Title

FINANCE

Council to consider levelling up fund judicial review

Durham County Council will consider seeking a judicial review into how the Government allocated levelling up funding after the authority spent £1.2m on failed bids.

Durham County Council will consider seeking a judicial review into how the Government allocated levelling up funding after the authority spent £1.2m on failed bids.

Durham made a successful bid for the town Bishop Auckland in round one of the funding allocations in 2021.

The local authority said it then spent £1.2m on bids for five other constituencies in the second round of funding.

These bids were unsuccessful. Former levelling up minister Dehenna Davison admitted that after round two bids came in, a rule was introduced that meant councils that were successful in round one could not win cash in the next round.

In November last year, the Government announced that the third round of funding would go to unsuccessful bids from round two.

At a full Durham CC meeting last week, members voted unanimously for the cabinet to consider seeking a judicial review of how bids were determined in rounds two and three.

The cabinet will discuss the issue ‘at an upcoming meeting'.

FINANCE

Funding the future: Local government finances, reform and resilience

By Michael Burton | 11 May 2026

Against the backdrop of mounting fiscal pressures, more exceptional financial support requests and uncertainty over funding reform, local authority finance c...

FINANCE

Fifty years on: Lessons from the Layfield report on local council funding

By Owen Mapley | 29 April 2026

Half a century from the Layfield Report on local government finance, many of the issues it raised remain and have become more complex, says Owen Mapley.

FINANCE

How councils are using crowdfunding to match-fund repair and reuse projects

By Frank Kibble | 27 April 2026

Frank Kibble looks at how councils can co-fund and support the repair and reuse revolution.

FINANCE

How we delivered the Youth Investment Fund in Blackburn with Darwen

By Imran Akuji | 21 April 2026

Delivering the Youth Investment Fund in Blackburn with Darwen required a deliberate shift in the council’s role from lead applicant to system steward, says I...

Popular articles by Ellie Ames