Bury Council has come under fire for its failure to apply for any part of the Government’s £900 million “Getting Building Fund” which aims to encourage growth in areas around the country.
It was announced this week Greater Manchester local authorities would receive over £54 million in investment from central Government for “shovel ready” projects across the region as part of the Governments plan to level up the country. It is anticipated that this investment will create more than 11,000 jobs in the investment areas and will also result in over 1,000 homes being built across Manchester.
Of the 444 projects that were submitted to the Government for consideration, not one project was submitted by Bury Council. With investment flowing to the other areas in Greater Manchester, Bury is set to miss out on the vital investment opportunity that the Council leaders have previous said it needs due to inaction on their part.
James Daly, Member of Parliament for Bury North commented “it is disappointing that whilst infrastructure investment is needed across Bury, Ramsbottom and Tottington, the local Labour Council have chosen to ignore £900 million of Government funding.”
Projects that have been granted across the country range from £86k to update an access road and £3.7 million for a Business Cyber Centre all the way up to a Multi-University Research Super-Hub which will receive £14.6 million. Two of the projects the Government have provided funding for in Greater Manchester are the South Heywood Link Road which received £10 million and the Mayfield Park development in Manchester Central which received £23 million.
Mr Daly said “The Government has invested money in a plethora of areas to assist local communities – from road investment in Heywood and investing in commercial regeneration projects in Manchester Central to Renewable Resources Centres and Green Construction Skills Centres elsewhere – all of which could have been made possible here in Bury”
Commenting further Mr Daly remarked “it has become clearly apparently that Bury MBC need to refocus and attempt to work with myself and the Government on plans to improve the town. Bury residents are being short-changed by this council’s wilful inaction.”
