THE city is set to miss out on more than a million pounds of funding, despite the council declaring its support for the People Friendly Streets scheme. 

£1.3million was being put towards the scheme by the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership, as long as it was spent by March 2021.

But with the project indefinitely suspended, Paddy Bradley, chief executive officer of the SWLEP, has confirmed that the money will now be reallocated elsewhere in the county.

The funds were due to be spent on the scheme's complimentary measures, which included improvements to Shop Mobility, refurbishing Culver Street car park, bike racks and a bike repair station.

Mr Bradley said: "This is public money we get from government. Not our money, so a process needs to be followed.

"The money had to be spent by March 2021, and as Wiltshire Council said the scheme would be 'indefinitely suspended', the SWLEP board had to take a view on what to do with the money.

"We took the view that this meant the scheme would not be returning before March, and therefore the money needed to be reallocated."

It comes after an extraordinary full city council meeting on Monday night, lasting three and a half hours, in which the council voted to support a future reintroduction of the scheme.

The city council's decision to back the scheme ultimately did not influence the LEP's decision, as the final decision on the scheme's implementation lies with Wiltshire Council, not the city council.

The SWLEP says it remains "a strong supporter" of the scheme.

Campaign group Save Our Salisbury said it was "saddened and disappointed" that the decision was not communicated to the city council in advance of Monday’s meeting, "for which all parties, the public and this campaign put in a huge effort".

It added: "The package included widely welcomed elements such as refurbishing Culver Street and improving Shopmobility, providing more bike racks, and planting green roofs on bus stops, and we can see no reason why these could not have gone ahead.

"This debacle shows that ‘take it or leave it’ package deals which seem to be the preferred way of funding local government these days are not working in the public interest".

Chairman of the council, Cllr John Walsh, said: "I had agreed to hold the Extraordinary Full Council meeting in the hope that if the Council voted in favour of reinstating the Peoples Friendly Streets project that the LEP money and other sources of funding would come to Salisbury.

"It is beginning to look as if Councillor Sirman’s intervention will have disastrous consequences for the economic wellbeing of the City."

Cllr Liz Sirman, leader of Salisbury City Council, has been contacted for comment.

Wiltshire Council has responded to this story here.