Unpacking the red box
Your guide to the Chancellor’s Budget for places, people and communities
The Chancellor’s Budget speech has been highly anticipated since it is the first after the lifting of lockdown restrictions and allows us to understand the government’s response to the impact of Covid-19.
Always a big set piece moment in UK politics, the Chancellor has also used the occasion to make other announcements.
This blog is a round-up of those announcements that are focused on people, places and communities, and could be directly relevant to your Town, Town Deal or Future High Streets Fund projects.
For an at-a-glance guide, HM Treasury has published 251021 Regional fact sheets v3 630PM.docx (publishing.service.gov.uk) which list the initiatives on Levelling Up, infrastructure funding and other support by region and nations across the UK.
This is in addition to the Towns Fund’s regeneration of high streets, town centres and local communities across England with 170 Town Deals and Future High Streets Fund programmes combined.
Levelling Up Fund
The Chancellor reaffirmed the government’s commitment to levelling up by allocating the first round of the UK-wide Levelling Up Fund to over 100 local infrastructure projects worth £1.7bn. A list of the successful bidders, projects and value are here. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1029008/LUF_bidders_list.ods
Having published the Levelling Up Fund Prospectus in March this year, the Levelling Up Fund promises to invest a total of £4.8bn in local infrastructure, town centre and high street regeneration, local transport, and cultural and heritage buildings with further funding rounds expected over the next four years.
UK Community Ownership Fund
The UK Community Ownership Fund: first round successful bidders - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) were also announced. Worth over £5m, 21 projects will be funded across the UK.
Community groups can bid for up to £250,000 matched-funding (up to £1m in exceptional cases) to buy or take over local community assets at risk of being lost and run them as community-owned businesses, in support of social wellbeing for local communities.
Further funding rounds of the £150m fund will continue for four years up until 2025 with the start of round two expected shortly.
UK Community Renewal Fund
The third of the New levelling up and community investments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) is the UK Community Renewal Fund which will provide local areas across the UK with access to £220m of additional funding to prepare for the launch of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2022. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will rise to £1.5bn per year by 2025.
The focus will be on supporting local people and communities by creating opportunities to trial new approaches and innovative ideas at a local level. The deadline for lead local authorities to submit their project shortlists was 18th June this year. No further announcements have been made since.
Other funding announcements
Research and Development
£20bn investment in Research and Development (R&D) is expected by 2025 with an increased share in government spending on R&D outside the Greater South-East. The plan for doing this will be set out in the forthcoming Levelling Up White Paper.
Skills
£68m will be invested by 2025 to level up the adult skills system to enable local areas to spend funding where it is needed most.
Total spending on skills will increase by £3.8 billion by 2025 with additional places on Skills Bootcamps, an expansion of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee on free Level 3 qualifications, and a new programme, Multiply, aimed at improving numeracy skills.
Investment in housing
There will be £11.5bn investment in the Affordable Homes Programme in England up to 2026. This will help build up to 180,000 new affordable homes with 65% of funding for homes outside London.
Theatres, museums, libraries, orchestras and galleries
£850m has been committed to protect museums, galleries, libraries, and local culture in England.
Rewarding innovation for net zero and green growth
The government has confirmed funding for £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio which is accelerating near-to-market low-carbon technology innovations.
£2.4bn will be invested over the next three years to unlock finance for green growth, including a new strategic initiative to support clean and green infrastructure through UK-backed investment, loans and expertise.
If you have any specific queries about what these opportunities may mean for your Town, please contact your CLGU Area Lead or your Town Coordinator.