In Ferry Fryston, where a new walking trail is due to open later this month, the work was described as "positive" – but in South Elmsall, residents say the cash has been "wasted" because of bad planning and organisation.

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Richard Donaldson, 51, is one of only two homeowners living on Gordon Place, South Elmsall, which is an area earmarked for demolition by Wakefield Council to create 700 new homes.

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He told the YEP: "The figure about the deprived areas isn't too far from the truth. The town where I live is dead. The market's not what it used to be, nearly all the shops have gone and it's full of takeaways. It is quite run down.

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"Everyone else has moved from my street and they're trying to get me to move out with a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO).

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"But so far as I know, they haven't even got outline planning permission yet. It's just money wasted.

"They spent £13m on turning the Frickley Colliery into a park and there's only space for 14 cars. It's just bad planning.

"They don't dot the Is and cross the Ts, and then they spend a fortune trying to do all that afterwards.

"I don't understand how anyone gets jobs from the projects. With Frickley Park, there were jobs there while the work was being done, but there aren't any now. More money needs to be spent but people need to take responsibility for how it is spent."

By contrast, Elmet MP Colin Burgon said the coalfield areas would be a "desperate place" without the regeneration schemes.

He said: "Nobody should be under any impression that any amount of government intervention could address the sheer scale of the job losses in the Yorkshire coalfield.

"There may well be concern at elements of coalfield funding but my view is that if there had not been substantial government intervention, then the Yorkshire coalfield would be a desperate place."