A new leisure centre has been given the green light in Sandwell despite three bids failing and accusations from the wider West Midlands of favouritism towards Conservative-led councils.

The Haden Hill Leisure Centre, in Rowley Regis , will receive £20 million to regenerate its facilities as one of 100 projects nationally awarded a share of the £2.1 billion package after months of delays.

But three levelling up bids by Sandwell council - 151 houses in Tipton , a primary school in Smethwick , and a youth centre in West Bromwich - have all failed.

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The bids together, including the successful Haden Hill leisure centre, totalled £80 million. It means Sandwell council received only a quarter of the money awarded by the government.

Last year, the Labour-led local authority was heavily criticised for not enterting the first round of levelling up funds. It forced the previous leader of the council, Rajbir Singh, to put out a statement defending the council's approach.

Sandwell council were approached for comment on the matter.

One Labour councillor, who spoke on the condition on anonymity, said she did not understand why the leisure centre was put in as a bid when Sandwell council already have the Commonwealth Games pool in Smethwick.

She said: "[Rowley Regis] is an affluent area. If you're going to level up something, they choose an the area that's actually deprived?

"It's not like there's a shortage of areas to choose from."

Within the levelling up package, only eight projects in the West Midlands have been allocated more than £155 million from round two of the government’s flagship levelling up fund.

Of those eight projects, four are in Conservative -led councils. Only two - including Sandwell - are controlled by Labour, with the rest occupied by a coalition of political parties.

The funding round has prompted questions around the fairness of the allocations – the second round from a £4.8bn pot to improve everyday infrastructure that was announced in the 2022 spring statement.

Birmingham - as well as Wolverhampton, Dudley , and Coventry - received no money from the levelling up fund.

Ian Ward, leader of Birmingham city council , said: "Today's levelling up fund announcement is a kick in the teeth for Birmingham families who were already struggling to make ends meet after over a decade of austerity - even before the government crashed the UK economy.

"Our five bids would have delivered true change to communities across Birmingham, creating new jobs, improving life chances and restoring pride to our neighbourhoods.

"You cannot level up the UK economy without levelling up Birmingham, so today's news brings into question the government's true commitment to hard-pressed households across this city."

Councillor Alex Aitken, who is standing to be the Labour parliamentary candidate for Northfield , said: "Many across Northfield voted Conservative in 2019 for the first time, on the promise of regeneration and making our area an even better place to live.

"It couldn't be clearer tat these pledges from both the Conservative party and our Tory MP were nothing more than simple election slogans."

Levelling up has previously been trumpeted as a way to break down the wealth gap between north and south, but the south-east is the second biggest recipient of the latest cash.

The area has been allocated £210 million - nearly twice as much as the north-east. The second round of cash will be used to fund deprived coastal towns in the south-east, as well as inner city London.

The levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, added this morning on the Today programme: "There are some areas of deprivation in London and the south-east. But it’s overwhelmingly the case that the areas that benefit the most are the north-west, the north-east and the east Midlands.”

Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), said the system itself for local authorities to bid for pots of cash was a "crazy way" to fund local government.

“People will debate whether these allocations are right or fair but the real problem here is that this is a crazy way to fund local government. With competitive bids and the Government picking winners - there will always be losers.

"Well-resourced authorities with bidding expertise will be able to submit 'better' bids so the whole approach widens the gaps and inhibits a strategic approach to development.

"Meanwhile, other councils are putting huge resource and capacity into writing bids which they don't win. So money is diverted from other useful and necessary things for no reason.

"Our members tell us that a stable system for funding local government based on clear criteria and evidence is urgently needed.

"This way of funding will always produce controversial outcomes - instead of arguing about those we should focus on how to how to change the system."

Have a story? Email rhi.storer@reachplc.com.Contact me by text, WhatsApp, or Signal using 07554 702 118.

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