WIREDGOV

At yesterday's Budget the Chancellor set out an ambitious package of measures that continue to significantly advance our mission to level up.

Levelling Up Across the Union

This Budget spreads prosperity beyond our major cities. We are expanding our Long-Term Plan for Towns to a further 20 towns across England, Scotland, Wales and now, following the return of the Executive, Northern Ireland. Each town will receive up to £20m of funding and support over ten years to invest in communities and regeneration. The 20 new towns are:

We are also continuing to drive innovation and boost private investment across the UK through the Investment Zone programme. Further to our announcement on West Yorkshire’s Investment Zone at the Convention of the North last week, we are now setting out that Tees Valley’s Investment Zone will focus on digital and creative sectors, backed by an initial £15m private investment to support the growth of the digi-tech cluster in Middlesbrough.  We are also setting out further details on the next five investment zones in England, where final plans have been agreed:  Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, North East of England, South Yorkshire, and West Midlands. Working in partnership with both the Scottish and Welsh Governments, we are extending the Investment Zone in programme in Scotland and Wales from five to ten years, to match that in England. As set out in the NI Command Paper and working with the NI Executive, we will also deliver an Enhanced Investment Zone in Northern Ireland to ensure that Northern Ireland benefits from the same opportunities elsewhere in the UK.  

The Budget also confirms that the English Freeport tax reliefs are being extended to September 2031, and in partnership with the Scottish and Welsh governments we will similarly extend the window to claim reliefs to 10 years for Freeports in Scotland and Wales. 

And to complement these programmes, we have published a prospectus for the Investment Opportunity Fund, which will provide a flexible, agile pot of funding that Government will use to secure and respond to investment opportunities in these areas as they emerge. 

In addition to this £400m investment in our towns, the Chancellor confirmed £100 million for a programme of culture projects across the UK, recognising the vital role that culture and pride in place have to play in levelling up.  The projects will include:

• revamping the National Railway Museum in York;  
• transforming parts of the Royal Albert Docks in Liverpool into a national museum;  
• supporting the development of the country’s first National Poetry Centre in Leeds;  
• supporting the redevelopment of the Temple Works building in Leeds so that this historic site can serve as an eventual home for British Library North;  
• funding for Venue Cymru in LLandudno, and  
• supporting the V&A Dundee for the remodelling and extension of their Scottish Design Galleries.

We are also supporting local cultural projects with £5m in areas that have been previously prioritised for levelling up investment but have not benefitted from government investment through one of our Levelling Up Funds:  Coventry, Erewash, High Peak, Maldon, Mendip (now Somerset), Newport, North Northamptonshire, Redditch, and Worcester.   

The Government has also announced a further £20 million to deliver two capital regeneration projects that will revitalise town centres in Hucknall, Ashfield and Bingley, Bradford. In addition, we are providing £6m for a pilot, delivered with the King’s Foundation, to explore how community centred regeneration projects, anchored around heritage assets and sustainability considerations, can complement the government’s wider place-based initiatives for levelling up.    

To ensure that every city in Scotland benefits from levelling up, we will be investing £10m in Perth and Dunfermline to deliver bespoke culture and regeneration projects. And building on the cultural and investment legacy of the Commonwealth Games across the West Midlands, the Chancellor announced a fund of £10m for culture and £5m for investment for the West Midlands Combined Authority, subject to business case approvals.

Extending and Deepening Devolution 

In addition to major funding commitments, this Budget drives forward the devolution agenda in England with new and deeper devolution agreements secured which devolve power down to local communities.   

The government has announced a new Trailblazer Deeper Devolution Deal with the North East Mayoral Combined Authority, which includes a funding package potentially worth over £100m for the region.  The deal includes a series of innovative collaborations with the North East, including on a public sector innovation trailblazer – which will investigate innovative ways to improve quality and productivity in our public services - and a new Rural and Coastal Taskforce. 

As announced initially by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up at the Convention of the North last week, the Chancellor has also confirmed that West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and the Liverpool City Region are eligible for deeper ‘Level 4’ devolution agreements. These agreements will hand leaders control over adult skills provision, local transport funding, the potential for delivery of net zero funding and control over the Affordable Homes Programme from 2026 in their areas in partnership with Homes England. These areas will also be given a consolidated single pot for local growth, housing and regeneration funding at the next multi-year Spending Review, which will serve as a stepping-stone to a full departmental-style settlement at the subsequent multi-year Spending Review. 

Alongside this, the government has finalised the first single county Level 2 devolution agreements with three county areas: Surrey, Warwickshire and Buckinghamshire.  These agreements will provide additional powers to each council, with greater scope to set priorities across the county on issues such as adult skills.  

Taken together, the Government has now extended devolution to more than 64% of England and 90% of the north, taking us closer to our mission of agreeing a devolution deal with each area of England that wants one by 2030.

Long-Term Plan For Housing

Beyond Levelling Up funding and devolution, the measures set out in the Budget see us make significant strides in delivering our Long-Term Plan for Housing, particularly in relation to our major operation in Cambridge where we have confirmed the Government’s commitment to its future as an innovative economic centre and a model of sustainable urban growth.

We have published a Case for Cambridge, setting out our ambitious plan to develop Cambridge as Europe’s science capital, expanding its current research base as a leader in life sciences and tech innovation. We are also confirming that the future development corporation will receive a long-term funding settlement at the next Spending Review to start delivering on the government’s plan to unleash the economic potential of the city and increase the amount of lab space.   

In addition, we are announcing £10.2 million to support the development of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Europe’s leading centre for medical research and health science. £7.2 million will unlock improvements to transport at the Campus, opening new opportunities for infrastructure-led development. £3 million is to support the Cambridge University NHS Trust with developing longer term capacity and delivery plans for the site.

We have published a policy paper setting out what we are doing to address water scarcity issues in Cambridge, building on the significant interventions and investment we have already made. We have also agreed a joint statement with the Environment Agency, Defra and Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire district councils, confirming that the measures to address water scarcity in Cambridge should address water supply concerns that have previously stalled the development of new homes. 

Alongside the Spring Budget, government is setting out its ambitious vision for Leeds to unlock 20,000 homes, and in London, the government is establishing the Euston Housing Delivery Group with £4 million to support plans to deliver up to 10,000 new homes.

Boosting Housing Supply 

We are also taking steps to boost housing delivery in our 20 biggest cities and urban areas, in instances where housing delivery has dipped, through our consultation on a new brownfield presumption. Following on from the £188 million allocated to housing projects in Sheffield, Blackpool and Liverpool at the Convention of the North on 1 March, the Budget allocates over £240 million to housing projects in London, unlocking up to 7,200 homes in Barking and a new life sciences hub and up to 750 homes in Canary Wharf. 

Driving faster housing delivery means supporting all types of housebuilders – including communities who want to build for themselves. A new £20 million investment in social finance will build up to 2000 to 3000 new homes and improve the capacity of local community groups to deliver housing. Recognising the crucial role that Local Authorities have in delivering more affordable housing, we are increasing the cap (from 40% to 50%) on the percentage of the cost of a replacement that can be funded from Right to Buy receipts.    

We have already made changes to national planning policy to address weaknesses in the planning system and taken steps to intervene to boost planning capacity and capability. The Government is committed to further digitalising the planning system and has announced a new, innovative pilot on the use of Artificial Intelligence to support in speeding up making local plans and the design of new software to streamline key processes for planning officers.  

At Autumn Statement, the Government made £110 million available through the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund, helping planning authorities to deliver more homes in areas affected by nutrient neutrality. We are now launching an Expression of Interest for the second round of this Fund, to further boost the supply of mitigation available to support sustainable development. Along with the Round 1 funding, this will support the delivery of 40,000 homes over the next five years. Furthermore, to boost capacity in the planning system the Government is committing £3 million to match industry-led funding for a skills and education programme to attract more people to take up roles as local planners in planning authorities. 

Communities 

This Budget recognises the important contribution of Muslim soldiers to the British Armed Forces, by providing up to £1 million support, subject to business case, for a new war memorial to recognise the sacrifice and duty of Muslim soldiers who fought and died for this country in both world wars.  The delivery of this project will be a visible reminder of the diversity of the British Armed Forces, and the contributions of Muslims to the two World Wars. It will promote shared values amongst people of all backgrounds through building a better understanding of faith groups’ contribution to wider society.