The Local Government Association (LGA) has called for the government to replace EU funding that creates jobs, supports SMEs and boosts growth across the country.

In its manifesto, the government pledged to create a UK Shared Prosperity Fund to replace the money local areas currently receive from the EU.

The LGA said any UK successor scheme needs to be of at least the equivalent in value of the current European Structural Investment Funds. 

This fund was set to provide a total of £8.4bn between 2014 and 2020.

The LGA has said that council leaders wanted to work with the government to avoid creating a like-for-like replacement of the current EU programme, which it claimed was often disrupted by government bureaucracy and delay.

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Cllr Kevin Bentley, chairman of the LGA’s Brexit Task and Finish Group, said: “Since the referendum, one of the biggest concerns for councils has been the future of vital EU regeneration funding. 

“Councils have used EU funds to help new businesses start-up, create thousands of new jobs, roll out broadband and build new roads and bridges.

“Securing a government commitment around this vital regeneration funding has been an important step. 

“To further its devolution commitments, we want to work with the government to help develop a fully funded and locally driven successor scheme with local government in areas of all types.

“Current EU funding is allocated over a seven-year period. 

“This long-term distribution must be maintained to allow for long-term planning. 

“Funding must be easier to access and local areas need full control over how it is spent and what projects it is spent on.

“With national funding for regeneration increasingly being depleted, all local areas have become increasingly reliant on EU money and local areas are desperate to get on with creating jobs, building infrastructure and boosting growth.”