North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has questioned the First Minister over Shared Prosperity Funding for North Wales and called for assurances that communities in the region won’t miss out.
Speaking in yesterday afternoon’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood spoke of the substantial sum allocated to communities throughout North Wales by the previous UK Government, and said it is vital that changes to the way this funding is allocated by the current Labour UK Government do not result in North Wales losing out.
He said:
“The previous UK Conservative Government allocated £126.46 million of UK Shared Prosperity Funding to North Wales, which incorporated investment for towns across the region, including better open spaces in Conwy, a placemaking programme for Anglesey's town centres and larger villages, electric car charging points and improvements to Community Centres in Gwynedd, new village community facilities and improvements to the townscape of Ruthin in Denbighshire, the Town Centre Investment Programme in Flintshire, and funding for Community Infrastructure and development within Wrexham. Wrexham's Western Gateway Project also received £9 million from the North Wales Growth Deal, initiated and 50 per cent funded by the previous UK Conservative Government.
“However, although the current UK Labour Government has extended Shared Prosperity Funding to 2026, it is understood they will then move the distribution of funding from a needs-based to a population-based formula, which will generate a huge funding cut for Wales, and that devolved decision making by Local Authorities and Regions will then be scrapped and recentralised in the Welsh Government. What assurance can you therefore provide that towns and communities across North Wales will not then lose out once again?”
In her response, the First Minister said the UK Government has agreed not to distribute the funds ‘on a Barnett formula’. However she failed to provide the assurances Mr Isherwood asked for.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Isherwood said:
“Although I was pleased to learn that distribution of the replacement funds will not now be moved to a population-based formula, she failed to provide the assurance I asked for, or even to acknowledge that although the UK Labour Government extended Shared Prosperity Funding to 2026, this was at a reduced level.”