Suffolk MPs and councillors have spoken of their "bitter disappointment" after the county missed out on millions of pounds of Government Levelling Up funding, meaning vital regeneration projects could have to be scrapped.
A new sports, gymnastics and athletics centre would have been built in place of the existing Gainsborough Sports Centre in Ipswich, while the town’s £18million bid would also have funded improvements to reopen Broomhill Lido.
Now the "viability" of both of these projects will have to be reviewed, according to Ipswich Borough Council leader David Ellesmere, after the bid was not included among 100 recipients of a share of £2.1billion in round 2 of the Levelling Up grants announced by the Government.
East Suffolk Council’s bid for funding for improvements to Lowestoft’s Jubilee Parade was also refused, while Suffolk County Council had sought money for transport and bus service improvements.
However, neighbouring counties fared much better, with Essex receiving £40m for regeneration projects, including nearly £20m to Colchester City Council to redevelop the St Botolph area and provide new cycle routes connecting the city centre, while step-free access is also planned to the station.
Tendring District Council also received nearly £20m for 28 new affordable homes to be built on brownfield land and a new library and adult learning space.
Meanwhile, projects in Norfolk received £44m, including nearly £20m to revitalise Great Yarmouth’s North Quay gateway and £24m for a sustainable transport and regeneration scheme in King’s Lynn.
Mr Ellesmere said: "The council is bitterly disappointed that the Government has turned down our Levelling Up bid.
"The bid would have enabled Broomhill Lido to have been brought back to life and a new sports, athletics and gymnastics centre to have been developed at Gainsborough.
"We and our partners will now need to review the viability of both these projects. While we won’t rush into any decisions, there is no disguising that this is a significant setback.
"It is doubly disappointing that Suffolk County Council’s Ipswich-focused Levelling Up bid has also been refused by the Government.”
Ipswich MP Tom Hunt said: “I'm disappointed and feel pretty bruised following the news we weren't successful in the Levelling Up fund bidding process.
“I lent my full support to the bid and raised it in parliament on a number of occasions, even at Prime Minister's Questions, so this is clearly a setback.
“This was a very competitive bidding process and from what I can see, more areas have missed out than have been successful.”
He pledged to work with fellow Suffolk MP Dan Poulter, who represents Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, to look for other opportunities for funding for Broomhill lido.
Mr Poulter said: “Unfortunately it took longer than anticipated to put the bid together due to areas of disagreement between the county and borough councils, which meant that we weren’t in the strongest position going into discussions with the Government.
"Early feedback which I have received suggests that there were some technical deficiencies in what was put to Government.
“While this is disappointing news, I remain optimistic that the borough and county councils will work hard to put these right in order that we will be well placed to succeed in the next round of bidding.”
Mark Ling, chair of Broomhill Pool Trust, said the lido’s element of the Ipswich bid would have been £2.8m to pay for a diving board and a retractable boom to divide the pool.
However, he said now the trust’s stakeholders are going to have to seek money from other sources.
He said: "This is a hugely disappointing outcome, yet we appreciate the tremendous efforts of Ipswich Borough Council and our MPs.
"With 75% of Broomhill’s funding already committed, an outstanding community asset with wide public and cross-party support, this bid should have ticked every box.
"Unfortunately, 65% of 2021 bids failed to secure funding and this 2022 pot was triple oversubscribed.”
Paul West, the county council’s cabinet member for Ipswich, operational highways and flooding, said: “We are of course disappointed that Suffolk’s bid was unsuccessful, but are hardly surprised given that Suffolk is not a high priority area in the Levelling Up funding criteria and only one-fifth of the 525 bids across the country were successful.
“We will continue to fight for funding for projects we feel should get support. We’ve already secured a proposed county deal with Government, worth an extra £500 million over three decades and Ipswich and Lowestoft have secured up to £25 million from the Government’s town fund.”
Waveney MP Peter Aldous said: “It is disappointing that the bid for the Lowestoft Seafront Jubilee Parade was not successful and I’d like to thank the team at East Suffolk Council for all their work in preparing the bid.
“It is important to get feedback as to why the bid was not successful, so that we can learn from this for the next round.
“It may also be appropriate to re-examine the criteria that bids have to satisfy, as to whether these are best suited to leveraging in private sector investment and securing meaningful levelling up.”
Jack Abbott, Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Ipswich, said: “This is a real hammer blow for Ipswich and has put these crucial projects at risk.
"It is yet another example of the town's current MPs failing to deliver - the Conservatives treat Ipswich as a complete afterthought.
"Don't forget this is in the broader context of brutal cuts to Suffolk's councils - since 2010, the Conservatives have slashed more than £250 million of annual funding. This has led to the loss of so many of our precious public services.
"I'm absolutely fed up with this Hunger Games approach to funding, where our councils are having to go cap in hand to the Conservative government, to compete with other areas which have also been starved of cash.”
But Colchester City Council leader David King said: “Great news that our great Colchester city team have won £19.66m Levelling Up funding that will help the look, feel and vitality of the St Botolph area.
“Thanks to them and support from county partners and Will Quince MP. Another step in the renewal of our great city.”
Tendring District Council leader Neil Stock said the funding was a "tremendous success".
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