Durham County Council will consider seeking a judicial review into how the Government allocated levelling up funding after the authority spent £1.2m on failed bids.

Durham made a successful bid for the town Bishop Auckland in round one of the funding allocations in 2021.

The local authority said it then spent £1.2m on bids for five other constituencies in the second round of funding.

These bids were unsuccessful. Former levelling up minister Dehenna Davison admitted that after round two bids came in, a rule was introduced that meant councils that were successful in round one could not win cash in the next round.

In November last year, the Government announced that the third round of funding would go to unsuccessful bids from round two.

At a full Durham CC meeting last week, members voted unanimously for the cabinet to consider seeking a judicial review of how bids were determined in rounds two and three.

The cabinet will discuss the issue ‘at an upcoming meeting'.