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Housing will this year displace highways and transport as the largest area of council capital spending – following the lifting of the housing revenue account borrowing cap.
The government this week released figures showing English councils are predicting an overall 13% rise in capital spending in 2019/20 (to £28.0bn) compared to last year (£24.7bn).
The data show that councils are budgeting for an increase in capital spending on housing from £5.9bn to £7.1bn – a rise of 21% over the provisional outturn for last year.
With highways and transport capital spending set to fall from £7.1bn last year to £6.5bn, housing will now make up the largest of all budget areas.
Reacting to the n
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