Gateshead Quayside arena secures £20m as some regional bids fail

It is the second time a bid has been submitted for Levelling Up funding for the project

Gateshead has secured £20m government funding to get the building of a "world class" Quayside arena back on track.

There had been worries the development could be scuppered by the rising price of steel and other construction costs.

The borough council's bid was approved by the Levelling Up Fund (LUF).

Gateshead Council's strategic director for economy, innovation and growth, Peter Udall, said the money would be "transformational for the visitor economy".

He said authorities spent in the "low tens of thousands in order to put together these sorts of bids".

He accepted this was a lot of public money, especially for unsuccessful bids, and pointed out a lack of cash could prevent bids being made at all.

The council's prior bid to the Levelling Up Fund for the £300m project in 2021 was unsuccessful.

The Institute for Government has said councils' central government grants - including retained business rates - were cut 37% in real terms between 2009-10 and 2019-20, from £41.0bn to £26.0bn in 2019-20 prices.

The new arena will take on the Sage name, with a competition being held to rename the existing music hall

Elsewhere, £19.5m has been secured by the North East Combined Authority for a fleet of electric buses and charging facilities.

Northumberland County Council was given almost £15m for new cycling and pedestrian infrastructure.

The projects are among 111 across the UK awarded up to £2.1bn combined.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said:  "This new funding will create jobs, drive economic growth, and help to restore local pride."

But parts of the region not allocated cash said they had been "let down".

North Tyneside Council's bids for the regeneration of Wallsend town centre and a new Shields Ferry landing next to the North Shields Fish Quay both failed.

In a tweet, elected mayor Dame Norma Redfearn accused the government of having "let our area down while giving £19m to Rishi Sunak's leafy Richmond constituency".

The government insisted it was "simply untrue" funding had been disproportionately focused on affluent areas and the South.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "The region that has done the best in the amount of funding per person is the North."

A £19m bid for regeneration on the north bank of the Tyne in Newcastle, including a renewal of Walker Quays, was also refused.

Newcastle City Council leader Nick Kemp said the project had been "perfect" for the LUF.

Newcastle North Labour MP Catherine McKinnell said the region had "suffered over a decade of disproportionate and unfair cuts to our public services" and local councils.

"This sticking plaster approach of pitting local areas against one another is simply not an adequate strategy for growth or addressing regional inequalities," she said.

North Tyneside Council bid for a new landing for the Shields Ferry next to the North Shields Fish Quay

Sunderland City Council failed to secure money for a new footbridge across the River Wear and none of County Durham's five bids totalling almost £100m were successful.

City of Durham Labour MP Mary Kelly Foy said it had been "yet another snub in a long line of levelling up let-downs".

Early work on Gateshead's new Quayside arena facilities had ground to a halt as the local authority waited for the outcome of its funding bid.

Mr Udall said there had been "cuts to the public sector over years" and it would be better to devolve the money to regions "who best know how to use it".