'Levelling Up' funding: Sheffield residents have their as share of £1.5bn is announced to regenerate the city

Sheffield is set to receive a share of £1.5 billion under the Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ agenda – this is how residents in the city have reacted.
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The Government has unveiled its long-promised "levelling up" plan to improve opportunities across the country, with Sheffield first in line for a new £1.5 billion Brownfield Fund for regeneration.

The levelling up policy aims to reduce the imbalances between areas and social groups in the United Kingdom, based on the idea that people and communities feel they have been left behind.

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The funding announced this week is designed to bring disused brownfield sites back into use and boost disadvantaged communities that have suffered from years of underinvestment.

Sheffield is set to receive a share of £1.5 billion under the Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ agendaSheffield is set to receive a share of £1.5 billion under the Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ agenda
Sheffield is set to receive a share of £1.5 billion under the Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ agenda

But the announcement has been criticised after it emerged the money had been announced by the Chancellor at the last Budget, with Labour accusing the Government of handing out ‘rehashed pots of money and policies’.

And the timing has led to claims it is being used as a distraction from the growing pressure Boris Johnson is facing to resign amid the row over the alleged illegal lockdown parties at Downing Street.

The Government says the money will ‘build on’ the £37m from the Levelling Up Fund, which was announced in Rishi Sunak’s Autumn Budget for Castlegate in the city centre and Attercliffe, where the Olympic Legacy Park continues to take shape.

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What have Sheffield residents said about the levelling up agenda?

Kevin Hood said: “The North has most definitely been left behind.

"I’ve read that the Government are talking about having an equivalent public transport system to that which we enjoy in London and that’s going to be hugely expensive.

"I’m quite cynical that it is going to happen, and the announcement this week just seems to come at a good time to distract from other concerns that the prime minister may have.”

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Graham Akitt Believes more money needs to be pumped into Northern cities to open more facilities and stop others from closing down at a rapid rate.

He said: “At the moment plenty of shops are closing in Sheffield. TJ Hughes has been closed for two years, there’s nothing happening with that, and John Lewis has also closed.”

Andy Wilson said: “Great news. The Conservative Government is following through on its promises. And Sheffield certainly needs investment.”