funds.
Image: John Matychuk
