A BID to bring levelling up cash into Oswestry failed in part because of concerns over "double-counting" of the claimed benefits of the work, it can be revealed.

Feedback letters to Shropshire Council from government ministers has revealed why three bids that could have brought £85 million of investment into the county were unsuccessful

The letters, released following a freedom of information request, were sent to the council earlier this year after it was announced that only one of its four bids into round two of the Levelling Up Fund – for £18.7m towards the regeneration of the Riverside area of Shrewsbury – had been successful.

The council says the feedback will help it strengthen the three rejected bids in the event a third round of funding is announced.

Two of the bids, for infrastructure schemes in Craven Arms and Oswestry, had first been submitted under round one of the fund, while the third – for a county-wide bus service overhaul dubbed ‘Shropshire Connect’ – followed a separate unsuccessful bid for £98m of ‘Bus Back Better’ funding last year.

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The Oswestry bid was split into two projects – one to improve public spaces in the town centre and one for enabling infrastructure work at Oswestry Innovation Park.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communitie was more complimentary of the Oswestry submission than those for Shropshire Connect and the Craven Arms scheme, saying the council had demonstrated “good levels of engagement”.

It called the plans an "interesting set of projects", and said it "set out the key problems facing the place very clearly.”

But it added two projects had differing levels of detail, financial discrepancies and “double-counting” of some of the claimed benefits, which was a cause for “concern”.

It said: “Within the financial section of the application, the level of detail was not consistent for both projects.

“Specific descriptions were given for project two, whilst project one only had street names rather than specific descriptions of works needed.

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“There was some discrepancy between the contingency mentioned in the application and how this was shown in the costings workbook. This could be more explicit and made clearer.”

The Craven Arms bid would have seen a new roundabout constructed on the A49, a new road and a road bridge over the railway line, to help bring forward the development of allocated employment and housing sites.

The DLUHC said the project had “strong local support” as it would bring community benefits and cut journey times, but said the council needed to demonstrate where funding for the development sites would come from in order for the benefits of the infrastructure scheme to be realised.

Councillor Mark Jones, cabinet member for growth and regeneration, said it was “always disappointing” when grant bids are knocked back, but pointed out that the fund was “extremely competitive”.

He said: “Feedback relating to the two Oswestry projects suggests that although outputs of both were clearly identified, further evidence to highlight the direct connection between both projects would have added value.

“Work is continuing to support proposed development at Mile End and Oswestry Innovation Park, and we’re exploring other funding sources with our partners, such as UK Shared Prosperity Fund for town streetscape improvements."