Urban Areas: Finance

(asked on 25th January 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to support town centres and high streets.


Answered by
Neil O'Brien Portrait
Neil O'Brien
This question was answered on 28th January 2022

This Government is fully committed to supporting the businesses and communities that make our high streets and town centres successful as the nation responds to the impacts of COVID-19. Our comprehensive package of around £400 billion of support has helped to safeguard jobs, businesses and public services in every region and nation of the UK. This package includes business grants, the coronavirus loan schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, as well as deferral of income tax payments.  In addition, on 21 December 2021 the Chancellor announced further support of over £700 million in grant support for businesses most impacted by the Omicron variant, as part of an overall package of £1 billion to support businesses across the UK


This business support builds upon a major package of investment to level up opportunity and prosperity across all areas of the country. This includes the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, the £220 million UK-wide Community Renewal Fund and the £3.6 billion Towns Fund, which includes support for 101 Town Deals and 72 Future High Streets Fund projects


Beyond this, we are providing support to local leadership with the High Streets Task Force. Over five years this is providing hands-on support to local areas to develop data-driven innovative strategies and to connect local areas to relevant experts. We will be announcing a further tranche of local authorities to receive in-person expert support from the Task Force in due course


We need a modernised and agile planning system - one which benefits communities and creates places in which people can take real pride. That is why we have introduced reforms to the use class system to enable more flexible use of existing buildings. Additionally, Government recently introduced a new permitted development right which will allow more premises to change from a commercial, business or service use to residential use, so that much needed new homes can be created


Reviving our high streets and town centres is essential to this Government's commitments to level up the country. Levelling up is a transformative agenda and the Department's priority is to produce a Levelling Up White Paper which matches our ambition, building on existing action we are already taking across Government and setting out a new policy regime that will drive change for years to come. The White Paper will be published shortly.

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