Concerns over thousands of pounds 'wasted'

STRICT CONSTRAINTS ARE PLACED ON GRANTS AWARDED TO THE WEST MIDLANDS COMBINED AUTHORITY FOR PROJECTS 14:35, 21 May 2025 Concerns have been raised about public money being 'wasted'

on admin and consultants working on projects across the West Midlands. Members of the West Midlands Combined Authority's (WMCA) overview and scrutiny committee were told hundreds of

thousands of pounds were not being effectively used due to constraints placed on grants received. Ed Cox, deputy chief executive and executive director for strategy, economy and net zero,

said since 2016 the authority had been funded by different Government departments giving around 90 grants for specific purposes. READ MORE: LEGACY FUND CREATES HUNDREDS OF JOBS ACROSS THE

WEST MIDLANDS AND IT'S 'REMARKABLE' But he said, for some projects, the funding awarded would have to be spent within short timescales resulting in the need to outsource the

work as staff would not be able to be apointed within the period. In April this year, WMCA was one of just two English regions to receive an integrated settlement of £389 million as well as

transport funding of £211 million. Article continues below From 2026/27 it will become a multi-year settlement which bosses say will bring in even more control and flexibility over how

funding is spent. At the meeting, members heard 'government administration costs' saw £700,000 extracted from the £70 million Commonwealth Games legacy enhancement fund. They also

heard £127,400 was spent on consultants to carry out an evaluation of the WMCA job rotation pilot in Coventry. SHOULD BRUMMIES GET A BIN STRIKE COUNCIL TAX REFUND? Mr Cox said: "We have

had to receive each individual grant with these terms and conditions and then try to spend it according to a time line the Government department has dictated to us. "Because of a

limited time frame, we couldn't start appointing staff to do that properly or building our own capacity to do it. "So the way you've got to do it is get consultants in to do

it and we end up with these projects. "We have consistently said to Government this is no way to treat a serious regional body led by democratic authorities and led by the Mayor.

"We need a better way in which to fund mayoral combined authorities so they have started to make that transition with the Integrated Settlement. "We're in the first year of

that and they've done that for around 20 different grants out of the 90 and now coming together in this year and we're able to be a bit more strategic in the way we fund

things." He added: "We've had three items on the (meeting) agenda, all of which have been about relatively small amounts of money from relatively short term periods that are

given by Government with particular strings attached. "The way in which they are given to us means we have to spend a disproportionate amount, on other forms of consultancy, simply

because there are no other ways to deliver them in that time frame. Article continues below "It's a waste of public money, to be frank about it, because we could be building up the

capacity of our local authorities or ourselves to do this."