Councils have demanded a new way of funding the sector following the announcement of the Levelling Up Fund second round winners.

The £2.1bn of funding will benefit 111 communities, including £672m allocated to improve transport, £821m for regeneration projects and £594m to restore local heritage sites.

Among the biggest winners are the Eden Project North in Morecambe, Cardiff Crossrail and Cornwall’s rail network, each being awarded £50m. However, the process of bidding for funding pots has come under fire from councils.

Chairman of the Local Government Association’s people and places board, Kevin Bentley, said: ‘Levelling up should be locally led by evidence of where crucial investment needs to go to, not based on costly competitive bids between areas.

‘The Government must boost local productivity and save money, through building on the White Paper’s commitment to streamline the long list of individual local growth funds.’

Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy added: ‘The way this funding is distributed is akin to the Hunger Games - communities are pitted against one another, forced to compete in a contest where Whitehall ministers pick winners and losers.’

Cllr Bentley also pointed out the difficulty of completing projects during the cost of living crisis.

‘Fulfilling these projects has become more challenging due to rising inflation and costs, particularly in the building industry, impacting on their potential to be fully realised,’ he added.

The second round total exceeds the £1.7bn awarded under the first round after the Government said it had received ‘a high number of transformative bids’.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: ‘To unlock more growth right across the country, we are making it easier for locally-elected leaders to make things happen without banging on a Whitehall door by extending devolution deals to all areas of England that want them by 2030.’

This article was originally published by The MJ (£).