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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding is available to regenerate and renew new town infrastructure.

The 2017 Autumn Budget set out government's ambition to deliver five new garden towns. Government will bring together public and private capital to deliver these new towns in areas of high demand, and work with local partners and the private sector to do so. We are determined that housing growth is supported by the right infrastructure at the right time. Our £5 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund shows just how serious we are about that.

There are a range of further funding sources available to support the development of housing and the associated infrastructure required. Mayoral combined authorities in particular have devolved funds and could allocate parts of their Investment Funds towards supporting this. Government also committed in the 2017 Autumn Budget to publish a consultation on changes to the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and developer contributions, which will help the public sector capture rising land values from additional public investment. The government will also encourage authorities to explore the introduction of a Strategic Infrastructure Tariff, in addition to CIL, supported by appropriate governance arrangements.