West Midlands gets £155m for levelling up projects

Almost £155m will be spent on building homes, improving transport and boosting the arts across the West Midlands.

Leek, in Staffordshire, will see its town centre modernised at a cost of £17.1m while almost £20m will be spent improving public transport in Hereford.

Almost £20m will be spent in both Telford, in Shropshire, and Malvern, Worcestershire, on a theatre remodel and new outdoor theatre respectively.

And a £20m project in Rowley Regis will see a new leisure centre built.

The eight projects had been awarded a share of £2.1bn from round two of the government's levelling up fund, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said.

Eddie Hughes, Conservative MP for Walsall North, welcomed the decision to award "vital" funding to Willenhall, which will see 500 homes built as part of a project linking up a new railway station.

"The idea that we might make the best of linking together green spaces with high quality, very energy efficient new homes, helping businesses to develop in the area is going to be very exciting for Willenhall," he said.

"I'm just so delighted on behalf of myself and the 28,000 residents in Willenhall, because this is very exciting news for us."

West Midlands' Tory Mayor Andy Street called to an end to Whitehall's "broken begging bowl culture" after the majority of bids in the region were turned down.

Five bids from Birmingham were rejected in a move criticised by Liam Byrne, Labour MP for Hodge Hill.

"Birmingham has the worst unemployment in Britain and the highest rates of child poverty and fuel poverty," he said.

"Yet today the Tories rejected all of Birmingham's five bids for levelling up - and handed millions to the Rishi Sunak's patch instead. It's pure self-interest over the national interest."

The leader of Coventry City Council also lamented the government's decision-making after the city was also overlooked.

The government defended the awards, with the prime minister saying the money awarded to his constituency would benefit armed forces at Catterick Garrison.

George Duggins, leader of Labour-run Coventry City Council, said the local authority had submitted three bids totalling almost £58m but none had been successful.

Two were to help improve two of the city's most disadvantaged areas, Foleshill and Hillfields, and a third was to help create a new cultural gateway into the city centre.

"I have always been sceptical of the concept of levelling up as I felt that it was just a meaningless slogan and today's announcement has confirmed that," he said.

The council said it had seen a reduction of £110m a year in government funding since 2010.

Coventry was UK City of Culture in 2021 and received £18m in funding from the government and other funders while generating £170m.

Shropshire Council, while welcoming the decision to award £18.7m to regenerate Shrewsbury town centre, said it was disappointed "much needed" schemes in Oswestry and Craven Arms had been turned down.

There was also disappointment yet another bid for cash to overhaul the "ailing" public transport system in the county had been rejected.

This looks a lot less like the levelling-up announcements we've come to expect.

Investment in relatively leafy parts of the region, while hugely important for those communities, are somewhat removed from the government's stated aim of driving productivity and creating jobs in communities historically left behind.

Perhaps that's why ministers are making visits in parts of the south and north of England today, but not here in the West Midlands.

As ever with these funding rounds there are winners and losers.

In Coventry the council leader has hit out at grants awarded in London and the south while its bids were rejected for a second time.

Nothing also for the UK's second city, despite all five of the areas with the highest unemployment in the country being found in Birmingham.

In Hereford, the £19.9m will improve cycle lanes and station facilities, while money for Leek will see Victorian market halls revamped, an upgraded local library, museum and exhibition space and a new swimming pool.

Shrewsbury will receive £18.1m to help speed up regeneration of brownfield land near Smithfield Road into a new waterside development.

The A38 and A511 in Staffordshire will also be improved as part of a £19.8m scheme.

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