• Home
  • About
  • Newsletters
  • Conference
  • TMS Links
  • Calendar
  • Log In
  • Register

Room 151

  • 151 BRIEF

    What's New?

  • Glasgow raises £195m in debt finance deal

    December 5, 2019

  • Bexley housing company scales back housing target

    December 5, 2019

  • Redbridge approves lottery plans

    December 5, 2019

  • Halton imposes freeze on non-essential spending

    December 5, 2019

  • FRC looks to increase control over auditors

    December 5, 2019

  • Legal & General invests £100m in Sunderland regeneration project

    November 28, 2019

  • Treasury
  • Technical
  • Funding
  • Resources
  • LGPS
  • Development
  • 151 News
  • Blogs
    • David Green
    • Agent 151
    • Dan Bates
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Sheen
    • James Bevan
    • Steve Bishop
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • David Crum
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O’Donnell
    • Jackie Shute
  • Interviews
  • Jobs

40bps off PWLB Standard Rate for infrastructure loans

0
  • by Jo Tura
  • in Funding
  • — 7 Dec, 2012

The Chancellor has unveiled a special PWLB rate for infrastructure projects put forward by Local Enterprise Partnerships. George Osbourne announced the rate of 40 basis points below the Standard Rate in yesterday’s Autumn statement.

The rate for LEP projects follows the thinking in Lord Heseltine’s No stone unturned in pursuit of growth report released six weeks ago. In a speech launching the report Heseltine said of LEPs: “This country has a framework that replicates the strengths of the city states in all our competing economies. It is no longer a case of waiting for London. The army; it now has its fighting divisions. The immediate challenge is to bring them up to strength and to give them the tools to do the job.”

Responding to the Statement, chair of the Local Government Association Sir Merrick Cockell said: “There needs to be a rapid and significant devolution of resources to local areas so councils and their partners in business can promote local economies and drive national growth. The boost in funding for Local Enterprise Partnerships and the Regional Growth Fund, alongside the reversal of cuts to councils’ road maintenance budgets, are all steps in the right direction but more still needs to be done.”

However he warned of “bureaucratic bidding wars” between areas and urged the Government to quickly dispense funding to areas with shovel ready projects. The Chancellor also announced a single funding pot, to be in place by April 2015, to include funding for transport, housing, and “additional local growth funding” among other things.

Community Budgets were another area to receive encouragement. Said Cockell: “It is pleasing to see a positive statement by the Government on the value of the whole-place Community Budget pilots in showing how better integration between local services can use money better … We now need to ensure that the barriers to rolling the whole-place approach out are removed and start to put this change into operation in the four pilots and elsewhere.”

PwC’s head of local government Andy Ford said that while results from the pilots had been impressive, time is in short supply for councils struggling to balance budgets. “There must be serious doubts about whether Community Budget type initiatives alone will help councils address the further challenges they are going to have to confront in the next two years,” he commented.

Cuts announced in the Statement were in line with previous announcements. Said Cockell: “Local government has borne the brunt of cuts to public spending so far and, while it is pleasing our campaigning has resulted in councils being protected from additional cuts next year, the extra two per cent cut in 2014/15 is unsustainable.

“Cutting council funding to help pay for nationally-administered economic stimulus programmes would be bad for local frontline services and makes no sense economically.”

Share

You may also like...

  • Autumn Statement: English authorities shortchanged on fiscal devolution 3 Dec, 2014
  • LGA election manifesto highlights £5.8bn funding gap 4 May, 2017
  • Big trouble in Great Yarmouth as statutory services become unaffordable Big trouble in Great Yarmouth as statutory services become unaffordable 13 Feb, 2014
  • Get stuck in and cut a deal! Get stuck in and cut a deal! 18 Jan, 2012

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • Register to become a Room151 user

  • Latest tweets

    Room 151 7 hours ago

    Council files £130m claim against PFI contractor for post-Grenfell estate costs: London Borough of Camden is suing a former PFI partner and its main subcontractors for £130m for costs relating to the evacuation of one of its housing estates the week[...] dlvr.it/RKkR8C pic.twitter.com/zIfQcikMjq

    Room 151 13 hours ago

    Review highlights ongoing financial management issues at Northamptonshire: Northamptonshire County Council’s new section 151 officer should draw up plans to repatriate powers from government commissioners amid ongoing problems with financial management,… dlvr.it/RKjLkN pic.twitter.com/tQIxMDawQV

    Room 151 1 day ago

    Doug McMurdo: LGPS, the Stewardship Code, good governance and protecting capital: I have spent the last decade leading Bedfordshire Pension Fund (BPF) as chairman of the pensions committee. We are facing many challenges, not least the reforms that the… dlvr.it/RKfJrD

    Room 151 1 day ago

    Active managers still in the game: Under performance and high costs have given active management a bad press, some of it well deserved. But it appears to be on the brink of a renaissance with some[...] dlvr.it/RKfJjR pic.twitter.com/yyAcm1wSMy

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Court ruling leaves councils facing compensation bills for water overcharging: Councils could face compensation costs running into the millions after the High Court ruled that a council unlawfully overcharged its tenants for supplying water from 2002,… dlvr.it/RKZnQK pic.twitter.com/tawdmA9wlE

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Election 2019: “Stark” differences in parties’ proposals for council funding: Conservative Party manifesto proposals would not meet rising costs faced by councils, while Labour Party policies would meet demand even with a council tax freeze, according to… dlvr.it/RKZnNT pic.twitter.com/F16kSfQrXI

    Room 151 3 days ago

    LGPS women discuss: climate & pension fund investing: Climate change has become one of the biggest issues for asset owners and managers as they move to tackle global warming. Room151 convened a roundtable of LGPS practitioners and advisers[...] dlvr.it/RKXsWW pic.twitter.com/3rtUTapwkF

    Room 151 4 days ago

    Interview: Doug Heron, CEO, Lothian Pension Fund: Doug Heron is heading towards marking one year at Lothian after making the switch from the world of fintech platforms to local government pensions. He talks to Room151 about core[...] dlvr.it/RKSQPK pic.twitter.com/ltHR6AS5gD

    Room 151 1 week ago

    LGPS and the climate change revolution: The pressure to integrate climate change thinking into LGPS asset management is growing. At the Room 151 LGPS Asset Allocation Forum, experts insisted climate be seen as a strategic issue[...] dlvr.it/RKK1cY pic.twitter.com/G87J33R4yS

    Room 151 1 week ago

    Conference chairs, ‘tree-hugging’ and overcharging pension investors: I have a story about two LGPS conferences, two conference chairs and an industry that appears to be changing for the better. I know, sounds like a real doozy, but[...] dlvr.it/RKK1Xy pic.twitter.com/6zYQFuuwAr

  • Categories

    • 151 News
    • Agent 151
    • Blogs
    • Chris Buss
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • Dan Bates
    • David Crum
    • David Green
    • Development
    • Forum
    • Funding
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O'Donnell
    • Interviews
    • Jackie Shute
    • James Bevan
    • Jobs
    • LGPSi
    • Mark Finnegan
    • Recent Posts
    • Resources
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Fitzgerald
    • Stephen Sheen
    • Steve Bishop
    • Technical
    • Treasury
    • Uncategorized
  • Archives

    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011
  • Previous story Scenario planning “particularly weak” says Grant Thornton report
  • Next story S&P downgrades Woking for risk in non-core activities

© Copyright 2019 Room 151. Typegrid Theme by WPBandit.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies from this website.OK