Levelling Up culture projects: methodology note
This note sets out the methodology used to select the 16 projects identified for funding through the £100 million we set aside for culture in the third round of the Levelling Up Fund (LUF).
Overall methodology
On 20 November 2023, we announced that we had set aside £100 million for levelling up culture projects and that we would outline the methodology for selecting projects in due course.
At Spring Budget 2024, we have now announced the £100 million will be spread across the following interventions: nationally significant culture projects across Great Britain; places in need in Great Britain that were prioritised for funding but had not previously received funding from levelling up streams; and a high-scoring culture project in Northern Ireland. Overall, we are taking a different approach to that followed in previous LUF rounds in order to achieve maximum impact and ensure geographic spread.
This note sets out the methodology for selecting the projects and places awarded funding.
Nationally Significant Projects
Following discussions with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and based on wanting to have impact beyond a local area, ministers opted to fund a number of nationally significant culture projects, drawing on the definition used by Arts Council England, but applied UK-wide:
- Projects that have significant potential to develop the creative and cultural sector or part of the creative cultural sector; and/or
- An activity that engages and impacts a significant number of people, beyond the applicant’s own geographic area.
Ministers opted to fund these projects on the basis that they will allow us to maximise the impact of culture investment within the quantum available.
Ministers have agreed to provisionally fund the following nationally significant culture projects in Great Britain:
| LA Name | Bid Name | ITL1 Region | ITL2 Region | Bid Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| York | National Railway Museum | Yorkshire and The Humber | North Yorkshire | £15,000,000 |
| Liverpool | National Museums Liverpool | North West (England) | Merseyside | £10,000,000 |
| Leeds | Poetry Centre | Yorkshire and The Humber | West Yorkshire | £5,000,000 |
| Leeds | British Library North | Yorkshire and The Humber | West Yorkshire | £10,000,000 |
| Dundee City | Victoria and Albert Museum Dundee | Scotland | Eastern Scotland | £2,600,000 |
| Conwy | Venue Cymru | Wales | West Wales and The Valleys | £10,000,000 |
Northern Ireland
Since the announcement of Levelling Up Fund Round 3 and the £100 million set aside for culture, the Northern Ireland Executive has been restored and has been given a spending settlement worth over £3.3 billion. Noting these developments, ministers have opted to fund one additional LUF culture project in Northern Ireland directly, drawing from the list of bids submitted in Round 2. This means that Northern Ireland’s total committed share across the 3 rounds of the Fund exceeds the share set aside Northern Ireland (in line with the approach taken to Scotland and Wales) and also boosts the funding provided directly to local projects.
Ministers opted to fund the highest-scoring cultural bid within the funding available from the list of unfunded projects submitted at LUF round 2. From a list of all remaining unfunded Round 2 projects, a filter was applied to select all projects that were:
- Regional Filter: in Northern Ireland
- Thematic Filter: from cultural and cultural combination themes
- Pass/Fail Filter: scored 12.5/25 or above on Strategic Fit, the Economic Case (with a minimum “value for money” rating), and Deliverability, alongside passing basic eligibility checks
- Size Criterion: Projects that are over 3% of the nation’s share for Northern Ireland (equating to £3.2 million of the total quantum) are excluded from this selection
- Score Criteria: Fund highest scoring bid from the remaining list
This funds the following Project:
| LA Name | Bid Name | ITL1 Region | ITL2 Region | Bid Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belfast | Shore Road Skills Centre | Northern Ireland | Northern Ireland | £2,200,000 |
Category 1 outliers
Throughout the LUF there has been a focus on ensuring that places considered to be ‘in need’ receive funding. At Autumn Statement 2023, we funded Bolsover on the grounds that it was the only priority place (based on the Levelling Up Needs metrics) which had not received funding from levelling up streams.
When looking at the older LUF Index of Priority Places (used as part of the scoring of bids in LUF Rounds 1 and 2) there are 9 places in Category 1, which is the category that represents places most in need of the kind of investment that the Fund provides, that have not received funding over any previous levelling up interventions, namely:
- LUF Rounds 1, 2 and 3
- Levelling Up Partnerships
- Levelling Up Deep Dives
- Long Term Plans for Towns
- Spring Budget 2023 (Capital Regeneration and Capital Levelling Up Projects)
- Autumn Statement 2023 (Capital Regeneration Projects, Funding for Bolsover, Funding for Barrow)
The rationale for returning to this older metric is that, as we close the Levelling Up Fund, we wanted to ensure there were no outliers according to either definition of need (Levelling Up Needs metrics or LUF Index of Priority Places).
We have therefore announced we will provide £5 million of capital funding to the following places to support levelling up cultural projects:
| LA Name | Bid Name | ITL1 Region | ITL2 Region | Bid Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maldon | TBC | East | Essex | £5,000,000 |
| Redditch | TBC | West Midlands (England) | Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire | £5,000,000 |
| High Peak | TBC | East Midlands (England) | Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | £5,000,000 |
| Worcester | TBC | West Midlands (England) | Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire | £5,000,000 |
| Erewash | TBC | East Midlands (England) | Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | £5,000,000 |
| Mendip* | TBC | South West (England) | Dorset and Somerset | £5,000,000 |
| Newport | TBC | Wales | East Wales | £5,000,000 |
| Coventry | TBC | West Midlands (England) | West Midlands | £5,000,000 |
| North Northamptonshire | TBC | East Midlands (England) | Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire | £5,000,000 |
*Due to data availability calculations were based on local government boundaries as of 2022. Mendip was the identified local authority which was abolished and the new Somerset was established on 1 April 2023.
Each of the 9 category 1 places named above will be invited to come forward with a proposal for an eligible project(s). We will conduct a light-touch review of these proposals, before funding is confirmed and the project(s) can move into delivery.