Recommendation 9

We recommend that the DLUHC provides better guidance on how it will provide feedback on bids. The guidance must set out that feedback is timely, detailed, and consistent. This is especially important for levelling up funds as the quality of DLUHC’s feedback can hinder future applications which can be to the detriment of local communities. Feedback must also be made publicly available, where possible, so that communities can understand why bids are accepted or rejected. This new guidance should be widely disseminated and embedded in departmental practice so that in future those who have been unsuccessful in bidding are able to derive satisfactory material from what has otherwise been a dispiriting process.