LEVELLING UP FUND – January 2023 announcement

By Chris Seeley · 19 January 2023

In the midst of a debate in Government about the future of the term “Levelling Up”, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has announced the outcome of bids to the Levelling Up Fund. There will be much debate about what and where the £1.9bn funds are being spent, so our Director, Chris Seeley, has undertaken his own brief review of the announcement.

The fund is designed to spread economic growth throughout the UK and the Government is highlighting schemes including the Eden Project North in Morecambe, a new AI campus in Blackpool, regeneration in Gateshead, and rail improvements in Cornwall.

The Prime Minister says: “Through greater investment in local areas, we can grow the economy, create good jobs and spread opportunity everywhere.”

While, Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary, says: “This new funding will create jobs, drive economic growth, and help to restore local pride. We are delivering on the people’s priorities, levelling up across the UK to ensure that no matter where you are from, you can go as far as your talents will take you.”

Chris comments:

“If one looks at England and broadly uses the Watford Gap, North / South split, I estimate that the North gains £915m and the South £715m. The North-West gains the most of any region and benefits from the largest allocation of £354m to 15 projects.

“But if London and the South-East are added together their allocation totals £361m slightly ahead of the allocation to the North-West, hence some of the political debate about the allocation to the North and South.

“Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales all receive funding as set out in our table.

“As our focus is on housing, I was keen to look at the schemes where homes are specifically mentioned in the allocation summary and found 8 schemes delivering a wide range of housing outputs from the £20m in Clacton to deliver 28 new homes and Barking’s Dagenham Heathway allocation of £10m to support the development of 316 homes. The largest housing mention is the support for Lincoln’s Western Corridor Transport Access Scheme which will include 3,200 homes – the allocation to that scheme is £20m.

It is my view that deprivation can be found across the UK and allocations in the South-West are as valued by their communities as those in London, the South-East and the areas north of Watford Gap. Let’s not obsess about the “where” but focus on the “what” and make sure the funds are well spent, quickly deployed, and deliver the benefits to communities set out in the bid documents.”

 

ARK’s Regional analysis

The North
North-West (England)	£354,027,146
East Midlands (England)	£176,870,348
West Midlands (England)	£155,579,834
Yorkshire and The Humber	£120,619,162
North-East (England)	£108,548,482
Total to the North	£915,644,972
The South
South-East (England)	£210,467,526
South-West (England)	£186,663,673
East	£165,903,400
London	£151,266,674
Total to the South	£503,833,747
Devolved Nations
Scotland	£177,206,114
Northern Ireland	£71,072,373
Wales	£208,175,566
Total to Devolved Nations	£456,454,053
Total Allocation	£1,875,932,771

 

We are pleased to support regeneration schemes across the UK especially those with a housing focus. If you want to know more about our work or need specific support, please contact Chris who will be pleased to talk to you. You can email him at cseeley@arkconsultancy.co.uk or call us on 0121 5153831

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Seeley

Director

Chris has a strong track record in sourcing, delivering and selling homes; strategic asset management; project and programme management.

Chris has undertaken a wide variety of interim and project management roles across development-site sourcing, business development and project management as well as procurement and research projects.