High Peak MP Robert Largan has expressed his disappointment at High Peak Borough Council’s failure to secure £20 million in investment from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities confirmed today that the Council’s bid was not successful. The Labour Council’s bid was assessed by independent civil servants on a range of criteria and scored poorly on the measures used to prioritise funding applications.
As a result, the bid was not even shortlisted by independent officials for ministerial approval.
High Peak Borough Council proposed building a new leisure centre and wellbeing hub on the old Glossopdale School site on Talbot Road. The bid also included plans to restore Victoria Hall and secure the building’s future.
In June 2021, the Labour-run Council missed the deadline for submitting a bid to the first round of funding from the Levelling Up Fund.
Mr Largan met with the Council in March 2021 to discuss how they could work together on a bid for High Peak. This followed the local MP’s successful lobbying of the Government to designate High Peak as one of the top priority areas for the Levelling Up Fund.
He then attempted to meet with the Council on multiple occasions, repeatedly chasing the Leader of the Council, Anthony Mckeown, before finally being offered a meeting on 7 June 2021 – just days before the deadline of 18 June. At this meeting, the Council disclosed to Mr Largan that they would not be submitting a bid.
A second round of funding with an initial deadline of 20 July 2022 was later announced by the Government. After considerable pressure from Mr Largan, High Peak Borough Council agreed to submit a bid.
However, the local MP was excluded from key moments in decision making process for the bid.
Despite meeting with the Council on multiple occasions and chasing them on 5 July, 7 July, 14 July, and 18 July, Mr Largan did not receive a copy of the Council’s full bid until the 22 July - just a few days before the extended final deadline of 2 August 2022.
In multiple meetings with Mr Largan, across 2021 and 2022, High Peak Borough Council repeatedly stated that their favoured option was to bid for funding to build a badly needed railway station at Gamesley, which on some measures is in the top 1% most deprived areas in the country.
During a meeting on 8 June 2022, Transport for Greater Manchester (who would be the key stakeholder in any project to deliver Gamesley station) disclosed to Mr Largan that High Peak Borough Council had at no stage indicated any interest in a possible Levelling Up Fund bid for Gamesley Station.
It was only a very late stage in the process that High Peak Borough Council settled on a bid for a new leisure centre and wellbeing hub. Despite the urging of Mr Largan, the Council did little to engage with the local NHS to fully explore the health aspect of the proposals, which would have significantly strengthened the bid.
The Government provided more than £100,000 to help High Peak Borough Council develop a Levelling Up Fund bid. It is unclear how much of this money has actually been spent by High Peak Borough Council.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities has confirmed that there will be a further opportunity to secure investment from the Levelling Up Fund.
Robert Largan, MP for High Peak, commented:
“I am bitterly disappointed by the announcement today that High Peak Borough Council have yet again failed to secure £20 million in investment from the Levelling Up Fund.
“The Labour-run Council dragged their feet on every key decision – missing the deadline for the first round of funding – and excluded me from key moments in the decision-making process entirely. I had to consistently push the Council to meet the required deadlines and to properly engage with local residents and key stakeholders.
“This was an historic opportunity for High Peak. It has sadly been squandered by Labour’s incompetence.
“Thankfully, the Government has confirmed that there will be another chance to secure Levelling Up funding for High Peak. Again, I’ll do my best to work on a cross-party basis to develop a stronger bid – putting our case to the highest levels of government – to try and secure this funding.”
