Tracy Brabin right to lament cost of bidding for levelling up funding - Yorkshire Post Letters

I actually agree with the Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin’s comments about cost associated with Bradford City Council bidding for levelling up funding for projects in Bradford district (The Yorkshire Post March 10, 2023).

Many councils are struggling to fund even less services to residents, due to less grant money received from central government.

To find £610,000 to fund the levelling up bid from already tight departmental budgets, which have previously been striped of any 'meat off the bone', must be frustrating to those council officers engaged in the process, knowing that it is more than likely to be unsuccessful, as this is a local election year, and many Tory lead councils in the southern Shire counties and London boroughs will get the 'lion's share' of the levelling up funding.

It is both a waste of staff time and resources. Officers' time could be used more effectively in providing services to the general public.

The government should look into providing council funding towards the feasibility stage of projects.

It is farcical that the government's public finance committee under the chair of Dame Meg Hillier has let the HS2 rail project go so much over budget, that it is likely not to connect to central London, but Old Oak Common, former marshalling siding in Park Royal industrial estate, near Ealing in South West London and not go as far north as Manchester.

The government's answer is to remove sections of the project to save money.

But what the senior civil servant in the treasury James Bowler, either doesn't grasp or naively realise, that by delaying the project costs are bound to rise due to increased labour costs, and arguably, some material costs, like timber may be cheaper, but fuel cost are rising, as most heavy plant, like excavators and dumpers are run on diesel, which this government is taxing heavily compared to petrol.

Government's formed from both major political parties never learn from the mistakes that major infrastructure projects such as the construction of London's Queen Elizabeth line or crossrail has proven by going massively over budget and delivery time.