A coastal town has been left disappointed after being overlooked in a bid for levelling up funds as part of an ambitious £4.3m seafront vision.
Waveney MP Peter Aldous said it was "disappointing" that Lowestoft has been snubbed in the government's latest Levelling Up funding round.
With the government announcing this week the 100 schemes that would receive a share of £2.1bn in round two of the Levelling Up grants, Suffolk missed out altogether on millions of pounds of funding.
East Suffolk Council had bid for funding for improvements along the seafront at Lowestoft’s Jubilee Parade, while Suffolk County Council had sought money for transport and bus service improvements.
It means that the county council will now have to "review the viability" of the projects, while East Suffolk "will continue" with "preliminary work on the project" in Lowestoft.
With the application for £4.35m, an East Suffolk Council spokesman said: "As part of our ambitious Seafront Vision project and wider work to enhance Lowestoft for visitors and local residents, East Suffolk Council submitted an application to the latest round of Levelling Up funding.
"The proposed development, located at Jubilee Parade next to the new Eastern Edge beach huts, would include a new two-storey building with a first-floor cafe, offering uninterrupted views of the sea and the award-winning South Beach, along with improved showers, toilets and facilities.
"Unfortunately, the council’s application was not selected to receive Levelling Up funding this time however preliminary work on the project will continue, funded by the council, and we will continue to look at future delivery options."
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."
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