Tag: Department for Levelling Up

The press release issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 4 September 2023.

£34.6 million awarded across London and over 70 other areas to support rough sleepers.

Funding to provide up to 4,300 additional beds to help people off the streets has been announced as the Government marks the anniversary of its landmark Rough Sleeping Strategy.

The cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy – backed by £2 billion and building on significant action already taken by the government – was announced in September 2022.

To mark its anniversary, the Department of Levelling Up, Communities and Housing (DLUHC) has today announced new Rough Sleeping Initiative allocations totalling £34.6 million. This money will go to areas most in need of support to help get people off the street more quickly; provide more move-on accommodation; help people keep their tenancies; and provide tailored support.

This funding is on top of the original allocation of up to £500 million over 3 years, announced earlier this year, which has already helped to provide 14,000 beds for rough sleepers and 3,000 staff to provide tailored support across England. This includes helping individuals find work, manage their finances and access mental and physical health services.

The government has a manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping in this parliament. This means rough sleeping is prevented wherever possible and, where it cannot be prevented, it is a rare, brief and non-recurring experience.

Minister for Rough Sleeping Felicity Buchan said:

“One year on from the launch of our ground-breaking strategy we remain as committed as ever to ending rough sleeping.

“The full weight of government remains behind this very important pledge, and this can be seen in today’s funding boost to provide thousands more beds and hundreds more support staff into the heart of communities where they are most needed.”

Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25 funding forms just one part of a wider package of support for rough sleepers and falls within the £2 billion this Government has committed to spend over three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. The wider package of support includes:

• Homelessness Prevention Grant: In excess of £1 billion flexible finding is being provided over three years to support councils to offer financial support for people to find a new home or to work with landlords to prevent evictions.
• Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme: This £433 million scheme will deliver 6,000 homes for people with histories of sleeping rough or those at risk of sleeping rough.
• Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme: Announced earlier this year, this new £200 million programme aims to deliver up to 2,400 homes, with funding for the necessary wrap-around support tailored to individua needs for three years
• Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant: We are providing funding of up to £186.5 million over this spending review period for substance misuse treatment. This investment has expanded these vital services to an additional 20 areas, bringing the total to 83 areas and 5 cross-London projects.
• Housing First Pilots: Our manifesto committed to pilot Housing First in three urban areas with contrasting challenges: Greater Manchester, West Midlands and Liverpool City Region. The programme was initially allocated £28 million of Government funding, but in May 2022, they secured an additional £13.9 million in funding to drive forward the programme’s legacy.
• Accommodation for Ex-Offenders: This supports prison leavers at risk of homelessness into private rental tenancies. Over £42 million is being provided to local authorities in England, helping people with rental deposits, landlord incentives, and dedicated support staff, supporting 2,750 ex-offenders into their own homes in the private rented sector
• The Night Shelter Transformation Fund – a £13 million commitment over three years, aimed at small- to medium-sized faith and community organisations, providing accommodation and support to people who are homeless or sleeping rough.
• Voluntary & Community Sector Capacity Fund: £7.3 million funding to boost working across statutory, commissioned, and non-commissioned services and increase the capacity and skills of the sector through workforce support and training.

The press release issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, on 1 September 2023.

Community Ownership Fund opens again for applications, giving local people the chance to seize back control of prized community assets.

Pubs, community halls, gardens, sports clubs and other treasured locations across the UK can benefit from up to £2 million in government funding each through the Community Ownership Fund, which is open again for applications.

The fund gives local people the chance to save prized community assets that are at risk of being lost forever, and keep them open for future generations to enjoy.

To encourage as many applications as possible and make the process easier, the money available for applicants has doubled to £2 million, and the amount organisations need to match fund has decreased from 50% to 20%.

Minister for Levelling Up Dehenna Davison said:

We want to ensure that the community institutions which are a vital part of our social fabric, like pubs and sports clubs, can continue to play a central role in towns and villages across the UK.

By doubling the funding that organisations can receive, we are giving communities better opportunities and safeguarding the incredible local assets that are at their heart.

The Department for Levelling Up’s £150 million fund has already helped 150 community assets get back on their feet since it launched in July 2021. Recently, Bury FC played their first game since 2019 at the historic Gigg Lane stadium after fans were given £1m from a previous funding round to help them buy the ground.

Another project which benefited from £240,000 investment from the fund is Zion Bristol, a community hub that provides spaces for local people to meet and for groups to deliver vital services such as mental health and dementia support groups. Since receiving funding, the centre has been bought by a group of local residents, and now has seven paid staff members as well as a group of dedicated volunteers.

Emma Moore, Zion Bristol Centre Manager, said:

We’re proof that you can save an asset. We’re an area where things are always being taken away and not being replaced.

It’s a big boost for the local community that we can affect change and save assets – it’s an empowering thing.

So far, the Community Ownership Fund has awarded £36.9m to projects across the UK, with £25.5m allocated to 97 projects across England, £5.2m allocated to 24 projects in Scotland, £3.2m to 15 projects in Wales and £3m to 14 projects in Northern Ireland.

Applications for the latest window are open until 11.59am on 11 October 2023.

The press release issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 29 August 2023.

Currently, legacy EU laws on nutrient neutrality are blocking the delivery of new homes, including cases where planning permission has already been granted. Nutrients entering our rivers are a real problem, but the contribution made by new homes is very small. These laws which originate from Brussels put a block on new homes in certain areas – taking away control over what is built, and when, from local people.

Through an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, the Government will do away with this red tape and allow for the delivery of more than 100,000 new homes desperately needed by local communities. Thanks to the government’s action, it is expected that developers could begin construction on these homes in a matter of months.

The move comes alongside new environmental measures that will tackle pollution at source and restore habitats. This includes significantly expanding investment in and evolving the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme run by Natural England, doubling investment to £280m to ensure it is sufficient to offset the very small amount of additional nutrient discharge attributable to up to 100,000 homes between now and 2030. Natural England will work with local authorities, the private sector and others to tackle nutrient pollution and work towards the long term health and resilience of the river systems. The Government intends to work with the house building industry to ensure that larger developers make an appropriate and fair contribution to this scheme over the coming years, and is discussing the right structure and approach with the Home Builders Federation.

The Government will then accelerate work on full site restoration through further work on new Protected Site Strategies, which Natural England will draw up in partnership with local communities to set protected sites on the path to recovery in the most affected catchments with the highest housing demand.

Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove MP said:

“We are committed to building the homes this country needs and to enhancing our environment. The way EU rules have been applied has held us back. These changes will provide a multi-billion pound boost for the UK economy and see us build more than 100,000 new homes.

“Protecting the environment is paramount which is why the measures we’re announcing today will allow us to go further to protect and restore our precious waterways whilst still building the much-needed homes this country needs.

“We will work closely with environmental agencies and councils as we deliver these changes.”

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs  Thérèse Coffey said:

“These new plans will cut nutrients and help support England’s precious habitats whilst unlocking the new homes that local communities need.

“We are going to tackle the key causes of nutrients at source with over £200 million of funding to reduce run off from agriculture and plans to upgrade waste water treatment works through conventional upgrades, catchment approaches and nature-based solutions. This builds on the key commitments made in our five-year strategy – our Environmental Improvement Plan – as well as our Plan for Water which brings forward more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement to protect our rivers.”

Alongside the amendments tabled to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which is currently in the House of Lords, the Government has announced a series of new environmental measures to restore our protected sites, including a commitment to offset the very small amount of additional nutrients attributable to up to 100,000 new homes. Beyond the immediate action that will be driven by Natural England’s Nutrient Mitigation Scheme, this package includes:

• Committing to further work on developing Protected Sites Strategies in the catchments most impacted by nutrient neutrality and with the most acute housing pressures. These bespoke plans will help identify specific action needed to restore habitats and species in specific areas. The aim is to agree and implement tangible actions to reduce pollution at source, through nature-based solutions such as wetlands and new innovations.
• Reducing nutrients entering the water from new development with new laws expected to drive significant investment from water companies to upgrade wastewater treatment works to the highest technical standards by 2030. The next water company investment cycle will be among the biggest and most ambitious ever.
• Conducting at least 4,000, inspections on farms each year – making sure that slurry and other sources of nutrients are being handled in a way that minimises pollution of the water environment.
• Reducing nutrient run off into our rivers from farms – supporting our farmers by investing £200m in grants for improved slurry storage infrastructure and precision spreading equipment. This makes a further £166m available for new investment into slurry infrastructure.
• Investing £25m to drive innovation to help farmers manage plant and soil nutrients. This will increase resilience, reduce input costs and improve productivity as part of a more circular economy for nutrients. The effective use of waste has the potential to create new revenue streams. We will also consult this year on modernising our fertiliser product standards to drive increased use of organic and recycled nutrients.
• Introducing from 2024 payment premiums into our environmental land management schemes. This will accelerate take up of certain high priority options, including those that provide benefits for water quality.
• Publishing a River Wye action plan this Autumn to tackle the unique issues in Herefordshire.
• Ensuring new homes built do not place undue stress on already stressed local water networks by consulting this year on new requirements where needed for Sustainable Drainage Solutions to reduce pressure on storm overflows from new homes and flood risk.

All of this builds on our Plan for Water, which sets out measures to transform and integrate our water system, address sources of pollution and boost our water supplies through more investment, stronger regulation, and tougher enforcement.

Our nutrient reduction plan will also help deliver on our legal target to reduce nutrient runoff from agriculture by at least 40% by 2038, and by 15% in nutrient neutrality catchments by 2028, and to reduce phosphorus loadings from wastewater by 80% by 2038, and by 50% by 2028.

The Government has a strong record on housebuilding, with more than 2.2 million homes delivered since 2010. The Secretary of State for Housing recently set out his long-term plan to go even further and unlock more development across the country.

Changes to nutrient neutrality rules and wider planning reforms will allow the Government to go even further towards its target of delivering one million homes this Parliament.

The environmental measures announced today lead on from the Government’s Plan for Water published in April which set out actions to address all sources of water pollution, including through accelerating £2.2bn of water company infrastructure investment to prevent storm overflow discharges and improve drought resilience, and unlimited fines for environmental polluters.

The current EU-derived regulations have required Natural England to issue guidance to 62 local authority areas that new development must be ‘nutrient neutral’ in their area, including Somerset, Norfolk, Teesside, Kent, Wiltshire and the Solent. This has blocked or delayed new development – including around a large number of homes that already have planning permission and local communities have already said they want.

The amendment today will remove this requirement, allowing Natural England greater freedom to develop catchment-specific solutions to the causes of nutrient pollution in partnership with each community, supported by government and private investment.

The press release issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 24 August 2023.

Free English language and employment courses announced as Ukrainians celebrate their Independence Day.

Free English lessons and help to improve their job prospects are on offer to up to 10,000 Ukrainians to help them rebuild their lives in the UK, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has announced.

The £11.5m support package – announced on Ukrainian Independence Day (August 24) – will help more Ukrainian arrivals across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland integrate further into their communities whilst in the UK and help them progress their careers here.

The intensive language programme will include nearly 20 hours of online English learning a week over a period of 10 weeks, while additional employment support over 12 weeks will include advice on how to find jobs, CV writing and application support, as well as one-to-one interview practice.

Half of Ukrainian adults have already found employment since arriving and this support aims to increase the number of people in work and help those in employment to enter higher-skilled and better paid jobs, in turn helping to grow the workforce and the UK economy. When the time comes to return to Ukraine, the language skills, experience of working in the UK and workplace training will also assist with rebuilding their home country.

This is part of a wider package of support including £150m funding for local authorities to house Ukrainians in long-term accommodation, and increased ‘thank you’ payments of over £650m for Homes for Ukraine British hosts.

Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Felicity Buchan said:

Ukrainian Independence Day is a time to celebrate Ukrainian culture and traditions, as well as our shared values. It is also a sombre reminder of the need to continue to support our Ukrainian friends in their fight against Putin’s barbaric invasion. We continue to stand in solidarity with Ukraine.

These new English Language and Employment support courses add to the package of wider government support in place to help Ukrainians find work and settle into our communities while it’s not safe to return to Ukraine.

Charity World Jewish Relief in partnership with the British Council, has been chosen to run the ‘STEP Ukraine’ courses and tailored employment support sessions. They are aiming to train up to 10,000 Ukrainians within a year – making it easier for them to live independent lives in the UK.

Following feedback from Ukrainian guests, the courses are online so that people with young children, caring responsibilities, or shift workers, can take part from anywhere in the UK.

Paul Anticoni, CEO of World Jewish Relief, said:

We are proud of the difference that World Jewish Relief has made, and will continue to make, in providing essential support for those forced to flee by war.

This much-needed programme will enable us to offer transformative language and employment support in partnership with the British Council to thousands more Ukrainians seeking to rebuild their lives in the UK.

The new English and employment courses come as the Government reaffirms its commitment to helping Ukrainians settle and rebuild their lives in the UK on Ukrainian Independence Day.

In honour of their Independence Day, the Ukrainian community has organised festivities in cities across the UK. Groups such as the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain held traditional music concerts, prepared traditional meals, and arranged family events to celebrate their heritage and culture. This is a time to celebrate our shared values and show our enduring support for the people of Ukraine.

Petro Rewko, Chair of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB), said:

On 24th of August, we will celebrate the Independence Day of Ukraine. Although Russian aggression and the invasion of Ukraine continues, we will still celebrate Ukraine’s independence to mark the occasion.

We once again wish to thank the UK and, most of all, the UK public for their kind generosity in opening their doors as sponsors, and for the humanitarian aid, the millions they have given to help Ukraine.

The press release issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 13 August 2023.

Government confirms measures to reverse the rise of gender-neutral toilets as part of wider efforts to protect single sex spaces.

• Government accelerates plans for separate male and female toilets in new non-domestic private and public buildings;
• Builds upon action to protect and enhance single sex spaces;
• Changes will also encourage the provision of self-contained, private toilets to ensure there are appropriate facilities for all.

The Government has announced today it is acting to bring forward changes to regulations that will mean all new non-domestic public and private buildings will be required to provide separate single-sex toilets for women and men and/or a self-contained, private toilet as a minimum.

The change comes amid dignity and privacy concerns from women and elderly people who feel they are being unfairly disadvantaged as publicly accessible toilets are increasingly being converted into gender neutral facilities.

Concerns over the rise of neutral gender facilities has meant that public have been forced to share cubicle and hand-washing facilities, leading to increasing waiting in shared queues, decreased choice and a limitation on privacy and dignity for all.

New regulations and guidance will mean women, who may need to use facilities more often because of pregnancy or sanitary needs, will now be guaranteed appropriate facilities either through a separate single-sex space or through a self-contained, private toilet.

The action taken today builds upon the Government’s commitment and wider approach to the protection of single sex spaces.

In addition to single sex toilets becoming the default and minimum for new non-residential buildings and places undertaking major refurbishment, the guidelines will encourage the consideration of self-contained toilets, which are a fully enclosed toilet room with a wash hand basin for individual use.

This new approach will help to maximise privacy and dignity for of all, which will be explicit in the guidance.

A new short technical consultation to shape the changes will open tomorrow.

Kemi Badenoch, Minister for Women and Equalities, said:

“It is important that everybody has privacy and dignity when using public facilities. Yet the move towards ‘gender neutral’ toilets has removed this fundamental right for women and girls.

“These proposals will ensure every new building in England is required to provide separate male and female or unisex facilities, and publish guidance to explain the difference, protecting the dignity, privacy and safety of all.”

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Faith & Communities, Baroness Scott, said:

“It is extremely important women can feel comfortable when using public facilities, so we are taking action to restore dignity and privacy at the centre of all future provision.

“These proposals will mean separate toilets for men and women, as well as self-contained toilets for those that need them, become a requirement for every new building across England.”

A previous call for evidence on increasing the accessibility of toilets for men and women gathered over 17,000 responses and represented a full range of views – generally calling for greater consideration in the range of toilets to preserve dignity, access, equality, and privacy for all.

The changes will be made through building regulations and guidance. The aim of the new requirements will ensure that:

• Separate single-sex toilets facilities are provided for men and women; and/or
• Self-contained, private toilets are provided where space allows to ensure privacy and safety;
• Mixed sex shared facilities are not an option, except when lack of space allows only a single toilet

Changing the rules for single sex and/or universal toilets to be required would have positive equality outcomes for those who may not currently feel safe while using toilet facilities.

Further information

The aim of the proposed new requirement is to ensure that:

• Separate single-sex toilets facilities are provided for men and women; and/or
• Self-contained, private toilets are provided where space allows to ensure privacy and safety

The requirement will apply to all toilets which form part of or serve the new building, with some exceptions. It will not apply to: ensuite facilities in individual rooms for residential purposes and care homes.

While separate toilet facilities for boys and girls aged 8 years or over must already be provided in Schools, except where the toilet facility is provided in a room that can be secured from the inside and that is intended for use by one pupil at a time – the consultation will reinforce the principle.

Any changes will affect England only.

The impact of the requirement on new buildings will be minimal as the regulations will result in limited, if any, increase in space provision compared to current practice.

This proposed policy will have a positive impact for many people. It may reduce queues for disabled people’s toilets – which may, in cases, be the only non-gendered toilets available – and enhance the privacy of women and transgender people, who may be fearful of being verbally or physically assaulted while using toilet facilities.

In the consultation document and accompanying documents, the phrase universal toilets is used. This refers to self-contained, private toilets, which are a fully enclosed toilet room with a wash hand basin for individual use.

The press release issued by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 30 July 2023.

The Government has taken a key step in making sure that drivers’ interests are protected when using private car parks.

The Government has taken a key step in making sure that drivers’ interests are protected when using private car parks by launching an eight-week call for evidence on the Private Parking Code of Practice, focusing on the impact of changes to charges and debt recovery fees.

Options under consideration include reducing the current £100 charge limit to £50 which would halve parking charges for millions of motorists, as well as potentially banning debt recovery fees altogether, which are currently as much as £70, or retaining existing limits.

The call for evidence on charges and debt recovery paves the way for the development of the final Private Parking Code of Practice, which when introduced aims to ensure fewer drivers are penalised unfairly and tackle issues like confusing and misleading signs, and lack of grace periods. It will ensure a simpler, fairer and more transparent industry, and introduce a fairer appeals process.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said:

Millions of people across the country use private car parks and we want this to continue without them having the fear of being slapped with unfair and costly charges.

Our new Private Parking Code of Practice will put this right, delivering a much fairer system for drivers and industry – and today’s call for evidence is an important part of shaping this policy. I encourage everyone to come forward and have their say.

The draft Impact Assessment considers the following five proposals and how they will impact the sector:

• Retain £100 charge limit with a 40% discount for paying within 14 days, with the debt recovery fees cap at £70.
• Charges set at two levels depending on seriousness of offence with £50/70 for England and Wales (outside London), £80/£130 in London and £80/100 for Scotland, with a 50% discount for paying within 14 days. Debt recovery fees would be reduced to 30% of charge levels.
• Same as the second option but debt recovery fees would be banned.
• Charges set at two levels depending on seriousness of offence at £70/£100, with the discount for paying within 14 days remaining at 40%. Debt recovery fees would be reduced to 30% of charge levels.
• Same as the fourth option but debt recovery fees would be banned.

The call for evidence is focused on understanding the implications of the measures proposed to address issues in the private parking industry, and to inform decisions on parking charges and debt recovery fees.

The measures will be a major boost to millions of motorists in England, Scotland and Wales and will help to draw people back to their local high streets.

A draft Impact Assessment has been published alongside the call for evidence, with contributions open until 24 September 2023. A further consultation is then planned on the options for parking charges and debt recovery fees.

Minister for Levelling Up Dehenna Davison said:

We all know how annoying parking can be – from driving around endlessly to being met with complicated signs and impossible terms and conditions.

It’s needlessly confusing, and that’s why we’re pushing ahead with the Private Parking Code of Practice to create a fairer system.

Once introduced, the Private Parking Code of Practice – required by the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 – will allow drivers to more easily challenge an unfair parking charge through a new independent appeals service, and all private parking operators will also have to follow the Code.

The press release issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 26 July 2023.

Cladding Safety Scheme opens to give thousands more buildings access to government funding to fix dangerous cladding for the first time.

The government has announced its biggest building safety intervention to date as part of a wider package of measures to help end the building safety crisis across England.

The full opening of the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS), announced in a speech by Housing Secretary Michael Gove, means that costs associated with removing unsafe cladding in mid-rise buildings will now be covered by government funding, protecting leaseholders from costs where the responsible developer cannot be made to pay.

It is estimated that thousands more mid-rise buildings will qualify, giving tens of thousands of residents across England a pathway to a safe home, with no cost whatsoever to leaseholders in the building.

The CSS will be funded by both the £5.1 billion allocated by government to fix the most dangerous buildings and through revenue from the Building Safety Levy on new development.

The scheme will be available to all medium-rise buildings between 11 and 18 metres across England and high-rise buildings over 18 metres outside of London where fire safety professionals have recommended that works must take place. The scheme will also be available to the social housing sector.

All building owners who believe they are eligible for funding need to apply through Homes England Cladding Safety Scheme application portal.

Any leaseholders or residents living in a building they think is eligible for funding will be able to provide further information about their building using Homes England’s ‘Tell Us tool’.

Peter Denton, Chief Executive of Homes England, said:

The Cladding Safety Scheme pilot was an important step in removing the cost burden on leaseholders trapped in unsafe homes and built on the progress made on building safety.

The full rollout of the programme allows us to go even further. Our team is ready to go, and we expect thousands of buildings to benefit over the next decade.

We will continue to work with DLUHC to ensure the pace we’re working at is maintained, so we can bring peace of mind and protection to the millions of people whose lives have been affected by unsafe cladding.

The opening of the CSS means that costs of fixing dangerous cladding for all buildings in England over 11 metres will now be covered either by government funding or by developers who built them.

Earlier this year, the Secretary of State secured the signatures of 49 of the country’s biggest housebuilders on his developer remediation contract – a major step toward ending the building safety crisis.

The developers all put pen to paper on the legally binding document and committed themselves to fix unsafe buildings they developed or refurbished in England over the 30 years to 5 April 2022. The government has now written to eligible developers to invite them to join the Responsible Actors Scheme giving them 60 days to respond. Eligible developers who choose not to join, or who join the Scheme but then renege on their commitments, will be prohibited from carrying out major development or obtaining building control approvals.

While funding is a major part of solving the crisis, it is also important that residents see swift progress once work has been deemed necessary. The government has been clear that there is no excuse for unsafe cladding to be left unmanaged. Building owners must meet their legal obligations to fix fire safety defects in their buildings and make homes safe quickly.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Building Safety Regulator, the Local Government Association, and the National Fire Chiefs Council have today published a joint statement committing to work together to enforce the remediation of fire safety defects, underlining their commitment to see buildings made safe faster. Building owners who continue to stall can expect to face robust enforcement action from regulators, with the full support of government behind them.

The press release issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 26 July 2023.

Investment Zone could unlock £320 million of private investment and deliver 4,000 jobs, across Liverpool, Runcorn, St. Helens, Maghull and Prescot over the next 5 years.

The government has today (26 July 2023) launched England’s second Investment Zone in Liverpool which could unlock £320 million of private investment and deliver 4,000 jobs, across Liverpool, Runcorn, St. Helens, Maghull and Prescot over the next 5 years.

An initial £10 million investment will be made by US pharmaceutical manufacturer TriRx, to enhance its capabilities to manufacture monoclonal antibodies, a type of immunotherapy that work by blocking certain diseases from affecting healthy cells and are used to treat numerous types of diseases including cancers, arthritis and skin conditions.

This investment in Liverpool’s existing Speke Pharma cluster – home to one of the UK’s leading regions for bioprocessing – is the first step in unlocking a total pipeline up to £320 million of further private funding from a range of investors in the life sciences sector, helping to deliver over 4,000 jobs in the region over the next 5 years.

Backed by £80 million in government funding, the Investment Zone will benefit from a range of interventions which could include skills, infrastructure and tax reliefs, depending on local circumstances – with the potential to completely transform the region, making Liverpool a pharmaceutical production superpower.

The government will continue to work with the Liverpool City Region, University of Liverpool and other local partners to co-develop the plans for their Life Sciences Investment Zone, including agreeing priority development sites and specific interventions to drive cluster growth, over the summer, ahead of final confirmation of plans.

Minister Lee Rowley welcomed the first of those investments as he met executives from US pharmaceutical manufacturer TriRx at their state-of-the-art biotech facility in Speke.

Minister Lee Rowley said:

Investment Zones will drive growth across the UK. For Liverpool City Region that means over £300 million of private investment and 4,000 new, well-paid jobs – all building on the city’s world leading reputation in medical science.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:

Our area is fortunate to play home to world-leading clusters in life science research and innovation, which support thousands of secure, well-paid jobs and training opportunities for local people. I am incredibly proud of what our region has achieved in the sector – but this is just a down payment on my future ambitions. I want us to go even further and establish our region at the forefront of UK science and innovation.

With a potential £310 million worth of investment and thousands of local jobs on offer, it is clear that this is an opportunity worth exploring. Yet, throughout this process, I have been clear that any investment in our area must go much further than purely financial incentives. I want to use our status as a force for good, to connect our residents up to secure, well-paid jobs and training opportunities, and attract transformational investment into our area.

To play our part in making that happen, we will be investing 5% of GVA in R&D over the next few years – that is nearly double national targets. Becoming an innovation superpower might sound like a lofty ambition – but I believe that if anywhere has the potential to achieve it, then it’s the Liverpool City Region.

The health and life sciences sector already contributes an estimated £290 million to the Liverpool City Region’s economy every year. Building on this strength, the Liverpool City Region’s Investment Zone includes the University of Liverpool and is part of the government’s vision to drive growth in the sectors of the future including advanced manufacturing, green industries, digital and technology.

Mark Proctor, AstraZeneca Site Lead for Speke said:

AstraZeneca welcomes the establishment of the Liverpool City Region Investment Zone focussed on life sciences, which has the potential to attract more businesses to the region’s already thriving medicine development and manufacturing cluster.

We employ 400 people at our site in Speke to manufacture our intranasal influenza vaccine, used in the UK for the child and adolescent immunisation programme and exported to markets around the world.

The site has the potential to expand into new technology platforms for vaccines and we look forward to working with the Liverpool City Region to identify opportunities to develop these capabilities in the coming years.

Six more Investment Zones are to be announced in England – ensuring that there are engines for growth and opportunities for talented people across the country.

Each was invited to identify an Investment Zone that offered an imaginative partnership between local government and a university or research institute in a way that catalyses emerging innovation clusters.

As well as delivering jobs and driving economic growth, investment zones will be used to help provide new housing in areas of need.

In a speech earlier this week, the Levelling up and Housing Secretary set out our commitment to using the planning and tax levers provided by our new Investment Zones to help regeneration and build the right homes in the right places to support our great cities.

A new “supersquad” of expert planners, backed by £13 million of new funding, will help unblock major housing and infrastructure, looking at sites across our 8 Investment Zones in England, to help provide high quality homes which complement the high-quality jobs that are being created.

There will also be 2 Investment Zones in Scotland, with Glasgow City Region and North East of Scotland offering the most potential to host these. Discussions will now begin with both regions to develop detailed proposals.

The government is also working closely with the devolved administrations to establish how Investment Zones in Wales and Northern Ireland will be delivered.

Today’s news follows the first Advanced Manufacturing Investment Zone in South Yorkshire, announced earlier this month, which has backing from Boeing and partners with an investment worth over £80 million.

Liverpool’s investment zone will complement the benefits of region’s Freeport, which became operational in January and will deliver thousands of new jobs and £850 million for local economies.

The press release issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 26 July 2023.

Overhaul of planning will speed up delivery of vital projects including off-shore wind, transport links and other major infrastructure.

The press release issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 24 July 2023.

The Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities have set out further plans for regeneration, inner-city densification and housing delivery across England, with transformational plans to supply beautiful, safe, decent homes in places with high-growth potential in partnership with local communities.

• Today (24 July 2023), as part of a long-term plan for housing, the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities have committed to a new era of regeneration, inner-city densification and housing delivery across England, with transformational plans to supply beautiful, safe, decent homes in places with high-growth potential in partnership with local communities.
• Building on work already underway to meet our commitment in the Levelling Up White Paper to regenerate 20 of our towns and cities, the Levelling Up Secretary has announced the regeneration and renaissance of a further 3 English cities, committing to transformational change in Cambridge, central London and central Leeds.
• This follows work to level up towns and cities across the country – including in Sheffield and Wolverhampton. The Levelling Up Secretary also outlined plans to continue working closely with local partners in Barrow, to help make Barrow a new powerhouse of the North.
• £800 million will also be allocated today from the £1.5 billion Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land fund to unlock up to 56,000 new homes on brownfield sites, taking an infrastructure first approach to build up our cities. We are funding Homes England with £550 million, which with income generated will mean a total investment of £1 billion. We are also providing landmark investments of £150 million to Greater Manchester and £100 million to the West Midlands.
• Additional reforms to the planning system will speed up new developments, put power in the hands of local communities to build their own homes, and unlock planning decisions – with a new fund of £24 million to scale up local planning capacity, and an additional £13.5 million to stand up a new “super-squad” of experts to support large scale development projects.

Regeneration of 20 places

Following the commitment in the Levelling Up White Paper to regenerate 20 places, the Levelling Up Secretary and Prime Minister set out further plans today on Cambridge, and inner-city London and central Leeds.

Proposals will see Cambridge supercharged as Europe’s science capital, addressing constraints that have left the city with some of the most expensive property markets outside London, and companies fighting over extremely limited lab space and commercial property with prices that rival London, Paris and Amsterdam.

These ambitious plans to support Cambridge include a vision for a new quarter of well-designed, sustainable and beautiful neighbourhoods for people to live in, work and study. A quarter with space for cutting-edge laboratories, commercial developments fully adapted to climate change and that is green, with life science facilities encircled by country parkland and woodland accessible to all who live in Cambridge.

Any development of this scale will have substantial infrastructure requirements. The government will deliver as much of the infrastructure and affordable housing as possible using land value capture – with the local area benefiting from the significant increase in land values that can occur when agricultural land is permitted for residential and commercial development. Land values will reflect the substantial contributions required to unlock the development (see annex).

A Cambridge Delivery Group, chaired by Peter Freeman and backed by £5 million, will be established to begin driving forward this project. The Group will work to turn this vision into a reality, taking a lead on identifying the housing, infrastructure, services and green space required. It will also consider options for an appropriate delivery mechanism that will be needed to lead the long-term work on planning, land acquisition and engagement with developers, starting in this Parliament but running through the next few years as development takes shape.

In the meantime, the Delivery Group will take forward immediate action to address barriers such as water scarcity across the city, including:

• Convening a Water Scarcity Working Group with the Environment Agency, Ofwat, central and local government and innovators across industries to identify and accelerate plans to address water constraints. The Group will include all relevant partners to understand what it would take to accelerate building the proposed new Fens Reservoir and enabling Cambridge to reach its economic potential.
• Supporting the council in efforts to make sure new developments proposed as part of the local plan can be as sustainable as possible, including whether new houses in planned developments such as Waterbeach and Hartree can be made more water efficient. To support this, the government is announcing today a £3 million funding pot to help support measures to improve the water efficiency of existing homes and commercial property across Cambridge, to help offset demands created by new developments in the local plan.
• The government will also take definitive action to unblock development where it has stalled, providing £500,000 of funding to assist with planning capacity. Cambridge City Council, Anglian Water, Land Securities PLC and Homes England will work together to accelerate the relocation of water treatment works in Northeast Cambridge (subject to planning permission), unlocking an entire new City quarter – delivering approaching 6,000 sustainable well-designed homes in thriving neighbourhoods – as well as schools, parks and over 1 million square feet of much needed commercial life science research space.

In addition to Cambridge, today the government has also announced:

• A ‘Docklands 2.0’ vision in East London for up to 65,000 homes across multiple sites of significant scale including at Thamesmead, Beckton and Silvertown. Beautiful, well-connected homes and new landscaped parkland will be integral to the vision. We will look at how we can ensure better transport connections from east to west, to ‘crowd in’ local and private investment, and to build the best evidence on how and whether HMG will invest in the future.
• London will also see the benefits of this government’s decision to allow the Affordable Homes Programme to be directed towards regeneration for the first time – with up to £1 billion available in London alone – as part of a transformative reform that will change how we level up communities across the country. We have also made £1 million available to push forward work with the Mayor to consider how we drive housing delivery in London, including looking at innovative new ways that industrial land can be released for housing.
• A commitment to work with local partners in central Leeds, to regenerate the city centre and explore how a West Yorkshire mass transit system could open up the city to many more workers across the city’s burgeoning financial, digital and legal sectors. This builds on the £40 million that is already being provided by the government to West Yorkshire Combined Authority to support development of the mass transit system and offer a greener, quicker and more reliable option of travel. The government will accelerate work in the centre of Leeds by identifying the remaining barriers to delivery for key housing growth sites within the city rim, including the South Bank, Innovation Arc, and local and neighbourhood plans, potentially delivering up to 20,000 new homes on these sites over the next decade. The government will also work with local authorities to adapt existing HS2 land safeguarded in Leeds City Centre where appropriate, supporting economic growth and housing delivery. Additional revenue funding will be provided to support capacity and development to deliver these ambitions.
• Plans to continue working closely with local partners in Barrow-in-Furness, to help make it a new powerhouse of the North – extending beyond its current boundaries with thousands of new homes and space for new businesses to benefit from the scientific and technical expertise already clustered there.
• We are also investing £800 million from the £1.5 billion Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land fund to unlock up to 56,000 new homes across England, to transform disused site and create vibrant communities for people to live and work, while also protecting our cherished green spaces, including further accelerating activity in areas such as Sheffield. We are funding Homes England with £550 million which, in real terms, will be an investment of up to £1 billion through the reinvestment of receipts back into the fund. As set out previously, we are also providing £250 million to Greater Manchester and West Midlands Combined Authorities.

Building up and building out across the country

In addition to targeted action in a few high-potential areas, the government’s plan delivers a package of reforms to unleash building on underused sites in high-demand regions. Densification, done the right way, will transform the opportunities available to people across the country – our inner cities have much lower population densities than comparable Western countries, impacting our productivity. The plan therefore includes:

• Launching a consultation on new Permitted Development Rights, to provide more certainty over some types of development, and how design codes might apply to certain rights to protect local character and give developers greater confidence. New and amended permitted development rights would make it easier to convert larger department stores, space above shops and office space. The plan also backs rural communities, with changes to support farm diversification and development, to allow businesses to extend and more outdoor markets to be held. The government will consult on further measures in the Autumn on how to better support existing homeowners to extend their homes. The government will continue to ensure that local removal of permitted development rights through Article 4 Directions will only be agreed where there is evidence of wholly unacceptable impacts.
• Taking steps to unblock the bottlenecks in the planning system that are choking and slowing down development, and stopping growth and investment by:
  • Launching a new £24 million Planning Skills Delivery Fund to clear planning backlogs and get the right skills in place.
  • Establishing a new “super-squad” team of leading planners and other experts charged with working across the planning system to unblock major housing developments, underpinned by £13.5 million in funding. The team will first be deployed in Cambridge to boost our plans in the city, before also looking at sites across our eight Investment Zones in England, to provide high-quality homes to go alongside the high-quality jobs being created there.
  • Increasing the amount developers pay in planning fees, following our recent consultation, to ensure all planning departments are better resourced.

The government’s commitment to development and regeneration in and around existing town and city centres is also guiding its consideration of responses to the consultation on updating the National Planning Policy Framework. The government wants to make it easier to progress such developments, and to that end is clear that:

• Development should proceed on sites that are adopted in a local plan with full input from the local community, unless there are strong reasons why it cannot.
• Local councils should be open and pragmatic in agreeing changes to developments where conditions mean that the original plan may no longer be viable, rather than losing the development wholesale or seeing development mothballed.
• Better use should be made of small pockets of brownfield land by being more permissive, so more homes can be built more quickly, where and how it makes sense, giving more confidence and certainty to SME builders.

Later in the year, the government will pass the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill to put in place our reforms to the planning system that will create more beautiful and sustainable homes in the right places, and publish updates to the National Planning Policy Framework.

Communities taking back control / building beautiful everywhere

To deliver housing anywhere, all new homes built will need to be accepted by the community – they will need to be beautiful, well-connected, designed with local people in mind and be accompanied by the right community infrastructure and green space. Communities must have a say in how and where homes are built.

In this plan, communities will be supported to be at the heart of new development in their areas. This will be achieved by:

• Establishing the Office for Place in Stoke-on-Trent, a new body to lead a design revolution, ensuring beautiful new homes are built according to a simple design code supported by local people. The Office for Place will support residents to demand what they find beautiful from developers – ensuring every local place is built to reflect the individual local character and beauty of every community across the country. Nicholas Boys Smith has been appointed as the interim chair.
• Supporting councils to deliver high quality up to date local plans, launching a consultation to seek views on our proposals to simplify the system of developing a new plan. Local plans are the best way to ensure the right homes are built in the right places, so the government will work with councils to reduce the cost and bureaucracy associated with getting an updated plan in place. The government is also clear that local authorities should continue to develop their local plans, ensuring local people get their say.

Building safely

In all buildings, the first priority must be keeping people safe. Through the landmark Building Safety Act 2022, the government has overhauled the way we do so with a “golden thread” of accountability and protections for leaseholders from the ruinous costs of fixing the mistakes of others.

The government will not be complacent in its approach to safety – recognising that, as work progresses to densify our towns and cities, people must be given unimpeachable confidence that new homes are safe and decent to live in. This long-term plan for housing therefore builds on our existing progress by:

• Confirming the intention to mandate second staircases in new residential buildings above 18m, following confirmation from expert bodies that they support this threshold. This responds to the call from the sector for coherence and certainty. This is a considered and gradual evolution of safety standards, which, when taken with our other fire safety measures and reforms ensures the safety of people in all tall buildings – both new and existing. The government is clear that this new regulation cannot jeopardise the supply of homes by disrupting schemes that have been planned for years. DLUHC will work rapidly with industry and regulators over the summer to design transitional arrangements with the aim of securing the viability of projects which are already underway, avoiding delays where there are other more appropriate mitigations.
• Opening the Cladding Safety Scheme to all eligible buildings, ensuring that no leaseholder will be out of pocket to fix dangerous cladding in medium or high-rise buildings.

Annex

The development of a new quarter in Cambridge will have substantial infrastructure requirements, including water, power, transport, affordable housing, environmental and social infrastructure. Permitting such a development will also result in substantial increases in land values above the existing use value of the land.

Government viability guidance sets out that when undertaking a viability appraisal, the value allowed for the purchase of land should in general be based on the value of the land in its existing use, plus an appropriate premium for the landowner. The government intends to explore recommendations about what a reasonable premium to agricultural landowners should be.

Building on this approach, the government intends that a consultation will be undertaken to inform the policy on a reasonable premium for landowners above existing use value, to support the development of plans for the new quarter. To the extent that infrastructure and affordable housing need justifies this position, the government anticipates that policy will be set to capture land value uplift above the premium. This will enable landowners to receive fair compensation for their land while minimising the public sector investment required to bring the development forward.