I’m not surprised that the lacklustre bid submitted has failed to find favour.
I was warned by the minister before bids closed that the proposed series of minor public realm improvements in Highbridge, Cheddar and Shepton Mallet would compete poorly with the more strategic - and ambitious - proposals being made by other parts of the country. I passed these warnings on to council officials along with my frustration that I’d been saying the same in meetings with the councils over many months beforehand.
The one silver lining in this sorry tale is that there is to be another round of Levelling Up Fund grants. I look forward to working with the new Somerset Council to make sure that, this time, we come up with something that will genuinely move the dial for our local economy, provides value for money for the taxpayer, and allows our towns to meaningfully regenerate.
