Local authorities have been waiting almost three months to hear about the status of their applications for grant money from the Government's Community Renewal Fund (CRF).

The CRF was Boris Johnson's way to ‘level up' regional funding for communities during the transition process as Britain left the European Union. It was to be the financial cushioning for regions before the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is launched in 2022, intended to replace the yearly structural funding assigned from the EU.