Moray MP Douglas Ross has expressed his “major disappointment” at the area being unsuccessful in round two of the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund for Scotland.
The UK Government have announced the ten projects that were ultimately successful in the process, but Moray missed out.
Douglas says that he was “hopeful” that Moray Council’s bid would be selected given its ambition to bring new jobs and investment to Elgin and across communities in Moray.
He says that he will be meeting with the relevant UK Government ministers to get feedback on where Moray’s bid went ‘wrong’ and what can be improved in the future.
Douglas has reaffirmed that despite this setback, that this is not the end of the road and that he will be continuing to push for UK Government investment through other ways in Moray.
Moray Council leader Kathleen Robertson says she shares Douglas’ disappointment and praised the hard work of the team within Moray Council for the “excellent bid” they put together.
Moray MP Douglas Ross said: “I was hopeful that Moray Council’s ambitious bid to round two of the Levelling Up Fund would be successful, but ultimately that has proven not to be the case.
“Naturally I’m very disappointed in that outcome. I know how much work went into Moray’s bid and it was full of fantastic proposals to bring new jobs and investment to the area.
“I am urgently seeking meetings with the relevant UK Government ministers to get feedback on Moray’s bid and discuss what went wrong, and where our area can improve in any future bids.
“This isn’t the end of the road for funding opportunities for Moray though, far from it. There are many other avenues to explore in getting funding from the UK Government and I will continue to lobby ministers at every opportunity to secure crucial investment for Moray.”
Moray Council leader Kathleen Robertson said: “This is deeply disappointing news for Moray. I’d like to praise the officials and teams within the council who put this excellent bid together to try and secure Levelling Up Funding.
“This council is unashamedly fighting for every penny of investment to come to Moray so this is obviously a blow that the area has been overlooked on this occasion.
“We need these sorts of projects to attract people to come and make Moray their home and boost the local economy.
“I will continue to work closely with Douglas as the local MP and other interested stakeholders to ensure that future funding will come to Moray.”