Further cuts to regeneration funding ruled out

Chris Watkins became leader of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council in May

The Labour leader of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council has ruled out any further cuts to the funding of plans to regenerate the area.

Chris Watkins said using government funding to revitalise the town centres in Nuneaton and Bedworth was his top priority.

His administration has been reviewing some projects since Labour took control of the council in May’s elections.

The regeneration budget was scaled back by £40m earlier this year, when the Conservatives were in charge.

The Conservatives said the spending “would have bankrupted us” and blamed rising costs on the poor state of the economy.

A budget report in February said the biggest risk to the council was the “current economic landscape”.

When asked whether the council was considering scrapping or scaling back some projects, Mr Watkins said: “We wouldn’t be looking at scaling back or cutting anything.”

He said the council had asked its development partner, Queensbury, to review the positions of some buildings and come back with “different designs”.

“It shouldn’t mean any more costs,” he said.

Phase one of Transforming Nuneaton was “almost complete” and a new Hampton by Hilton hotel was expected to be open by the end of 2024, Mr Watkins said.

But he said, at the moment, the council had no plans to undo any of the £40m funding cuts announced in February.

Most of the bill for regeneration projects is being covered by more than £50m of levelling-up money from the government.

In 2023, the council was ranked 38th out of 314 local authorities in England in terms of the levelling up money it received, according to researchers from the University of West London.

The promise to "level up" poorer parts of the UK has been the flagship policy of the Conservative government since 2019.

The Conservatives say they have invested £15bn in levelling-up funding across the UK.

But political parties have been putting forward different plans to reduce regional inequality ahead of the upcoming general election.

Labour - which is leading in opinion polls - does not mention levelling up once in its manifesto and is instead focusing on giving extra powers to local leaders.

Nuneaton has historically been a bellwether constituency

Mr Watkins said he was hoping for an injection of investment in regeneration if Labour forms the next government.

He described the prospect of a Labour government as a “once-in-a-lifetime thing for us”.

But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves have been managing expectations of spending should the party win the general election.

The local Conservative group leader, Kris Wilson, told the BBC the council's regeneration plans "were costed at a time when we hadn't had the war in Ukraine and a pandemic".

He said the Conservatives "worked tirelessly for months to come up with an amended plan that would avoid bankrupting the council".

"Be under no illusion - if Labour go ahead with the original plans with no new money then they will be bankrupting our borough," Mr Wilson said. "It just goes to show how unfit they are to govern."