Plymouth Levelling Up rejection "shocking"

Labour cross. Tories say city on its way up.

Plymouth’s failure to secure £20 million of Levelling Up funds in the latest round of the government scheme has been described by Labour as a “shocking rejection by the Conservatives of our city’s ambitious plans.” 

The council had bid for some of the £2.1  billion being distributed nationally in order to expand Millbay docks into a freight port, upgrade Tinside Pool and improve the Stonehouse area.  But when the successful bids were announced on Thursday, Plymouth was not among them.  

Plymouth Labour leader and councillor for Ham, Tudor Evans, said: “This is a huge disappointment for Plymouth and I can’t help but agree with Lisa Nandy, who is the shadow levelling up secretary, who is calling for an end to, what she calls, the ‘Hunger Games’ style of handing out levelling up funding. 

“She calls it ‘absurd’ and she is absolutely right. 

“We have lost 60p in every pound of local government funding since 2010; that’s more than £600 million this city has been deprived of.

“While the prime minister’s affluent constituency gets nearly £20 million, we here in Plymouth get nothing. Two of the projects we were hoping to fund are in two of the most disadvantaged wards, not just in the city but in the country. 

“This is a shocking rejection by the Conservatives of our city’s ambitious plans and I am really angry about it.”  

However Tory council leader Richard Bingley, who represents Southway, highlighted previous funding achievements.  

“We’ve been highly successful over many years in winning multiple bids for regeneration funding,” he said. “Freeport funding and status, Marine Park funding and, recently, increased Arts Council funding.”

But he admitted Thursday’s announcement was disappointing and added: “I will be writing to relevant ministers to emphasise the importance of the plans we had to expand Millbay Port infrastructure, enhance defence and marine innovation, and the repurposing several derelict assets for skills and training use. 

“We will continue to lobby for this investment because it is in the best interests of Plymouth, where wages are substantially lower than the national average.” 

Meanwhile, Tory MP for Plymouth Moor View, Johnny Mercer, speaking during a Facebook Live event on Thursday, is optimistic the city will pick up. 

“We were doing so well,” he said. “Then the pandemic came. Really difficult. And now we’re on an upward curve again. 

“You know, there were never more jobs in Plymouth than there were before the pandemic. The median living wage … living standards … have never been as good as they were before the pandemic. 

“The challenge now is to get right back there and make that felt.”  

Last summer Plymouth City Council bid for £19,946,417 of Levelling Up funds to unlock a overall £43.5 million package of infrastructure projects including plans to upgrade Tinside pool and improve safety.