Communities Secretary James Brokenshire was similarly effusive with praise. “We have listened to people who are concerned by momentous changes to their communities and I am determined to provide the support they need to create a more prosperous future beyond Brexit,” he added.
However, with the Prime Minister still facing an uphill battle to convince MPs in many Leave-voting constituencies to back her withdrawal deal, Labour has accused her of using the fund to “bribe MPs” into caving before the March 29 Brexit date.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: “This towns fund smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing MPs to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation.
“The reason our towns are struggling is because of a decade of cuts, including to council funding and a failure to invest in businesses and our communities.”
One of the problems behind the fund is that it amounts to around £260m-a-year once broken down, which falls short of filling the blackhole many councils have experienced with funding from central government cut by about 60 per cent since 2010.
The LGA estimates the funding gap experienced by local authority to be £5.8m overall over the next two years.
And they have been forced to turn to every possible funding source to boost their coffers as a collaboration between the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and HuffPost UK revealed today.
Their investigation revealed that more than 12,000 public spaces have been sold off by councils since 2014/15, raking in £9.1billion at the cost of losing libraries, community centres and other vital frontline services.
That includes £381m of property sales from 64 councils to fund £115m in redundancies
The investigation has been presented in an interactive map, breaking down the sell-offs by location.
“If given the choice – would you consider selling a disused council building to raise funds to deliver a balanced budget – or would you retain that asset for potential future use but instead cut adult social care, or raise charges for care packages?” director of the County Councils Network Simon Edwards told TBIJ, summing up the reasons behind the sell-offs.
“Put bluntly, these are some of difficult the decisions facing councils every day. Local politicians do not go into public service to slash and burn or make valued staff redundant, let alone sell assets to do this. But this is the financial reality of years of funding reductions and rising demand.”
