A councillor says he is “dismayed” at the extent to which he has been involved with a multi-million pound Government levelling up fund bid being prepared by Redcar and Cleveland Council.
Guisborough ward councillor Bill Clarke said he’d had to make do so far with two one-hour meetings with council officers.
On Friday the council confirmed the outline of its bid, which will include £8m to help the retail and commercial regeneration of Eston, £8m for a new pool in Eston and the wider regeneration of the Normanby Road site and £4m to to deliver a cycle/footpath route linking the Teesworks site to Eston and the south of the borough and one from Guisborough to Nunthorpe.
Another £20m bid, covering the South Middlesbrough and East Cleveland constituency, which is being made jointly with Middlesbough Council, will include £13.7m to help deliver town centre and public realm improvements in Guisborough, as well as improved accessibility to Teesworks and the North York Moors National Park.
Read more: Government reveals how it is levelling up the North East
It is also hoped to secure £1m to develop a business case to deliver a transport hub in the Guisborough/Nunthorpe area focusing on rail and sustainable transport and £5m for a highway scheme at Newham Grange, to the south of Middlesbrough, to help unlock the site for additional housing.
Councillor Clarke, speaking at a full council meeting on Thursday this week, said: “I have asked for two areas in Guisborough to be looked at very closely, which may just fit the bid criteria.
“But I was promised in this very chamber that we would all be involved in these bids.
“I don’t call two one-hour meetings with officers being involved with the levelling up bid.
“This is a lot of money for our borough and I am very dismayed.
“I have been feeding stuff through by e-mail, matter of fact stuff, but to be honest it is not good enough.”
He added: “This comes under everybody’s remit – I wonder how many other people have not really been involved in the levelling up bids as well?”
The borough’s mayor Stuart Smith said the matter would come under cabinet member Christopher Gallacher’s economic development remit and he was sure he would be in contact to discuss Cllr Clarke’s concerns.
In April Cllr Gallacher said the local authority had “engaged early” with council members to try and formulate the details in its plan.
He said the new bids, which are expected to be signed off at a cabinet meeting on June 21, were “more rounded” than the two bids for the Redcar area and Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland which failed last year and consultants had been brought on board to provide further assistance.
About £600m was made available by the Government from the £4.8bn levelling up fund last year with successful bidders being announced during Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s autumn Budget.
This second round of bids being invited has a deadline of July 6 with funding announcements again expected in the autumn.
Cllr Gallacher said he was fairly optimistic of success this time around and the council “know more than we knew last time”, having received feedback from Government officials.
The Redcar-based bid is intended to pay for a revamp of Eston precinct – a previous £6.9m regeneration scheme having previously been shelved by the council – and a new replacement for the mothballed Eston pool on which it has budgeted to spend £8.6m.
In May last year the Conservative MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, Simon Clarke suggested the levelling up fund could be used to pay for a proposed new railway station and transport interchange between Guisborough and Nunthorpe, provisionally named Roseberry Parkway.
Plans for the new station, which would bring together trains, buses, cycle provision and car parking in an integrated hub and could serve 70,000 people, were first unveiled two years ago.
The joint project involving Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland councils and the Tees Valley Combined Authority aimed to reduce road congestion, but has yet to secure the funding required.
In a statement confirming the bids, Cllr Gallacher said: “Following last year’s unsuccessful bids to the Levelling Up Fund the Council has acted upon feedback from civil servants and ensured the revised bids are more focused on the need for economic recovery and growth, improved transport connectivity and regeneration.
“The first bid illustrates a clear commitment to deliver major development and regeneration for the Greater Eston area, as well as maximising the opportunities that the Teesworks development brings to the borough.
“The second, a joint bid with Middlesbrough, focuses on the regeneration of Guisborough and maximising the potential of the visitor economy in that area as well as the growth potential of the Teesworks development site.
“These schemes will help to compliment and build upon the regeneration and development already taking in East Cleveland and Redcar and illustrate to residents that this cabinet is also committed to levelling up right across Redcar and Cleveland.”
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