Dear Sir,

This week the DCC Economy Scrutiny Committee considered EU Funding, which has previously provided invaluable support to the county (as a ‘Transition Region’, County Durham’s allocation was £155 million – which had been expected to double over the next few years).

EU grants were targeted at deprivation and decarbonisation. In County Durham, they funded such as the DurhamWorks programme (which has supported more than five thousand 16-24-year-olds into work); the Business Energy Efficiency Programme (which has saved money for hundreds of small businesses); a ‘County Durham Growth Fund’; housing retrofit schemes; and many more.

LOSING EU FUNDING

The government promised that, after Brexit, it would replace this EU funding; what that promise means, this year, is a pilot ‘Community Renewal Fund’, which asks DCC to collect, shortlist and submit (by 18 June) competitive bids to a maximum of £3 million for the County as a whole.

Entirely separately, addressing its promise also to tackle regional inequalities, the government has announced a ‘Levelling Up Fund’, by which County Durham will be able to make six competitive bids for up to £20 million each for transport and regeneration.

There is no guarantee that the County’s bids will succeed. And it is worth noting that, even if County Durham is successful in achieving the maximum from all these funding pots, at £123 million it will still fall well short of our previous EU funding.

Unfortunately also, the levelling-up scheme is attracting criticism for political partiality – Rishi Sunak’s seat of Richmond, the 83rd/533 richest constituency in the country, is included in the scheme, and an analysis of the chosen constituencies has found that they are overwhelmingly Tory.

TARGETING THE FUNDING

Paul Howell MP graciously made it clear in the Newton News last week that this is not his money to spend. He then went on to say that he intends to focus it on the town centre.

Apart from ‘immediately-shovelling-money-into-private-business-pockets’ being wearisomely Tory, it will be difficult to work up from nothing a successful £20 million bid by the government’s deadline for ‘priority-schemes’ of 18 June.

And I would wonder whether we might not consider other targets for a £20 million fund aimed at transport and regeneration? The obvious ‘shovel-ready’ scheme would be the South-West Durham tourism/ economic/ community regeneration programme developing around the Stockton & Darlington Railway Bicentenary, which is part of my Cabinet Support Economic Regeneration brief.

Or – if instead we waited until the government’s 2024/25 final deadline “for larger schemes” – why not try for the Rail Freight Interchange at Forrest Park and/or an upgrade to the C35, as an enabling transport package for Aycliffe Business Park?

I would urge all parties to use this opportunity to build a lasting economic infrastructure for the benefit of local business.

John D Clare