North Lanarkshire Council’s allocation from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund has dropped by more than £2 million.
In her autumn budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the overall funding would be reduced by 40 per cent to £900 million, and this has seen the local allocation fall from £8.1 million last year to just over £6 million.
As councillors discussed the new allocation, Councillor Gary Robinson (SNP, Coatbridge West) described the change as “hugely disappointing”, before being advised that it was not expected to result in job losses as council officers had underwritten posts which could be affected.
Councillor Robinson added that details of a replacement programme were expected to be announced in Spring but there were no guarantees.
“We have a regional development programme that has been in place for a number of years, that replaced the European Regional Development Funds but we don’t know what’s going to be happening in the future.”
Council officers assured Cllr Robinson that the UK government continues to indicate that an announcement will be made in the spring, and that various possible scenarios were being planned for.
Councillor Michael McPake (Labour, Gartcosh, Glenboig and Moodiesburn) said that the Glasgow City Region, a group of eight councils including North Lanarkshire which receives UKSPF funding, was a collaboration between the UK and Scottish governments.
“We can’t just point the finger all the time at one place, and by the way I have been a member of this committee for several years and it’s only since the change of government that there have been such questions,” he said.
Councillor Robinson moved an amendment which called on councillors to note the financial impact from the reduction in funds and also that the Chancellor had not yet announced any replacement for the UKSPF grants. However, the Enterprise and Fair Work committee voted against these additions by 13 votes to seven.
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