As the government has published the long-awaited prospectus for the Levelling Up Fund, the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) offers its analysis.
… smaller transport projects, town centre and high street regeneration…
… prioritise bids that can demonstrate investment or begin delivery on the ground…
LGC writes:
The Levelling Up Fund is a joint venture between the Department for Transport, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Treasury which is worth £4bn in England over four years, including £600m next year.
But as LGC reported last week, £300m of the fund is cash that was earmarked for a Towns Fund competition, while the fund also partially takes the place of the Local Growth Fund which was previously allocated through local enterprise partnerships.
The Levelling Up Fund will be open to single tier councils and district councils in two tier areas. Counties, combined authorities and the Greater London Authority (GLA) will only be able to bid for transport infrastructure projects. Capacity funding to help develop bids will be allocated to councils “most in need of levelling up”, as identified in an index published alongside the prospectus.
The first round of the fund focuses on three themes: smaller transport projects, town centre and high street regeneration and support for maintaining and expanding cultural and heritage assets. The prospectus says projects should “be aligned to and support net zero goals”.
The prospectus sets out the approach for the first round of the fund, which will prioritise bids that can demonstrate investment or begin delivery on the ground in the coming financial year. It says this approach will be kept “under review” for future rounds….
Since the Towns Fund was launched in 2019 as part of a £3.6bn package, there has been criticism from some areas that their bids were overlooked because of previous Treasury Green Book principles that prioritised funding for areas with higher land values and prospects.
However, the prospectus says that the Levelling Up Fund “embodies the approach of the Green Book review” by “focusing on the needs of individual places and the strategic case for investment”.
The fund is “especially intended to support investment in places where it can make the biggest difference to everyday life, including ex-industrial areas, deprived towns and coastal communities”.
When the Chancellor first announced the Levelling Up Fund in the last Spending Review he laid down a £20m limit for capital investment through the fund. But the prospectus reveals that “bids above £20m and below £50m will be accepted for transport projects” such as road schemes….
The fund sits within the wider context of the Chancellor’s announcement at the Spending Review of £100bn of capital spending in 2021-22, a £30bn cash increase compared to 2019-20.
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