Member Article

Liverpool to lobby minsters over funding reallocation

Liverpool City Region has announced its plans to lobby the Government with the hope of preventing the reallocation of £650m of regeneration funding.

The city said vital funding has been taken away after the Government decided to move EU funding awarded by the European Commission from England for 2014-2020 over to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

An estimated £350m had been ring-fenced for poorer transition regions, which included Liverpool City Region.

Liverpool expected to receive approximately £400m between 2014 and 2020, however Government amendments mean this figure could potentially be halved.

Mayor Joe Anderson commented: “European funding has been critical to the successful regeneration of the city region over the last couple of decades.

“Everywhere you look, from the Arena and Convention Centre to the School of Tropical Medicine, John Lennon Airport to the Cruise Liner Terminal, there are physical reminders of the difference that funding from the European Union has made.

“It has created helped create thousands of jobs and boosted the economy to the tune of many tens of millions of pounds.

“Our big fear is that we could lose a massive chunk of the share of funding we expected to receive as the extra money allocated for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will come specifically from cash allocated for more deprived areas including ours.

“In effect this means that we will lose out while wealthier and more prosperous areas of England, many of which have never previously received EU funds, will gain at the expense of poorer areas.

“I outlined my concerns to European Commissioners during a visit to Brussels earlier this year, and we are now taking our case to the UK Government.”

Next week,representatives from Sheffield City Region will join Liverpool delegates in a meeting with the Business Minister, Michael Fallon, to lobby for a safety net to be applied to funding allocations to limit how much money is taken away.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .