Councils Call On Government To Secure Under-Threat EU Funds

    The Local Government Association has warned that English regional projects are set to lose up to £5.3 billion in EU regeneration funds by 2020.

    The body that represents England's local authorities is calling on the government to ensure that billions of pounds in regional funding is not lost when the UK withdraws from the European Union.

    The Local Government Association (LGA) warned on Friday that £5.3 billion in EU funding due to be paid out before 2020 could be lost and thousands of funding proposals still waiting for approval could be rejected.

    The LGA said it was seeking "urgent guarantees from the government that local areas will receive every penny of EU funding they are expecting by the end of the decade".

    Some regional schemes are partway through and the LGA said it feared that UK government departments could hold on to EU funding instead of handing it out, due to the economic and political uncertainty surrounding the Brexit plan.

    Many schemes are focused on creating jobs or investing in infrastructure:

    – Cornwall and the Isle of Scilly were allocated £480 million of EU funding by 2020 for superfast broadband rollout to 95% of the region, but only 20% of the funding has been committed. Further investment is needed to reach the planned 99% of the region.

    – Birmingham has 10 ongoing EU-funded projects, with £58 million already received out of a total of £237 million.

    – Greater Manchester has received 11% of the £356 million in EU funds it's been allocated. A pilot scheme has helped 4,000 people on employment support benefits since early 2014 to get back into work. The scheme plans to help a further 15,000 people but will rely on an extra £12 million.

    – A scheme in the North East of England has received £90 million of its total £437 million EU funding allocation. It plans to help more than 7,400 businesses and support almost 30,000 people into work.

    – Islington council’s employment commission has helped more than 1,000 people into work since its launch in November 2014. Its running costs are £1 million and it will struggle to survive without EU funding, the LGA said.

    The LGA's chair, Lord Porter, said: "Communities and local economies have become increasingly reliant on what EU funds can achieve for them. Councils have used EU funds to help new businesses start up, create thousands of new jobs, roll out broadband and build new roads and bridges.

    "Losing any of this vital money over the next few years would be a real blow for local economic growth and communities.

    "It is important for the government to end the current uncertainty and guarantee that local areas will receive all of the EU funding they have been allocated by 2020, regardless of whether decisions over which projects it should be spent on have been made or not."

    A spokesperson for the Treasury told BuzzFeed News: "The UK remains a member of the EU and that means no immediate change to EU programmes. The Treasury has not stopped any payments but we recognise the need to bring any uncertainty to an end as soon as possible. We continue to work urgently to understand the future implications for programmes and we will make an announcement soon."

    The Treasury said it has been in touch with local authorities to discuss the issue.