LUHC: levelling up bill lacks appropriate funding and detail

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The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) committee has raised concerns that the government has not provided appropriate funding or detail for levelling up objectives to be achieved.

In a letter to secretary of state Greg Clark, the scrutiny committee criticised the government for not allocating funding to the Levelling up and Regeneration Bill.

The committee warned that without “appropriate funding to those areas that need it most”, it is unlikely that levelling up “missions”, such as improving public transport and education, will be achieved.

The letter said: “None of the provisions in the bill will directly contribute to making progress towards achieving these missions – other than setting them. There is also no funding for levelling up associated with the bill.”

LUHC criticised the bill’s lack of clarity regarding the affordable housing provision and called for further details to be provided from the government on how this will impact local authorities.

The letter also raised concerns around planning provisions due to the “lack of detail in the bill, which has hindered effective scrutiny, and about a perceived movement towards the centralisation of planning decisions due to some of the provisions in the bill and the tone of some of the language”.

Commenting on the committee’s findings Clive Betts, LUHC chair, said: “In its current form, the bill does little to reassure that levelling up will prove to be more than just a slogan and that we will have meaningful change in local communities across the country.

“In key areas, it is unclear how the government intends to drive change and they are yet to commit to the spending that is necessary to level up the country.”

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