Ian Austin MP's blog
Dudley North MP Ian Austin shares his thoughts on the town, life in Parliament, football and everything in between!
Writing exclusively every week, this is your chance to hear his views and share your opinions with him by clicking on the Comment button.
Tuesday January 8- Fair Shares for Dudley and the Black Country
I AM sure you will be as disappointed as I am that we did not win the People's Millions vote and the £50 million it would have brought to the Black Country, but I wanted to thank everyone who took part in the ballot.
I'm bitterly disappointed as I think we had a great bid.
And we've got to do everything we can to ensure this scheme goes ahead.
The proposals for the Wrens Nest will have a massive impact in Dudley bringing visitors from around the world to Dudley. That would have a major impact on our economy through increased tourism and trade, bringing more investment and boosting prosperity.
That's why I m pleased the local councils have vowed the ambitious £100 million environmental revolution' across Dudley, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Sandwell, will still become reality, albeit over a longer period of time.
But we must also step up our work to press for the Black Country to get its fair share of lottery funding.
Official figures show that overall £63 billion worth of lottery tickets have been bought. On average that's £1,040 for everyone in the UK.
£31.5 billion (50%) has been given in prizes. £20 billion has been given out in lottery grants to the good causes.
Just on the national average, people here in the Black Country would have paid in £1.05 billion. But National Lottery Commission surveys have found that most lottery tickets are bought by people in less well off areas like ours. So the Black Country contribution is likely to have been much more.
The UK total of £20 billion in Lottery grants for good causes represents £330 for every man, woman and child in Britain.
But the population of the Black Country have received only £249 per head - a massive £87.3 million less than the UK average.
Winning this bid would have gone a long way to putting this right and that's why I have already raised this issue with government ministers and will be asking for a meeting with the lottery organisations to raise our concerns about the funding our area receives.
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