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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating a £7 billion sustainable urban futures fund to support local leaders to invest in (a) infrastructure improvements, (b) new housing projects and (c) town centres to support the economic recovery from the covid-19 outbreak in urban areas.

This Government is committed to supporting local leaders to create sustainable urban centres following Covid-19. For example, the National Home Building Fund (NHBF) was announced at the 2020 Spending Review and brings together existing housing land and infrastructure funding streams into a single, flexible, more powerful pot. This will support the government's ambition to deliver 1 million homes over the Parliamentary term and the 300k homes per year. £4.8 billion of the funding brings together existing capital programmes across land and infrastructure and confirms a continued commitment to the £400 million Brownfield Fund

The department is investing over £10 billion in local growth funds, including the Towns Fund and Levelling Up Fund, to deliver regeneration across the UK. Additionally, the Build Back Better High Streets strategy was published in July which sets out Government's long-term plan to support the evolution and regeneration of all high streets across every part of the UK.