Cheltenham's huge Golden Valley project near GCHQ 'will go ahead with or without £20m levelling up cash'

A computer generated view showing how the Golden Valley Development could look
-Credit: (Image: Cheltenham Borough Council)


The Golden Valley Development which aims to play a key part in cementing Cheltenham’s place at the heart of the UK’s cyber and technology cluster will go ahead with or without levelling up funding. That is the view of Cheltenham Borough Council leader Rowena Hay (LD, Oakley) who says the authority has continued to work on its flagship project the project despite the change in central government.

Local authorities across the UK have been in the dark over what the new Labour Government will do with the projects which were successful in the third round of funding bids. It was announced earlier this year that the Borough Council had secured £20m in levelling up funding for the project near GCHQ.

The proposed development will cover more than 116 acres, and will deliver a diverse innovation district, comprising over 1 million sq ft of commercial space, once complete. It is hoped it will attract businesses with a focus on science and technology in particular, building on the existing specialist cluster in cyber.

And it is planned to provide more than 1,000 sustainable properties to rent and buy as part of a new garden community. The council has signed a memorandum of understanding with the then Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities, ensuring the provisionally allocated funds for the development.

This was accepted by council leaders at their cabinet meeting on July 23. And it would allow the council to begin utilising the funding for the first phase of this unique project, the construction of the National Cyber Innovation Centre.

However, the authority is in the dark over the new Labour Government’s plans for the third round of the levelling up funding bid. And Cllr Hay says she would not be surprised if none of the "round three schemes" are awarded the money they were promised by the previous Conservative Government.

“We are in the same boat at this moment in time as all the round three bids,” she said. “We haven’t heard anything and I suspect it is going to come out in the Autumn Statement. I wouldn’t be surprised if none of them happen because I’m not convinced that money was there in the first place.”

Cheltenham Borough Council leader Rowena Hay
Cheltenham Borough Council leader Rowena Hay -Credit:Cheltenham Borough Council

Cllr Hay says she sympathises with the new Government and emphasised that Cheltenham’s Golden Valley Development aligns with Labour’s general election manifesto. “It fits if they are going to be delivering their manifesto which is around cyber, economy and housing," she said.

“Will this government look at another means of funding some of them? “It’s not that the project won’t happen if we don’t get that money. We are working incredibly closely with our anchor tenants and the Treasury.

"We have got a plan B if we don’t get it. We haven’t stopped or paused anything because the Government has gone on hold. We are still driving it forward - and continue to do so while we wait for them to decide what they are doing.”

The town’s new Liberal Democrat MP Max Wilkinson says he too is sure that the project will be delivered but criticised the concept of levelling up bids.

Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham Max Wilkinson
Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham Max Wilkinson -Credit:Max Wilkinson

"We all knew that levelling up was an ill-defined concept that lacked rigour and a proper strategy beyond dishing out a few headlines," he said.

“If it turns out that our local levelling up money never existed and it was not properly accounted for by the previous government, it’ll be confirmation of yet another betrayal of Cheltenham by the Conservatives.

“However, I’m sure that regardless of what happens the work being done by the council, the local cyber security sector and [developer] HBD will ensure the development goes ahead and is a success.”