As part of the run-up for the 2024 general election, Darlington's local MP, Peter Gibson, has been making some large claims about the money being spent in Darlington, relating it to the government's new 'levelling up' schemes.

With the new MP Peter Gibson, it appears that Darlington is undergoing an intense transitory period, with huge plans to renovate the train station and make the town, 'a world class business location in the North East,' according to the Invest in Darlington website. But what does this mean for the town?

On the surface, Darlington's 'levelling up' schemes will make the town a staple of the north east; at least that is their aim. The schemes will centralise Darlington and make it a more prominent location for tourism and business.

However, the schemes will also change Darlington infinitely.

With £114 million possibly being poured into the renovation of the train station, it is noteworthy that many parts of Darlington will change to an almost unrecognisable extent - whether this is truly beneficial for Darlington is still unclear.

Lola McEvoy, Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Darlington, says, "'Levelling up' is a brilliant slogan but people are all too aware that these Westminster promises are yet to come good for our town. If the Conservatives were serious about making things better for us, they would focus on improving GP and NHS services, funding our buses, and making sure that everyone in the town can heat their homes and have a hot meal without help from a foodbank. We need to go back to the basics and focus on the core services of the town, not vanity projects."

Furthermore, in the past few months, people of Darlington have been given campaign literature which sell Conservative success in town, but allude to the donors for the literature with little transparency at all, with Peter Gibson saying, on record, that the sources of the donations have donated to him for no reason that he is aware of.

Altogether, it seems that Darlington's 'levelling up' is, on the surface, a great thing to happen to the town; however, there is definitely backlash to it, as well.

 

Kaysan Azam-McArdle