Alastair McQuillan writes in the January 2023 Melton Times Levelling up is a drop in the ocean
It was announced last week that Melton and Rutland had been successful in our bid for £23 million of levelling up funding. As a local resident, I and other Green Party supporters welcome any extra funding for Melton and the surrounding area, you may wonder what’s not to like.
Since 2010 our councils, Melton Borough and Leicestershire County have lost over 2 billion pounds in spending power, from rampant inflation, the legacy of the Covid pandemic and most of all a decade of failed austerity measures put in place by Conservative and Lib Dem governments and egged on by the Labour Party.
As a result, our remaining public services are creaking. Good school places are too few across the borough, with funding per pupil 3% lower in real terms than in 2010.
We have lost our St Mary’s Birthing centre and getting to see a Dr when you need to is nigh on impossible, oh and if you wanted to get the bus to Nottingham well you can’t.
This money for Melton is nothing more than a drop in the ocean to try and fix the damage that they have done to our community and town over the past decade.
All the while you are paying more in taxes for fewer and worse services. Depleting household spending power further and along with it the possibilities of building a sustainable local economy. This is not levelling up by any definition of the term.
Greens welcome the idea of better funding for our communities, a return to pre-2010 funding levels for councils would be a good place to start, to ensure good local services. Local councils are one of the best ways to truly level up Britain, they support local businesses, deliver vital services and protect and improve local environments.
With proper funding, our council could reduce your bills through retrofitting insulation into homes making them warmer and cheaper to run, look after the vulnerable in our community and ensure children get the best possible start in life.
This is what true levelling up looks like.
