In competitions, there are always winners and losers. Since the Government announced this week which areas of the UK it would be pouring millions into, it is the losers that seem to have dominated the conversation.
Because it is no ordinary contest when the losers include multi-million-pound projects in deprived areas. We've had many winners across Nottinghamshire from the second round of the Government's Levelling Up Fund, but one losing project stood out as vividly as its physical self does in the heart of Nottingham.
The Broad Marsh project has the potential to create thousands of local jobs in a city with much to be proud of, but with much deprivation, too. Surely, here was a prime example of what levelling up is supposedly all about.
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Here we have a former shopping centre which, like all similar venues, struggled before and amid the coronavirus lockdown. In its place, Nottingham City Council wants to create a much more forward-looking retail and business space, complemented by a vast area of lush, green parkland.
As many political and business leaders have pointed out, the economic potential of this project is enormous. This isn't simply about making Nottingham more aesthetically pleasing, this is about bringing employment, investment and environmentalism to the heart of one of the region's most important cities.
Despite the frequency with which the term has been deployed by senior figures in Westminster over the last few years, many outside of the political bubble remain unfamiliar with what levelling up really means. Ultimately, nobody will ever know what it means until they can actually see something physical in their local area which is improving the lives of the people living and working in it.
Nottingham City Council says it is still committed to delivering the project in full, but could there have been a better opportunity to provide such a tangible example of levelling up than the Broad Marsh? That is a question which brings us back to the theme of competition.
We're certainly not shy of a good contest in this country, but the kind of competition that the Government has been running is now leaving a sour taste. If we're to think about this debate under the terms by which the Levelling Up Fund is operated, then to argue that Nottingham should have received millions this week is to argue that Worksop, Mansfield, Sutton-in-Ashfield and Kimberley should not have.
Whether or not you live in Nottingham, it's easy to recognise that to argue for investment not going to places such as Worksop is a deeply uncomfortable one to make. For many who have analysed the Government's decision-making over the last few days, they would argue that Worksop only received £20 million because it has a Conservative MP.
Anyone seriously looking at where levelling up money has been allocated would have to conclude that the above argument is too simplistic. The story of Worksop is one that is much more complex than that it simply has a Conservative MP.
For a start, according to 2019 data, one area of the town was amongst the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. No matter its current political representation, Worksop is surely a hugely deserving recipient of Government money.
Yet looking at some of the other areas where levelling up money has been allocated, the cynicism expressed by many starts to look better placed. Rutland has been given £20 million despite some areas of that county being at the opposite end of the deprivation spectrum to Worksop, with many being amongst the 10% least deprived neighbourhoods in England.
But of course, people in Rutland will still argue that the place they call home is deserving of investment, and who wouldn't argue that for their own area? Ultimately, we can go round the houses on which areas deserve expensive projects and which don't until one answer eventually comes to the fore - these are decisions which are probably not best made by people in Whitehall.
It is our local authorities packed with people who know their communities inside out who are surely the best placed to make such drastic calls on major infrastructure. The Government has indeed shown much understanding of this recently, with its promise of more powers and money under the East Midlands devolution deal. But in terms of local authority funding, Nottingham City Council says that households in its area have lost almost £700 in total of national funding on average since 2010.
Nottingham City Council certainly has much work to do in terms of its own finances, and we have previously argued that its past errors have to be reflected in any serious analysis of where the authority is at. But Councillor David Mellen, the council's leader, has pointed out that the Government's Levelling Up Fund decision cannot simply be about a lack of trust in Nottingham City Council given the millions it has previously received from several funding programmes in recent years.
It is therefore very hard to work out why some areas have lost out and why some areas have gained from this week's process. Councillor Mellen says detail from the Government on why Nottingham lost has so far been scant.
But as pointed out at the beginning, the Levelling Up Fund is a contest and that means there has to be losers. When councils have been asked to invest time and money in their bids, when the hopes of deprived areas have been raised to new heights by proposed projects, it is hard for the losing areas to take this week's news in their stride.
The areas of Nottinghamshire that received a combined £57 million this week will rightly be delighted with the funding they have been given, all of which will make a huge difference to the people there. But as many continue to struggle with the cost of living and councils continue to struggle with huge cuts, the Government cannot surely expect gratitude to be the only emotion felt across the UK after this week's announcement.
Its decision has left some areas with millions of pounds and projects that give them hope for the future. But it has also left many more areas disappointed, angry, and wondering why the Government doesn't think they are good enough.
As talk of a third round of the Levelling Up Fund already gets underway, it seems that the time is right for the Government to take a serious look at the way it is being organised. After all, is this kind of division really the legacy that the Government wants for its levelling up agenda?
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