A regeneration project for Grove Lane in Smethwick has provisionally been awarded £18m in government Levelling Up Funding.
The government has identified the Grove Lane project in Smethwick as one of 55 successfully proposed projects nationally. It has provisionally awarded the project £18,063,128 from Round 3 of the Levelling Up Fund.
In line with the Levelling Up Fund Round 2 submission, the funding will be used for land acquisitions to enable new housing around the Midlands Metropolitan University Hospital. It will also support the delivery of the Grove Lane Masterplan which Sandwell Council’s Cabinet approved in February 2022.
Funding methodology
In deciding the funding methodology for Round 3, government ministers had three primary objectives:
1. To prioritise places assessed as ‘in need’ according to metrics set out in the Levelling Up White Paper
2. To ensure a fair geographic spread so the Fund can benefit all areas of the country across its lifetime
3. To support the ‘pride in place and transport’ Levelling Up missions by focusing predominantly on regeneration and transport projects. (Please note that a smaller share of funding is going to transport projects this time compared to previous rounds, given recent wider government investment in local transport.)
The funding award is provisional and subject to project validation, subsidy control checks, and departmental sign-off. Sandwell Officers will be working through this assurance process with government civil servants.
Here in the West Midlands, Dudley Council and City of Wolverhampton Council also made successful bids in Round 3 of the Levelling Up Fund.
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