Stockport council bosses have reacted with dismay after multi-million pound bids to improve leisure and active travel in the borough were overlooked in the latest round of ‘levelling up’ funding. Coun Colin MacAlister, the council’s regeneration chief, has branded the decision ‘a joke’ and hit out at the government for awarding millions to areas in the South East - as well as handing £19m to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Richmond constituency.
The borough made a £15m bid for a new leisure and community hub in Marple, whose residents have been without facilities since its baths shut in 2018. Although it was turned down in 2021, leaders were encouraged to resubmit strengthened proposals following feedback from the government.
A further bid to improve access to jobs in the town centre by creating 'high quality' cycle route from the interchange and train station - as well as enhancing walking and cycling links from Edgeley and Romiley - was also unsuccessful. This was part of a £49.8m transport package submitted in conjunction with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and the combined authority.
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Speaking at a town hall scrutiny meeting on Thursday, Coun MacAlister said the proposals put forward were ‘extremely strong’ and he was ‘extremely disappointed’ by how the £2.1bn pot of money had been distributed. “Rest assured, they were very, very robust - and bids which would have benefited the people of Stockport, for the town centre bid, and the wider conurbation because it wasn’t just Stockport centre residents who would have benefited, it would have been the wider residents,” he said.
He also expressed huge disappointment over the failure of the Marple bid. “The people of Marple and the surrounding area would have extremely benefited from the new hub there that was proposed,” he said. “We are really, really disappointed, I can’t say that enough."
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service before the meeting, he said the transport decision was more understandable as ‘there were lots of similar bids’. But he added: “Equally, it would have helped regeneration in one of the most deprived wards in the north west of England. So, as far as ‘levelling up’ is concerned, where is it?
“It looks like most of the money has gone to the South East.” Coun MacAlister admitted seeing Marple miss out for a second time had come as a real blow.
“Marple hub is the really disappointing one for me,” he said. “As far as that is concerned we are going to have to make sure we look at how we can go forward from this. It’s unacceptable that people in Marple have been denied swimming for the last five years.
“It’s really disappointing. It was really disappointing when the previous administration shut Marple baths but there was always hope that we could get new facilities from the government - but we have been let down by them, now.”
Coun MacAlister said the council would now have to explore how it could take forward the proposal itself. He said: “It’s not just a baths, it’s leisure facilities and community facilities. It’s a hub for part of the borough and a much-needed one. We are going to have to seriously look at how can do it - likely a much more scaled down version.”
The Marple South and High Lane councillor also attacked the government over it handling of this funding round, claiming the north had been ‘shafted’. “I have not seen the actual rationale behind it. It looks as though [Levelling Up Secretary Michael] Gove has got a significant amount of money in the South East and London - which is a joke as far as ‘levelling up’ goes,” he said.
“What does the South East need to be levelled up from? Levelling Up is to bring much needed resources into the north. But what Gove has done? my first indications are he is just bolstering up the South East blue wall which they are terrified of losing seats on.”
He added: “I don’t think it’s going to save the government, it’s really disappointing, it seems like the north has been shafted again.”
His anger and disappointment were shared by Coun Steve Gribbon, who said he was ‘beyond livid’ about the way the funding had been shared out.
The Marple North councillor said: “When I see where bids have gone - including to the Prime Minister’s own area it’s just astonishing. We have put so much effort into this. We were rejected once [in the first round of funding] and told to bid on the basis of the quality of the first bid.
“And then we got knocked back again.”
He also noted that several places across Greater Manchester - including Wythenshawe, Bolton and Oldham - had also missed out.
“It’s an absolute disgrace,” he said. “Essentially a £19m bid has gone to the Prime Minister’s constituency. If you live in the South East the majority of it has gone their way.
“Very, very few places in our area have got anything at all.”
The government has defended the distribution of 'levelling up' funding in the latest round.
Michael Gove said it was 'simply untrue' that monies had been focused disproportionately in London and the South East, insisting that the north and East Midlands had benefited the most 'per capita'.
Mr Sunak has defended the latest allocation of monies, claiming two thirds of the funding was going to the most deprived parts of the country. He also said the award to his constituency would benefit armed forces personnel at Catterick Garrison.
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