In the letter, McMahon tells Dixon that “responsibility for decisions on the use of funding has been devolved to local authorities”.
“Local authorities now have flexibility to manage their funding portfolios, including making decisions on project changes, cancellations and the prioritisation of alternative investments within their area,” he explains.
His department “no longer has a formal approval role in individual project changes and authorities are expected to undertake their own local assurance and decision-making processes”, McMahon adds.
With that in mind, Dixon has called on Bradford Council’s Reform UK administration to act on campaigners’ wishes and use some of the government money to bring back Bingley Pool – which is estimated to cost £8.6m.
“Why not Bingley Pool? What else are they wanting to spend that money on?” she asks.
Dixon claims she shared the letter, which has been seen by the BBC, with Bradford Council on 9 September.
But the authority’s Reform UK leadership begs to differ.
It says “no advice has been received from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to that effect”.
Councillor Stephen Place, Reform leader of Bradford Council, says Dixon has made “false claims”.
He adds that “claims Bradford Council has existing funding available to spend on Bingley Pool are categorically untrue”.
