Levelling up: York projects get nothing from Government fund

City of York Council had applied for £10 million for the Castle Gateway project and £10 million for Parliament Street, Coney Street and the Riverside Quarter developments as part of the second round of funding applications.

Finance and major projects chief Cllr Nigel Ayre said it was “incredibly disappointing that the government has failed to see the potential of the excellent project bids submitted”.

But Labour MP Rachael Maskell said York’s bid was “not really levelling up” and should instead have focused on areas of the city with greater deprivation.

“Our Lib Dem-Green council have blown it for York because they had a great opportunity here to really put in a bid which would have transformed people’s lives and made a real difference,” the York Central MP said. “But in homing in on a pet project they clearly haven’t achieved the aim.”

The council also submitted a £5 million bid for active travel and accessibility works around the proposed Haxby Station.

Members of parliament were allowed to support one of their council’s bids as part of the process. Ms Maskell said she had written a statement which was “more of a critique” of the £20 million city centre bid, but said she had learnt that this was not ultimately submitted to the government.

An impression of the Eye of York

York Labour group leader Cllr Claire Douglas said the council had “put all its eggs in the levelling up fund basket” when it came to flagship projects.

“That gamble has failed and now, with costs spiralling out of control, they appear unable to deliver the projects they previously boasted about,” she added.

The council re-submitted the bid it lost out on in round one of the funding – with some refinements – after receiving “positive” feedback and being encouraged to do so by the government.

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York is part of the lowest priority areas list in the government’s levelling up fund process, though a small number of areas in the same band have received funding.

Council leader Cllr Keith Aspden said the news was “disappointing”.

“Regrettably the government has not recognised that York faces some serious challenges and shares with other areas across the North of England the need for targeted investment in the city’s future,” he added.

“Nevertheless, we remain committed to moving forwards and delivering these transformational projects for the benefit of our city and communities.

“The projects continue to make progress, and following this announcement, we will be reviewing the business cases and looking at all available options to deliver these ambitious projects.

“Other internal and external sources of funding will be considered, following which a report will be taken to the council’s executive to agree the next steps.”

Labour and the Liberal Democrats were, however, united in their criticism of the levelling up funding process.

Cllr Ayre called it an “exercise in pork-barrel politics”, while Ms Maskell described it as “sticking plaster pots of money”.

Luke Charters, the Labour candidate for York Outer, said: “Once again York has been left behind by the Conservatives."

York Outer’s Conservative MP Julian Sturdy said: "It is incredibly disappointing that both of York's bids were unsuccessful - the riverside redevelopment would revitalise the city centre economy and the active travel routes would have only added to the success of Haxby Railway Station.

"Detailed feedback is provided to all unsuccessful bids so I hope to work with City of York Council and stakeholders across the city to ensure future bids have a better outcome. The future of York is bright with York Central, Castle Gateway, a new railway station at Haxby and many more developments delivering for our city's residents."

Rishi Sunak said on Thursday that the north of England was “disproportionately” benefitting from levelling up funding and denied suggestions schemes were being picked to shore up support for Tory MPs.