AN MP has urged Bradford Council to make use of all available help on offer from Whitehall civil servants to improve its recent failed bid for cash - after he was told government believes the case for regeneration in Bingley is strong.
Shipley MP Philip Davies has received detailed feedback from ministers regarding the failed bid to secure cash to rebuild Bingley pool as part of government’s Levelling Up Fund.
In the document failings are highlighted in three areas of strategic fit, economic case, and deliverability.
Mr Davies said: “Help is being made available to Bradford Council and it must make full use of it to ensure this bid is watertight so it can be resubmitted and considered in the next round of funding. It is clear from reading the detailed analysis that there were significant failings in all areas and these must be addressed. Government has made it clear to me that it understands the need for investment in Bingley and I want to see this happen. It is now up to Bradford Council to address the failings specified in the report and provide the information so we can secure this funding from government to benefit my constituents.”
The submitted bid was to fully refurbish the pool, landscape public space between the new leisure centre and other town centre attractions to make it more attractive and accessible, and for a glazed canopy over part of the market square. Last month it was announced the bid was inadequate and failed to be put before ministers as civil servants deemed it not up to scratch.
In the report sent to Mr Davies it says there were “certain aspects of the bid that could have benefitted from more consideration and detail.”
Officials, who put together the report, said Bradford Council needed to conduct a wider and deeper range of stakeholder engagement, provide an options analysis, and give more detailed information on issues including financing and delivering the project.
It said: “The application considered the project over a 30-year appraisal period and applied standard discount rate to costs and benefits. However, the inflation rate used was higher than Office of Budget Responsibility estimates and only covered the first five years – it was unclear what was used after this point, and this should be explained further.”
It continued: “The application lacked information on the operational model, future operational costs and how the operator would be procured and contracted. It also lacked details and assurances of the capacity and capability of the applicant’s client services team members, especially those key officers who would take responsibility for the delivery of this project, as opposed to others.”
It also criticised the council for making assumptions in the bid rather than providing evidence or referencing sources to back up its claims.