Councils submit bids for almost £20 million each from Levelling Up regeneration fund

Hull City Council leader Cllr Daren Hale said officials had asked for £19.5m from the first round of government funding.

An East Riding of Yorkshire Council spokesperson said the authority submitted a joint bid with North Lincolnshire Council for almost £20m.

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a speech on Thursday (July 15) funding was made available to address the UK’s economic imbalances, among the largest in Europe.

The prime minister added geography had determined economic outcomes in the UK “for too long” and work was needed to overturn inequalities which had become more entrenched due to coronavirus.

Mr Johnson said: “We now need to work double hard to overturn inequalities so that as far as possible everyone everywhere feels the benefits of recovery and that we build back better across the whole of the UK.

“It is an astonishing fact that 31 years after German unification, the per capita GDP of the North East of our country, Yorkshire, the East Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland is now lower than in what was formerly East Germany.

“Everyone knows that talent and energy and enthusiasm and flair are evenly spread across the UK, evenly spread, it is opportunity that is not.

“The mission of this Government to unite and level up across the whole UK not just because that is morally right but because if we fail then we are simply squandering vast reserves of human capital, we are failing to allow people to fulfil their potential and we are holding our country back.”

Councils across England were invited to bid for funding to bid for a share of £4.8bn in funding aimed at regenerating local economies in May.

Local authorities were placed in three priority categories, with Hull in the first and East Riding the second.

East Riding Council’s spokesperson said they had not received feedback from the Government since they and North Lincolnshire Council submitted their bid in June.

The spokesperson said: “The bid was based around a package of highway improvement works in both local authority areas to enable access strategic employment sites, helping to create new jobs and support the local economy.”