Labour councillors in County Durham have called for a judge-led review into the Government’s decision to change the criteria for levelling up funding. 

Members urged Durham County Council to voice its concerns over how funding was allocated in round two of the fund, which was announced in January. 

A total of five bids were submitted by the authority - covering City of Durham, Horden, Stanley, Newton Aycliffe and North West Durham - but all were rejected by the Government. It was later revealed by a Government minister that areas successful in the first round of bids could not be successful in round two.

The bidding process has proved expensive for authorities, with many employing external consultants to boost their cases. Although each authority received £125,000 from the Government for this process, the Local Democracy Reporting Service found that Durham County Council spent more than £1m on consultants for its bids. 

Read more: Five County Durham bids fail to win levelling up cash

Cllr Kevin Shaw appealed for the review to help recover the money spent in the bidding process. He said: “Will the council call for a judicial review into the Government’s decision to change the criteria preventing any authority successful in round one of levelling up of accessing funding in round two, which was a decision taken after the round two bids were submitted, in order to recover the costs incurred by council tax payers of County Durham?”

Responding to the plea, cllr James Rowlandson, member for Resources, Investment and Assets, said the cabinet will discuss any method of requesting a judicial review. 

Two rounds of the £4.8 billion fund have so far been released, worth £1.7 billion and £2.1 billion respectively, with cash allocated towards regeneration projects across the UK.

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A government spokesperson said: “Our decision-making criteria, published last year, made clear that ministers could take into account other investments in local areas, including grants from the first round of the Fund, to encourage a spread of funding across more areas.  Only when all bids had been received, and their quality known, could decisions be taken to achieve this.

“In this round, we received over 500 proposals with a total value of £8 billion and our aim was to spread opportunity from our £2.1 billion of funding as far as possible.

“There will be a further round of the Levelling Up Fund. Before this launches, we will support those bidders who were unsuccessful as we did in the first round, including by providing feedback, to refine their proposals and prepare for the next round.”