Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

Alison Bennett Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Florence Eshalomi]

It seems as though my hon. Friend jumped the gun and held his own summit before we did at No. 10 today! It is good to hear about the lessons learned there. It sounds similar to what happened at the No. 10 summit, where organisations, charities, civic society, local leaders, local authorities and businesses all came together to make a pledge to work towards resolving this issue. It is vital that we learn lessons from such summits, and I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend.

[Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)]

I really recognise the Minister’s description of councils jumping through hoops to access a patchwork of funding pots. That is certainly the case for Mid Sussex district council, which was successful in accessing central Government money to buy temporary accommodation that is providing absolutely vital homes in our district. However, when it comes to regenerating Burgess Hill town centre, it does not matter whether it is a Conservative or a Labour Government; we have been unsuccessful in accessing levelling-up funding, and last week Burgess Hill town council wrote to me about its not receiving any Pride in Place money. Will the Minister visit Burgess Hill to see the work that we are doing?

[Florence Eshalomi]

It is good to make sure that I am getting out of south London, so I will look—diary permitting—at coming to see that work, which is right and important. This Government are removing some of the ringfence that comes with the vital funding that councils need. I hope the hon. Member’s council will be successful in the new round.