Landmark levelling up funding will breathe new life into more than 100 communities, with up to £2.1 billion awarded to transformational projects across the United Kingdom.
These include Eden Project North visitor attraction in Morecambe, a new AI campus in Blackpool, a new rail link in Cornwall, and a major regeneration scheme in Gateshead that will create jobs and grow the economy.
Major government investment will benefit millions of people across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and spread opportunity to historically overlooked areas - with £672 million to develop better transport links, £821 million to kick-start community regeneration, and £594 million to restore local heritage sites.
A total of 111 areas have been awarded funding from the second of the government’s flagship Levelling Up Fund, providing greater investment in communities that will create new jobs, drive economic growth, help restore people’s pride in the places where they live, and spread opportunity more equally.
However, responding to the announcement of projects awarded in the second round of funding from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund, Cllr Kevin Bentley, Chairman of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: “This latest round of levelling up funding will give those councils who were successful the ability to forge ahead with ambitious plans to transform their communities and improve the lives of residents.
“Fulfilling these projects has become more challenging due to rising inflation and costs, particularly in the building industry, impacting on their potential to be fully realised.
“Levelling up should be locally led by evidence of where crucial investment needs to go to, not based on costly competitive bids between areas.
“This is not a sustainable approach to economic development or public service delivery, as it falls short of the challenge set out by the Levelling Up White Paper and the ambitions of local leaders for their residents and places.
“The Government must boost local productivity and save money, through building on the White Paper’s commitment to streamline the long list of individual local growth funds.
"Local government must be trusted with the powers and funding to deliver for their communities.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that through greater investment in local areas, the Government can grow the economy, create good jobs and spread opportunity everywhere.
“That’s why we are backing more than 100 projects with new transformational funding to level up local communities across the United Kingdom,” he added. “By reaching even more parts of the country than before, we will build a future of optimism and pride in people’s lives and the places they call home.”
Projects awarded Levelling Up Fund money include:
- Eden Project North will receive £50 million to transform a derelict site on Morecambe’s seafront into a world class visitor attraction. It will also kick-start regeneration more widely in Morecambe, creating jobs, supporting tourism and encouraging investment in the seaside town.
- Cardiff Crossrail has been allocated £50 million from the fund to improve the journey to and from the city and raise the economic performance of the wider region.
- Blackpool Council and Wyre Council will receive £40 million to deliver a new Multiversity, a carbon-neutral, education campus in Blackpool’s Talbot Gateway Central Business District. This historic funding allows Blackpool and The Fylde College to replace their ageing out-of-town centre facilities with world-class state-of-the-art ones in the heart of the town centre. The Multiversity will promote higher-level skills, including automation and artificial intelligence, helping young people secure jobs of the future.
- Nearly £27 million has been guaranteed for a new roll-on, roll-off ferry for Fair Isle in the Shetland Islands. The service is a lifeline for the island, supporting its residents, visitors and supply chains, and without its replacement the community will become further isolated.
- A total of £20 million is going towards the regeneration of Gateshead Quays and the Sage, which will include a new arena, exhibition centre, hotels, and other hospitality. The development will attract nearly 800,000 visitors a year and will create more than 1,150 new jobs.
- A £50 million grant will help create a new direct train service, linking 4 of Cornwall’s largest urban areas: Newquay, St Austell, Truro, and Falmouth/Penryn. This will level up access to jobs, skills, education, and amenities in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas in the UK.
- There is £5.1 million to build new female changing rooms in 20 rugby clubs across Northern Ireland.
