Yesterday, the Government announced the results from the second round of bids to the Levelling Up Fund. I was very disappointed to learn that the bid submitted by Gedling Borough Council was not successful.
Sadly, Gedling has been unsuccessful across a number of funding pots over a period of time under different Prime Ministers, different Secretaries of State and different Members of Parliament for Gedling.
When I became Member of Parliament for Gedling, I secured meetings with ministers and Whitehall civil servants to try to get a better understanding of why bids made by Gedling Borough Council before I became an MP had failed. The feedback from the first round bid to the Levelling Up Fund, in 2021, was that it failed because the Council's bid was disparate and insufficiently compelling.
Gedling‘s Levelling-Up Fund bid was devised by, written by, and submitted by Labour-run Gedling Borough Council. It's disappointing to see Gedling fail when neighbouring boroughs, including Broxtowe, Ashfield, Mansfield and Bassetlaw have succeeded.
There will be a third round of bids to the Levelling Up Fund. It is important that Gedling Borough Council learns the lessons from previous failed bids - and from those neighbouring Councils that have been successful - so that the Council is in the strongest position possible next time. In the House of Commons yesterday I asked the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities minister for a meeting to discuss this history of failed bids to get a better understanding of where things are going wrong.
