Details on the recent visit, plus how Retford could benefit from the £400m levelling partnership, which has also been announced. The Prime Minister also confirmed to me at PMQs the other week that there was no reason why Retford shouldn’t be eligible.
“Ms Davison also used the visit to explain how a recently announced 'Levelling Up Partnership' for Bassetlaw, worth £400 million over two years, will work in practice. The partnership recently caused a row after Mr Clarke-Smith accused Bassetlaw District Council of playing Worksop and Retford "off against each other."
That was because there was uncertainty over whether Retford would get any of the money from this latest fund, given Government criteria which says it would ordinarily go to a district's largest urban area - which in Bassetlaw's case is Worksop. But Ms Davison said the Government was trying not to be "prescriptive" about these particular pots of money and that she would be "all ears" in terms of bids specific to Retford.
Reacting to this commitment, Mr Clarke-Smith said: "Retford has got some very different needs to those of Worksop, but there's still needs there and we want to see the whole area benefitting. I'm quite reassured by what I've heard today that there's no reason why that can't happen and that they're trying to be less prescriptive about where money can be spent."
