Parliament has a two-week recess over Easter, where MPs don’t go into Westminster. This provides time for more constituency focus, as MPs don’t have to be thinking about Westminster meetings or votes. I will therefore take the opportunity to talk about the Levelling Up Fund, why it is important to us, how it could help Aycliffe Town Centre and important considerations if we are to take the maximum advantage from it locally.

First though, a short round up of recent meetings. A highlight of the week was being able to join the fabulous Play Café team to pack and distribute some Easter treats. I was also able to catch up with Bewick Crescent Surgery where we discussed the amazing performance of the vaccine roll out in Aycliffe, amongst other things. I met virtually with Barclays about the closure of the Aycliffe branch and expressed my disappointment at their actions, but the decision is taken due to a very low footfall, even before the pandemic. I have more meetings planned with Barclays and having walked past and seen the queue outside on Wednesday, I will be challenging this further. They have assured me they will reach out and help all of their customers who need in-branch services which, they assure me, can all be covered via the Post Office. If Barclays closes it of course does not help the town centre, and its amenities, and means we only have the TSB and Halifax banks left. On a more positive note I had another meeting with the DCC officers about the Town Centre and the Levelling Up Fund.

What is the Levelling Up Fund? What could we create? How does it work? Who makes decisions? How do we influence it?

What is it? The Levelling Up Fund (LUF) is a fund of £4.8b announced by the Chancellor in his budget to focus on the highest priority local projects. It is a cross department fund, focusing on the needs of places rather than narrowly defined pots. It is open to every local area, it has local stakeholder support, including the MP, at the heart of its mission and it sits alongside a number of other interventions all designed to support levelling up.

What could we do? I would like to see how we could use this opportunity to reimagine our Town Centre. I believe it could be remodelled to be more of a heart to the town. I would propose structural changes to make it more welcoming combined with a changed usage. I believe we have the opportunity to create a community led space which would work for a day and night-time economy with hospitality complemented by local shops. I would suggest that we could encourage a community hub and maybe more bars and sit-in food places, and possibly a small cinema or theatre could be the anchor to support these? They are my thoughts and I welcome other ideas.

How does it work? A local authority, in our case Durham County Council, can make a number of bids. The number is determined by the number of MP’s they have, and each MP can only have one bid that they nominate as a priority. There are further considerations where, like for me in Sedgefield, a constituency crosses local authority boundaries. The fund will invest in projects that require up to £20m of funding or, by exception, up to £50m for transport projects. This is a competitive fund and whilst my initial thought is for Aycliffe Town Centre, I fully expect to get other considerations from elsewhere in my patch and it will be about delivery as well as need. If we end up with DCC and I pulling in different directions (I am concerned we have already had a Labour Councillor saying we should not use this fund on the Town Centre), then it is possible my support will be more effective elsewhere in my constituency. I want to put my support somewhere where I believe it will most likely be a successful bid and make a tangible difference to my constituents.

Who decides? The local authority decides what bid (or bids) it wants to submit. It is more likely to be favourably considered with more stakeholder support, particularly the MP, but DCC will decide what to submit. In the case of a bid to help the Town Centre it would also be helped by local public and councillor support. A successful bid will therefore be more likely where the local authority and MP are committed to a project backed by the local community.

How do we influence it? I have made initial proposals to DCC that I believe Aycliffe Town Centre could be a prime target for this fund. The officers at DCC are working on this and other considerations both around Aycliffe and elsewhere in my constituency and we will discuss options soon. There is also a clear need to ensure that any proposal is developed in conjunction with the owners of the Town Centre and that any application of public funding delivers value for residents. Decisions cannot be finally made whilst the County Councillor elections are in place, but options can be scoped out for consideration after May 5th. The bids from DCC will, of course, be influenced by whoever our County Councillors are and who controls the Council and whether they are interested in Aycliffe Town Centre. I will produce a questionnaire in the next few weeks to see what people think, as, after all, this opportunity is for all of us and we need everyone’s views.

The vaccine roll out continues at pace with £31.6m people having had their first vaccination and we remain on track for all over 18’s to have had a first dose offered by the end of July. The take up rate of vaccines offered remains very high and is a key critical platform for opening up to continue, so please when you are offered your jab make sure you accept it. This also applies to your second jab, which is an important booster. We are seeing very good news in terms of reducing hospitalisations and death rates and it is important that as we reach the younger adults, they also take up the vaccinations as, whilst they are likely to be less affected by the virus, they can still spread it to their older friends and relatives. We have had the latest announcements confirming that on 12 April indoor leisure, libraries and community centres will open for individual or household groups and personal care, all retail and outdoor attractions can open. You can also stay away overnight in the UK in self contained accommodation but international holidays are not yet allowed. We also need to remember the rule of six continues and we should still be following the Hands, Face, Space rules.

Stay Safe

Paul Howell

Member of Parliament for Sedgefield