Government publishes Levelling Up Fund prospectus

From the Levelling Up Fund prospectus to the new UK Infrastructure Bank headquarters in Leeds, the 2021 Budget covered plenty of ground.

Speaking in Parliament today (3 March), chancellor Rishi Sunak said the Budget would ‘protect the jobs and livelihoods of the British people’ as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the UK economy.

Although several measures, such as the extension of the furlough scheme, had been trialled in the last few days, the chancellor made a number of key announcements.

These included the publication of the prospectus for the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund, which will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK.

According to Treasury documents, in order to ensure that funding reaches the places most in need, the government has identified priority places based on an index of local need to receive capacity funding to help them co-ordinate their applications.

Other announcements included:

• More than £1bn funding for a further 45 towns in England through the Towns Fund.
• The creation of eight new English Freeports will be based in East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe & Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth, Solent, Thames and Teesside
• A £150 million Community Ownership Fund, which will allow communities across the UK to invest to protect the assets that matter most to them such as pubs, theatres, shops, or local sports clubs.
• The six-month extension of the £20 per week Universal Credit uplift.
• The new UK Infrastructure Bank will be headquartered in Leeds.
• A £5bn Restart Grants scheme – a one off payment of up to £18,000 for hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses in England.
• The publication of the government’s Build Back Better plan for growth.
• The government has also asked the National Infrastructure Commission to do a study on how to maximise the benefits of infrastructure policy and investment for towns.
• A new Treasury campus for 750 civil servants in Darlington.

‘The recovery Budget will be judged by how quickly furloughed employees return to work and the quality and numbers of new jobs created, in traditional as well as high-growth innovation sectors, in the aftermath of lockdown,’ said Localis chief executive, Jonathan Werran.

‘Last year there was much talk of a modern day ‘Marshall Plan’ to target investment where it was most needed and would deliver the greatest growth dividends. So in this context, the recovery will succeed or fail in how efficiently and directly these cash pots – whether the £5bn high street fund, the new wave of town deals, the Levelling Up or UK Shared Prosperity funds – are parcelled out to local delivery agents and put to immediate good use in restoring place prosperity.

‘Support for community assets in the £150m fund which is open to help shore up some of the nation’s pubs from closure is also to be greatly welcomed. Pubs are social anchors without equal and are central in building a sense of community cohesion. It’s easy to say “We will miss them when they’re gone”, but they are simply irreplaceable. This is especially the case in rural and left-behind areas where their loss could unravel the social fabric in our cities, towns and villages,’ added Mr Werran.

Commenting on the news that the UK Infrastructure Bank will be based in Leeds, the leader of the city council, Cllr James Lewis said: ‘This move will give Leeds a central role in decisions that will shape the country’s future and its potentially transformative power should not be underestimated – particularly when working in tandem with the new Treasury North campus planned for Darlington.

‘I am also determined to ensure that local people reap the benefits that it should bring in terms of job creation.’