Surrey’s Three ‘Levelling Up’ Bids Fail

Published on: 25 Jan, 2023
Updated on: 27 Jan, 2023

By Emily Coady Stemp

local democracy reporter

The allocation of levelling up funding from central government was announced last week, with more than 100 projects given a share of £2.1 billion.

But no funding was given to Surrey’s councils. Eight of Surrey’s 11 boroughs and districts, including Guildford Borough Council, did not even apply.

Of the three Surrey bids submitted, one was for a proposed project to bring improvements to Caterham town centre and flooding measures, the other two being for better cycling and walking routes to the east of Woking and a new health centre in Sheerwater.

Overall, government figures show £672 million was allocated to develop better transport links, £821 million for community regeneration and £594 million to restore local heritage sites across the country.

More than £200 million was given to councils in the South East, including £45 million to Kent County Council for more border control points and traffic improvement measures at Dover and £20 million each for improvements to Folkestone and Sheerness town centres.

Over the border in Hampshire, Rushmoor Borough Council was also awarded £20 million for a state-of-the-art leisure centre, library and cultural space in Farnborough to help tackle high levels of obesity, inactivity, and poor mental health in the area.

But Surrey’s councils were not awarded any cash, with only three bids being put in between the county council and the 11 district and borough councils.

We break these down in detail below, including the cash that was asked for, and those councils which did not bid for funding.