Wirral Council will receive £1.53m over the next three years to fund a number of different projects.
The money comes from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, set up by the UK government after Brexit to replace EU funding with the government promising it would match previous levels of EU funding.
£44m of funding was given in total to the Liverpool City Region. Some of it has gone to things like cost of living support services but some is being given to local councils too.
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Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has argued the Liverpool City Region is set to lose the equivalent of £10.2m per year but the government has said this shortfall is because EU programmes are running until the end of 2023.
This year Wirral Council will receive £421,576 while next year it will increase to £451,334 and £659,642 after that in 2025.
The investments will go towards open markets and boosting town centres, promoting arts and culture activities, target crime issues and create and improve local green spaces.
Council officers told the council’s Economy, Regeneration and Housing committee that the rules around what the money was spent on was “not expected to be as strict as the European Union funding” but added “the level of detail [on the rules] we are still yet to see."
Officers said there was a gap in funding for the Ways to Work programme, which helps people into work, between the end of EU funding in December 2023 and funding coming in in 2024 but the Liverpool City Region was looking to plug that gap.
Councillors also raised concerns during the meeting about the level of homelessness in the Wirral and what the council was doing to support people living on the streets.
Cllr Andrew Hodson, who is on the board of the Birkenhead YMCA, said it was currently “full to the brim” as were other homeless charities nearby. Cllr Paul Martin, who runs the charity PLS Food Foundation, said he was seeing “demand for our services go right up.”
Multiple councillors wanted to know the number of homeless people in Wirral with Cllr Lesley Rennie asking for updates for councillors every two weeks saying it was "something really missing.”
She said: “I’m sure I’m not the only one around this table that if my life depended on it, I wouldn’t be able to give that information. I think that’s totally wrong for all of us in the current situation and present climate.”
Cllr Ian Lewis wanted a report, adding “I would be very surprised if we were to get a report on homelessness and there wasn’t any action proposed. While there is anybody homeless, even one person, there needs to be action taken.
“We have to keep on top of this. The money’s there and I’d like to have the reassurance it is being used.”
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