Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has slammed the Government after it announced the next stage of its levelling up funding grant – declining once again to provide funding for Denton and Reddish.
Gwynne had supported Tameside Council’s levelling up fund bid, which would have transformed Denton Town Centre, enabling Tameside Council to significantly improve festival town hall, with a new neighbourhood hub for children’s services and new NHS primary care services.
Of the 80 successful bids, only half of are in the most deprived areas of England, with Rishi Sunak’s wealthy constituency of Richmond controversially included.
Commenting, Andrew Gwynne said:
“This announcement is the final nail in the coffin of the Government’s levelling-up agenda.
“In 2019, local people were promised investment which would transform neglected communities – particularly in the north of England.
“Since then, overlooked areas have had to scrap for exclusive pots of money in nothing more than a trumped-up smokescreen to hide this Government’s fundamental failure to improve regional inequalities.
“The whole thing is a joke, and I’m beyond angry that yet again local people have been let down. What have residents got to show for 13 years of Tory Government? Less money in their pocket, council finances decimated, decaying town centres and public services in meltdown.
“A General Election can’t come soon enough.”