Yesterday in the House of Commons, High Peak Conservative MP Robert Largan claimed that High Peak Council failed to submit a bid on time to the levelling-up fund.
The Labour Leader of High Peak Borough Council Anthony McKeon said, ‘It is disappointing to see that once again our local MP prefers petty political point-scoring instead of working constructively with the local Council by repeating the misrepresentation that we missed the deadline to bid for round one of the Levelling Up Fund.
“The true picture is that in common with a number of our neighbours (including Conservative controlled Derbyshire Dales and Staffordshire Moorlands) in order to make sure our bid meets the strict criteria and requirements to be successful, it needs additional support and investigation.
“The Government has recognised this need for support and investigation and has made funding available for Councils to do that.
“This funding was not made available to Councils until well after the deadline for bids and work is underway to gather the details needed to meet bid requirements.”
Fiona Sloman, High Peak Councillor and Chair of High Peak Labour Party added: “Robert Largan should be well aware of this, as the Council advised him of all the above when we met with him to discuss possible bids and we confirmed that we will bid in round 2”.
