Councils will need billions of pounds in regional aid to replace EU regeneration funding after Brexit, local authority leaders have warned.
A report by the Local Government Association (LGA) stated that proposals to create a UK Shared Prosperity Fund to take over the financial assistance from Brussels so far lacked detail.
The LGA insisted such funding is vital to create jobs, support small firms and boost infrastructure.
Local authorities said the successor scheme to the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) needed to be of at least equivalent size to the £8.4 billion the LGA said regeneration projects had been set to receive between 2014 and 2020 from Brussels.
“Current EU funding is allocated over a seven-year period. This long-term distribution must be maintained to allow for long-term planning. Funding must be easier to access and local areas need full control over how it is spent and what projects it is spent on.
"With national funding for regeneration increasingly being depleted, all local areas have become increasingly reliant on EU money and local areas are desperate to get on with creating jobs, building infrastructure and boosting growth
Read more: Brexit: 'Billions' in regional aid needed to replace EU funding, councils warn | The Independent
A report by the Local Government Association (LGA) stated that proposals to create a UK Shared Prosperity Fund to take over the financial assistance from Brussels so far lacked detail.
The LGA insisted such funding is vital to create jobs, support small firms and boost infrastructure.
Local authorities said the successor scheme to the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) needed to be of at least equivalent size to the £8.4 billion the LGA said regeneration projects had been set to receive between 2014 and 2020 from Brussels.
“Current EU funding is allocated over a seven-year period. This long-term distribution must be maintained to allow for long-term planning. Funding must be easier to access and local areas need full control over how it is spent and what projects it is spent on.
"With national funding for regeneration increasingly being depleted, all local areas have become increasingly reliant on EU money and local areas are desperate to get on with creating jobs, building infrastructure and boosting growth
Read more: Brexit: 'Billions' in regional aid needed to replace EU funding, councils warn | The Independent
