Where has £450m Borderlands funding gone?
BBCIt began as a promise to boost the economic fortunes of the five council areas either side of the England-Scotland border.
After years of negotiations, the Borderlands Growth Deal was finally signed in 2021.
Hailed as an "ambitious approach to cross-border working", nearly half a billion pounds of investment was promised from the UK and Scottish governments over a decade.
But at the halfway point, only three projects in England are fully complete, and the deal has been criticised for delays and bureaucratic setbacks.
One million people live in the Borderlands region, in the five local authorities of Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness, Northumberland, Dumfries and Galloway, and the Scottish Borders.
The deal brought the five authorities together to invest public money on projects aimed at growing the economy, boosting tourism, and regenerating local areas.
Over 10 years, the Scottish and Westminster governments agreed to spend £452m on projects which would create jobs, improve transport and digital connectivity, and increase jobs in tourism and green energy.
But those who hoped the funding would unlock major infrastructure schemes like dualling the A1 between Northumberland and Scotland, dualling the A69 between Carlisle and Newcastle, or extending the Borders Railway to Carlisle, will have been disappointed.
Just one of those infrastructure schemes would have swallowed the entire budget.
Instead, smaller projects were chosen.
Councillor Glen Sanderson, the Conservative leader of Northumberland County Council, said "people sat down and said how can we invest in the little towns and little villages in the Borderlands? How can we actually all work together, with the Scottish government and the Westminster government, to find enough money to do things that would not normally happen?"
Smaller developments in market towns, for example, involve community interaction and open calls for ideas. Larger projects involve consultation between local councils and communities.
All of the ideas then go through business evaluations before funding is agreed.
Patricia Bell, a Liberal Democrat councillor on Westmorland and Furness council, said: "It really is a place-based project. It's not just about investing in one project - it's saying, how can we use that investment in a number of different ways to support the town's future?"
The first project completed in Cumbria was the renovation of Penrith playhouse.
"It's just made us feel like we're on the map a little bit now," said Natasha Binder, from the Penrith Players.
"The Borderlands said, you are a charity group that is deserving of this money and so we've been able to say to people, 'look at us. Look how much good we can do and how much good we are already doing.'"
Penrith has also got new street signs in the town, and funding has been promised to upgrade Castle Park.
Scott Jackson, chairman of the planning committee at Penrith Town Council, said: "Council finances can be tight, but when the opportunity comes along to fix one of the things that people notice could be done better in the town - I think it's excellent."
But the two biggest projects in Cumbria are far from complete.
The Borderlands deal is funding most of a £40m upgrade of Carlisle railway station.
It should have been finished in summer 2025 but work has stalled, and costs have risen.
"We've no idea what's going on," said Cumberland Liberal Democrat councillor Brian Wernham.
"We were promised that the relocation of the car park to the other side of the station with a new entrance would have opened last year. Nothing's going on on this site," he said.
Cumberland Council's latest update on the project, from April 2026, stated that the station gateway plans had been approved.
The Citadels redevelopment project is also well behind schedule.
The University of Cumbria campus is due to be relocating to the site, using £50m of Borderlands funding, but an agreement over the land ownership has only just been reached.
In September, Cumberland council said work was continuing on the proposals.
Despite the delays, supporters of the Borderlands Growth Deal said residents should not lose faith.
"There are quite a lot of bureaucratic hoops to jump through. And it's taking a long time," councillor Patricia Bell of Westmorland and Furness Council said.
She said the holdups were easy for her to understand as a councillor, but "very difficult for the public to understand".
"Nevertheless, thank goodness we have Borderlands, because we wouldn't have the investment otherwise," she said.
Work has recently started on the Roxy theatre in Ulverston, and Egremont and Dalton-in-Furness are also waiting for regeneration projects through the Borderlands Place Programme.
Northumberland has arguably enjoyed more success than Cumbria from the Borderlands growth deal.
Two out of three major projects part-funded by the Borderlands deal are already complete and open, including the Lilidorei playpark at the Alnwick Garden, and the Ad Gefrin whisky distillery in Wooler.
Alnwick is getting £2m of funding through the Place Programme for regeneration projects, including reopening Northumberland Hall as the new home of the Bailiffgate museum.
Chris Ferguson, trustee of the Bailiffgate museum, said the Georgian building has had "so many stop starts in its history".
"We were just really fortunate when we got support from the Borderlands to be able to move in here and do something new with it for the people of Alnwick and the town," he said.
Alnwick bus station is also about to be refurbished with better lighting and seating, and an improved entrance for buses.
The famous cobbles in the town are also due to be restored.
The town council said work on all three projects was due to start "very soon".
But the third and final major project in Northumberland backed by Borderlands funding has stalled.
Berwick's redeveloped Maltings Theatre should have been ready to open by now but work has yet to begin, after lengthy arguments over the building's design.
The cost has also soared from £17m to £36m.
Work is finally due to start in November, subject to Northumberland County Council agreeing to pay £7.5m towards it, but critics of the deal have not been impressed.
Councillor Scott Dickinson, the leader of the Labour group on Northumberland County Council, said the delays have been "frustrating" and "communities in places like Newbiggin and Prudhoe are still waiting for things that have been promised that simply haven't materialised".
"Over a million pounds worth of administrative costs gets spent every year, and people aren't seeing the value of projects because nothing's happening in some places," he said.
Supporters of the Borderlands Growth Deal insist it has brought success to England's most northern counties.
Sanderson, a Borderlands Board member, accepts the delays have been frustrating.
But he said there were complexities involved because you are working with the Westminster and Scottish governments.
"There are various groups of civil servants in between and it can look very slow," Sanderson said.
But he said when the decisions are made "the results are there and wonderful results they are".
Sanderson said he believed the deal was "making a great deal of difference" and "there will be more to enjoy".