Claims by the city’s MP that a failed bid for funding for a new leisure centre was flawed have been dismissed by the leader of Lichfield District Council.
The local authority missed out on the Levelling Up funding for the proposed facility at Stychbrook Park.
The news followed claims by Lichfield’s Conservative MP Michael Fabricant that “flaws” in the bid meant the application had not even reached the desk of a minister for a final decision.
The council’s cabinet member for finance has already hit back at the claims – and now Cllr Doug Pullen, leader of the local authority, said the feedback from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities did not support the MP’s comments.
“I’m seeing commentary about a ‘flaw’ in Lichfield District Council’s Levelling Up fund bid.
“The Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities has not said our bid had a flaw – just that it didn’t score highly enough against their criteria to win.”
Cllr Doug Pullen, Lichfield District Council;
Cllr Pullen also said he backed comments from the West Midlands Mayor who criticised the Levelling Up process, branding it a “Whitehall bidding and begging bowl culture”.
Andy Street said fiscal devolution to take the power away from civil servants was needed in order to allow local decision makers to decide where money would be best spent.
Cllr Pullen said:
“It perhaps sounds like sour grapes – but I made a speech before the Levelling Up bids were announced – but Andy Street has it 100% right when he says the Levelling Up Fund system is broken and we must decentralise.”
Cllr Doug Pullen, Lichfield District Council;
