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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he will take to ensure that new GP and school places are delivered ahead of people moving into new housing developments in Workington.

The provision of the right infrastructure at the right time is very important to new and existing communities.

To this end, the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill provides powers to introduce an Infrastructure Levy largely to replace the complex and discretionary Section 106 regime and the Community Infrastructure Levy. The new Levy will be a mandatory, non-negotiable charge, set and collected locally. It will give a greater say to local councils on what their infrastructure priorities are and give greater transparency to local people about how funds will be spent.

Local authorities will be able to borrow against their infrastructure levy receipts to ensure that infrastructure is provided when it is needed.

To strengthen infrastructure delivery further, the Bill introduces a requirement for local authorities to prepare infrastructure delivery strategies. These will set out a strategy for delivering local infrastructure, including education and GP surgeries, and spending infrastructure levy proceeds.