Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will extend the Towns Deal Fund spend deadline for 12 months until 31 March 2027.

The Towns Fund is due to close in March 2026 with the expectation that all funding recipients will have invested the entirety of their allocation by this date. The Chancellor’s July ‘Public Spending: Inheritance’ speech set out the state of the UK’s spending inheritance from the previous government - a forecasted overspend of £21.9 billion above limits set by the Treasury in the spring. In this context, the Chancellor has set out a path to confirming plans for this year and next at the forthcoming Budget on October 30th. In advance of the Budget, all current funding profiles still hold.