Telford council leader challenges government over 'low priority' for Levelling Up Fund

Councillor Shaun Davies wrote to Robert Jenrick, the minister for housing, communities and local government, expressing concern over the recent categorisation of Telford as being in the group with the lowest priority access to the cash.

The categorisation relates to the Government’s £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, published in its March budget, which saw Telford’s neighbouring boroughs categorised as higher priority.

Telford is in the lowest priority category three, while Shropshire is in level two and nearby Wolverhampton is in the highest-priority level one along with the rest of the Black Country.

In his letter to Mr Jenrick, Labour leader Councillor Davies expressed the council and its partners’ frustrations at the "surprising" category three announcement.

Councillor Davies said: “We are profoundly concerned about the immediate impact on our growth plans and the long-term implications of the borough being identified as a low priority by the government.

“One quarter of Telford’s 108 neighbourhoods are in the 20 per cent most deprived nationally and, of those, 16 per cent are within the 10 per cent most deprived.

“Our bafflement at the categorisation is further underscored when we look at our surrounding neighbours. Our Marches LEP partners (Herefordshire and Shropshire) are both category two, despite strong recognition by the LEP that Telford is home to the areas of greatest need and challenge.

“Our neighbours in the Black Country (Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley and Sandwell) have all been designated category one for the Levelling Up Fund, despite having comparable and in the case of Dudley, lower overall levels of deprivation than Telford.

“The council and our partners in the business community are extremely concerned about the implications of Telford not being able to progress its immediate plans and having to wait for an opportunity to bring forward its Levelling Up proposals.

"In the meantime, our neighbours will have priority access to resources. This risks drawing vital private sector investment away from our area despite the evident need and opportunity we represent.

“We urge government to review this situation.”