Eastgate shopping centre upgrade could be axed in spending cull

There are fears a multi-million pound plan to regenerate Eastgate Shopping Centre could be cancelled under the new government’s spending cuts.

Gloucester City Council’s £11m government funding bid was confirmed in November. But in July, civil servants confirmed the grant was not being processed.

Council leader Jeremy Hilton said: “This is both frustrating and disappointing as this regeneration project is critical to the continued improvements to Gloucester.”

Gloucester MP Alex McIntyre said “more information” would likely be shared in the budget.

The project will overhaul the shopping centre, with spaces set aside for community activities, a new market and food hall, and a park and gardens.

A multi-purpose performance space is planned for the current market hall, which would house dance, music, fitness, cinema, community and leisure events.

Gloucester MP Alex McIntyre said no announcement has been made about the levelling up bid since the change of government.

“Obviously, we saw the Chancellor’s announcement just before the recess around the fact that there are an awful lot of projects that the last government promised that weren’t funded,” he said.

Darren Jones, who is chief secretary to the Treasury, is going through “every item that was promised by the last government, line by line, to see if the funding is there for it”, Mr McIntyre added.

“I think we will see much more information about it at the budget later on in the year,” he added.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which was previously the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, was asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service to confirm whether the funding for the Greyfriars project has been allocated and is protected from cuts.

However, they could not give a definitive answer and explained that local areas across the UK are seeking clarification on levelling up funding.