Authorities in bid to secure more time to spend delayed cash

摘要

Council chiefs have called for more time to spend cash from the community renewal fund (CRF) after the Government delayed announcing successful projects.The Government has yet to announce which projects have won funding from the CRF -the precursor to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This will squeeze the time in which projects have to deliver as the Treasury is sticking to the requirement for funding to be spent by the end of March 2022.A report to a meeting of the Local Government Association's executive advisory board last week read: 'We are concerned that Government has not yet announced the successful bids to the community renewal fund, which must be delivered by March 2022. If projects are not confirmed urgently the Government risks holding up the process so that projects will be unable to secure the full set of desired outcomes.' One council chief executive said: 'The Government can't organise the proverbial celebration in a brewery. It set the deadline for bids. It announced that the results would be known in July.'This month's delay is the Government's fault and must now mean the deadline for spending the money should also be put back by a month.'