Comment
Spending Review 20: Promise of more money for regeneration
Senior Director, Richard Laming gives his initial thoughts on the funding implications of the Government’s Spending Review.
In advance of the Spending Review I speculated that it could herald a "new hope for regeneration" as part of the Government's efforts to level up. So how did the Chancellor do?
As expected, the Spending Review launched revisions the HM Treasury Green Book to eliminate regional bias in the assessment of investment projects and to better align criteria with the Government's commitments to net zero carbon. A new financing institution (The UK Infrastructure Bank) was also announced with its headquarters planned to be in the North of England. So far so good - but what about funding for regeneration projects and delivering local priorities?
The Chancellor highlighted the creation of a new £4 billion Levelling Up Fund which will be of interest to those involved in regeneration and development projects across the English regions, with Treasury documents highlighting that this will "attract a further £0.8 billion funding for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland". The description of this fund, what it can be used for and the need for political and community support for projects will be very familiar to anyone who has been involved with the Government's existing Towns Fund. On first review it appears to me to be a successor initiative to the Towns Fund, with places able to bid for up to £20 million for projects.
The Chancellor majored on the Levelling Up Fund during his speech, but an initial read of the full published Spending Review documents reveals some interesting details of the forthcoming Shared Prosperity Fund. This new fund is designed to support regeneration in former industrial areas, deprived towns, rural and coastal communities and shows that the Government's economic policies are not entirely aspatial in their approach to recognising need and targeting funding.
While no formula or methodology has been published in relation to the eligibility of areas to access funding, the Spending Review documentation does reveal three types of activity that will be supported:
- investment in people and skills tailored to local needs;
- investment in communities and place; and
- investment for local business tailored to local needs.
A good day for regeneration?
I would say so. The Spending Review establishes a new architecture of funding and support for regeneration. We do not have all the details yet but what we do have is a clear signal that a wider range of funding sources will be available to support place based regeneration over the next few years. They are going to be much needed to help places recover from COVID-19, address economic scarring and tackle the acute challenges faced in town centres.
25 November 2020