New levelling up funding of £1 billion has been awarded to 55 projects across the UK, to develop better transport links and kick-start regeneration in town centres.
The Government said this third and final round of its flagship Levelling Up Fund will spread opportunity, create jobs and revitalise local communities.
Successful schemes were chosen from the pool of bids that narrowly missed out on funding in round two but were assessed as high quality and able to deliver quickly.
Cllr Martin Tett, Chairman of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: “This funding will provide a much-needed boost to regeneration projects in communities across the country.
“It is positive to see that places that had been overlooked in previous rounds have been included on the strength of their previous bids and that culture is given the extra recognition it deserves in strengthening pride-in-place.
“Streamlining the long list of local funding pots, reducing the need for costly funding competitions and allocating funds based on robust evidence have been long-held asks of local government. It is good that these calls have been heard.”
Meanwhile, a report from the National Audit Office into levelling up funding has found that projects are behind where government expected them to be, and it is unlikely that councils will be able to complete projects by the original deadlines.
The LGA said inflation, rising construction costs, and supply and skills shortages have all contributed to delays and called for more joined-up funding to be made available to every part of the country.
