Dundee City Council has submitted a bid for £5m in Levelling Up cash which would be used to tackle the city’s troubled local economy.
The money will be provided by the UK Government under the Shared Prosperity Fund set up to replace EU financial support that enabled projects in Dundee from the 1980s onwards. Under the scheme, a total of £5.609 million is set be funnelled to the city council beginning in October, through to 2025.
Following submission of the investment plan, there will be negotiations with the UK Government before initial funding can be released in October. A report outlining the bid, which was agreed by Dundee City Council’s sub-recess committee on Monday, outlines some of the major challenges the city faces.
This includes a “significantly higher than average” unemployment rate of 6.6%, and high levels of low skilled work at 31.5%. It also says the 88.7% of 16–19 year olds in learning, training or work is the lowest of all 32 local authority areas in Scotland and well below the national average of 91.8%
To tackle these issues, the papers outlines 26 interventions focussing on four key areas including adult numeracy, town centre upgrades, support for businesses, and training for the unemployed as well as young people. The fund is part of a wider Levelling Up policy which is designed to reduce inequalities between communities in the country.
In February, Scottish Conservative North East MSP Maurice Golden accused the council of an “inexcusable dereliction of duty” for not applying for a previous Levelling Up funding opportunity. Dundee City Council leader Councillor John Alexander, of the SNP, dismissed this at the time as “the peddling of pathetic nonsense".
Speaking at the committee before the plan was submitted, Liberal Democrat councillor Fraser Macpherson sought assurances enough time had been spent on it to ensure it was deliverable. He said: “I’m very conscious of the fact the corporate external funding team is a finite resource and I suppose the reassurance that I’m seeking is that officers are confident that we can actually ensure that the investment plan is prepared for submission in good time, so that this funding is not in anyway compromised.”
Head of planning and economic development at Dundee City Council, Gregor Hamilton, said the plan was clear, adding council officials are “geared up” for further negotiation with the UK Government. The council wants to use the cash in areas such as regeneration, support for sport and the arts, tourism, support for small businesses and adult numeracy.
A further £224,360 of the cash will be used for administration purposes, the report adds. Across the UK, the fund will provide £2.6 billion of cash for local investment by March 2025.
The UK Government says it is a means of “seizing the opportunities of leaving the European Union” and targeting funding where it is needed. The Levelling Up cash is dished out using a formula rather than being a competition between areas.
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