Row over towns in £3.6bn funds share
Marginals on list even though ‘low priority’
REGENERATION: Four towns in marginal constituencies were chosen to share part of a £3.6bn regeneration fund despite being deemed ‘low-priority’ under the Government’s own criteria, says a watchdog’s report.
Stocksbridge, Brighouse, Todmorden and Morley were all in battleground seats at last year’s General Election.
FOUR YORKSHIRE towns in marginal constituencies were chosen to share part of a £3.6bn regeneration fund despite being deemed ‘low-priority’ under the Government’s own criteria, a watchdog’s report has revealed.
Stocksbridge, Brighouse, Todmorden and Morley, all of which were in battleground seats at last year’s General Election, were among the 16 Yorkshire towns invited to bid for up to £25m from the Towns Fund last year.
But a report by the National Audit Office said that they were among the towns selected for the £3.6bn scheme despite getting a low score on the criteria used by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to decide which areas most needed the money.
Labour says there “are now serious concerns that Ministers may have allocated funding for political gain” at the 2019 General Election, where the Conservation.
tives won a swathe of seats across Yorkshire. And a Yorkshire MP representing a town that missed out, Yvette Cooper, said it showed that “the Tories have been playing political games to help their mates instead”.
But the Government denies claims that nine out of 10 towns were ruled out with no explana
A spokesman said: “There were many factors to consider in the selection of towns and we are confident the process we took was comprehensive, robust and fair.”
In total 101 towns across England were chosen to bid for up to £25m from the Towns Fund last September, with the amount of money ultimately awarded depending on the strength of investment plans drawn up locally.
The Government says it will help local leaders “transform their town’s economic growth prospects with a focus on improved transport, broadband connectivity, skills and culture”.
The Yorkshire towns of Castleford, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Goldthorpe, Keighley, Rotherham, Scarborough and Stainforth were selected automatically after being graded as high priority. Brighouse, Morley, Stocksbridge and Todmorden were chosen despite being rated as ‘low-priority’ and Goole, Shipley, Wakefield and Whitby made the list after being ranked as ‘medium-priority’.