A Government minister has admitted to shifting the rules on Levelling Up Fund bids after applications had been submitted.

Birmingham leader Ian Ward had written to levelling up secretary Michael Gove demanding clarification after culture secretary Michelle Donelan had claimed it was ‘a rule’ that councils successful in round one would not get round two levelling up cash.

During a visit to Birmingham, Ms Donelan said councils could not be successful for a second time because there were ‘many areas that need investment in and that’s why it’s about spreading that investment'.

Cllr Ward told The MJ he was ‘taken aback,’ adding: ‘If that was the rule they didn’t make it clear.’

He claimed the council had even been encouraged to resubmit an application that failed in the first round.

Now levelling up minister Dehenna Davison has admitted the Government did change the rules after bids had come in to stop councils winning cash a second time.

Speaking at the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee today, she said: ‘There was no rule initially, but when it came down to making the ministerial decision it was determined, to get the best geographical spread, this would be the best route to go down.’

Ms Davison said it would have been ‘impossible for us to predict’ the quality and quantity of bids, totalling £8.8bn for a pot of £2.1bn.

Director of levelling up major programmes at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Jessica Blakely, said, as a result, bids from lead local authorities that had been successful in round one did not make the shortlist for round two, adding: ‘They realised they needed to make some really tough and carefully balanced decisions about how to apply the £2.2bn of funding to the shortlist.’

Over the whole country, councils are estimated to have spent up to £27m on bids, some of which will have been deemed ineligible due to the change in rules. 

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