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# Council chiefs call for Government to end “piecemeal bidding process” for funding
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/council-chiefs-call-for-government-to-end-piecemeal-bidding-process-for-funding/
- Published: 2023-03-16T11:44:48.000Z
- Updated: 2023-03-16T11:44:56.000Z
- Description: Staffordshire County Council’s leader has called on the Government to stop the “piecemeal bidding process” for local authorities seeking funding for improvements.
- Author: Kerry Ashdown, Local Democracy Reporter
- Tags: Politics, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 19:01, News

Staffordshire County Council’s leader has called on the Government to stop the “piecemeal bidding process” for local authorities seeking funding for improvements.

Cllr Alan White’s comments came just weeks after the authority successfully secured almost £20million from the national Levelling Up Fund to pay for roadworks and boost bus, walking and cycling routes.

But other authorities missed out on cash for projects, including Lichfield District Council’s bid for money to help build a new leisure centre.

Cllr White told the Staffordshire Leaders Board meeting:

> “I want to make a point about the way Government encourages councils to bid for funding. I don’t think it’s a very efficient process at all.  
>  
> “I think districts, boroughs and the county put in a tremendous amount of effort to try and secure funding, reaching for the carrot that is being dangled in front of us by Central Government. Sometimes we’re successful and sometimes we’re not successful.  
>  
> “But to get to first base with a bid you’ve got to build up a level of expectation amongst the people that you represent. And when those bids are unsuccessful those people are understandably disappointed.  
>  
> “We’ve had to divert a lot of resources into these bids and this piecemeal bidding process needs to stop. We need to have some certainty around the funding we can invest in our local areas.  
>  
> “For those people that are successful – Cannock Chase for example – you’ve then got to mobilise a huge amount of resources in order to successfully spend the money on the project you bid into. In the meantime, with inflation raging away in the construction sector, the amount you bid for originally may not represent the full cost of the project by the time you get to completion.  
>  
> “I would appeal to Government once again to stop with this piecemeal bidding process for essential funding for services and infrastructure improvements that people want in our area of Staffordshire.  
>  
> “It’s not satisfactory in any way, shape or form.”  
>  
> Cllr Alan White, Staffordshire County Council

Cllr Doug Pullen, leader of Lichfield District Council, said decisions on where funding can have the greatest impact should be made at a local level.

> “Clearly, I’m very upset for obvious reasons about Levelling Up Funding. But my views about that preceded our unsuccessful bid.  
>  
> “If Government really wants to have a Levelling Up agenda, the people around this table know Staffordshire best and where that funding should go.  
>  
> “Taking the decisions about that funding further away into Whitehall is a long-standing theme I press hard whenever I can.”  
>  
> Cllr Doug Pullen, Lichfield District Council