The UK government’s flagship £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund remains inaccessible to local authorities more than a month after it was scheduled to go live.
Local authorities bidding for the second round of the fund were supposed to have been able to lodge their applications from 31 May ahead of a deadline for submissions of noon on 6 July.
However, applicants are still greeted with a message on the Levelling Up Department’s website that says: “Unfortunately, it has not been possible to launch the online portal on the planned date.”
The delay has forced levelling up secretary Michael Gove to extend the deadline to avoid a crash when the portal does go live.
Bidders have been promised two weeks to post their submissions.
