The Mayor of Falmouth has described the Government's decision to award £ 50 million of Levelling Up cash for a new direct train link between Falmouth and Newquay as a "total waste of money". It was announced yesterday that the money would be provided for the Mid Cornwall Metro which is designed to create a direct link between Falmouth and Newquay.

However, Falmouth Mayor Steve Eva was scathing in his assessment of the decision telling the media: "It's a total waste of £50m. This is, in my opinion, not a good use of money. We have a pier falling down, no swimming pool or leisure centre, no skate park and what do we get? Trains to Newquay. Ridiculous."

He added: "Levelling Up should be for local projects for the community, this seems to me to be being used to enhance a service that should be funded by transport, but I question that the rail link does not benefit many local residents."

Jayne Kirkham, Cornwall councillor for Falmouth Penwerris and Labour Parliamentary candidate for Truro and Falmouth, also criticised the allocation of funds in Cornwall. She said: "I am always delighted to welcome funding to Cornwall but this should be a matter of local choice. People in Truro and Falmouth are struggling to afford rent or purchase their first home. They are worried about ambulance and hospital waiting times and their rising bills every month. 

"The money our local communities have been awarded pales into insignificance set against the promises Boris Johnson made to match our lost EU funding pound for pound, or the millions lost to local Cornish services during the last 13 years of Conservative Government."

And Perran Moon, Labour candidate for Camborne and Redruth, added: "We cannot continue with this Hunger Games style contest, where local areas are pitted against each other for short-term pots of funding that are only for things that a Conservative Government minister in Westminster thinks are important.

"Labour has set out plans for the biggest ever transfer of power out of Westminster, so local leaders can harness the skills and assets in their area to drive growth, and all people in all parts of Britain are given the backing to make a contribution."

In Helston, there was disappointment that a bid for £19m for town centre improvements, including the protection of key historic buildings in the town, had been turned down for funding.

Mike Thomas, independent Cornwall councillor for Helston North, said yesterday: "I was very upset to learn this morning that Helston's Place Shaping Group working with Helston Town Council, Cornwall Council and our MP Derek Thomas, had been unsuccessful with its bid for funding from the Government's Levelling Up Fund round 2. This bid was for a £19m package for creating a community asset, making significant improvements to Helston Town Centre, and developing cycle routes in and around the town.

"A range of volunteers and paid officers of both Cornwall Council and Helston Town Council have invested significant time and resources preparing these projects over the last four years, resources that have been diverted for all that time from working on other projects. It strikes me that the viability of the projects in the bid could have been validated far sooner enabling time and resources to be more efficiently deployed – a point regularly made by the Local Government Association.  

"Helston is in real need of investment for its future as it is classed as a post-Beeching economically deprived town. It is the gateway to The Lizard and a place of economic and cultural significance to a growing district population of 43,000 people. It has missed out on Town Deals, Town Funds, and other funding schemes that neighbouring communities such as Penzance, Falmouth, Penryn, Camborne, and Redruth regularly seem to access.  

"These projects were 'shovel-ready' and met all the application criteria that were given. This is a missed opportunity upon which many in our community were pinning the regeneration of our town – it is especially galling to notice that a similar bid with similar projects gained support in Richmond, North Yorkshire – the constituency of Rishi Sunak MP."

However, the funding for the Mid Cornwall Metro project has been welcomed by Cornwall Council which said it was an opportunity to "transform transport links in Cornwall".

Louis Gardner, Conservative Cabinet member for the economy, said: "This is great news for residents and businesses in Cornwall. This project will make a real difference to the everyday lives of people and create so many opportunities by better-connecting communities to jobs, services, education, and each other, as well as provide economic benefits in allowing quicker, easier access for commuters and visitors coming into the area.

"This is just the beginning, with further Levelling Up Fund bids to come as well as the £132m Shared Prosperity Fund we are already beginning to distribute to projects that drive good growth." 

And Connor Donnithorne, Conservative Cabinet member for transport added: "This exciting project is an important next step in developing and improving the transport network to encourage more people to walk, cycle and use public transport and will complement the work we have been doing to make bus travel more accessible and affordable."