'It's a disgrace' - Bid to regenerate and breathe new life into Derbyshire town centres unsuccessful in Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ fund

In August 2022, the Council submitted a £14.2million bid to the Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ fund to help regenerate and breathe new life into Bolsover Town Centre.

But this morning (19 January 2023) the council and other across Derbyshire received a letter from the Minister for Levelling Up, Dehenna Davison MP stating the bid had been unsuccessful.

Bolsover District Council Leader, Councillor Steve Fritchley said: “We feel completely let down and to say we are disappointed is an understatement.

"Four years ago we had the promise of Levelling Up funds to help regenerate our District, but four years down the line and we have still not received a penny. It’s a disgrace.

“We were told we could not bid for round one because we weren’t ‘deprived’ enough. But here we are in round two and yet again we have nothing to show, after spending hours in time and resources putting a bid together.”

The bid would have helped regenerate vacant town centre properties, create a cultural hub that would have included a cinema, theatre and live performance space and assistance for businesses to improve their shop fronts.

Money would have also been spent on improving the 5G network and installing fibre in the town centre to help improve connectivity and provide much needed Wi-Fi. And with improvements to public realm (pavements, signage, street furniture, etc), all this would have helped the town attract and encourage residents and visitors to spend more time in the town.

Councillor Fritchley added: “We are getting used to these setbacks and empty promises. But we won’t sit here feeling sorry for ourselves, we will look at what options are available to us and continue with our ambitions to help stimulate growth and provide town centre regeneration and cultural opportunities in the town and across Bolsover District.”

The Council will now discuss the various options available to them and look at other funding streams to help them achieve their ambitions.

Plans to regenerate Ilkeston have also been rejected in the latest raft of local funding allocations.

Councillor Carol Hart, Leader of Erewash Borough Council, said she was “extremely disappointed” that the Levelling Up bid unsuccessful particularly with all the hard work undertaken by officers and members in support

of the bid.

James Dawson, Leader of the Labour Group on Erewash Borough Council, added: “I am heart-broken at the news that Ilkeston has been left out in the recent round of Level Up Funding. As a councillor in Ilkeston, I see every day how our town has been left behind by this Government and by our local council."

High Peak Borough Council also failed to secure a £20million Levelling Up Fund bid but Ashbourne town centre has been granted £15million for a transformation.

The Times reported that, of the 80 successful bids in England, only half are in the 100 most deprived parts of the country.

The levelling up secretary Michael Gove has denied that the south-east is getting an unfair proportion of money aimed at tackling inequality in the UK but London boroughs will get more than both Yorkshire and the north-east of England.