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New funding for community infrastructure
| Published | 4 December 2007 |
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Councils and communities which back new homes will get extra help with infrastructure, Housing and Planning Minister Yvette Cooper announced today as she set out the allocation of £732m to local councils in the Growth Areas and Growth Points for services like transport, schools, health centres and parks. The new Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) proposed in the Planning Bill could also fund £100ms, nationally.
Today's investment will help local authorities fund community facilities and services to back the construction of three million new homes by 2020. The money, which will be available over the next three years, will benefit over 68 towns and cities across England which have already volunteered for housing growth as existing growth areas or growth points.
The new funding will, for the first time, give local authorities greater flexibility in deciding where money is needed most, without needing to bid to the Government to fund specific projects. The money will complement mainstream funding for transport, education and health services.
Speaking at the Future Homes conference, Yvette Cooper said:
"Those councils and communities that are doing their bit to deliver more homes should get more cash. They need extra funding for infrastructure as well as for local services - we need to invest in communities, not just in bricks and mortar. That means parks and play areas, as well as transport and public services.
"It's only fair that those who are doing most to support homes for the future should get extra support from government too. We've already said they should get £500m over the next three years to spend as they see fit. Now we're setting out extra cash for infrastructure too with more to come for other areas who sign up."
Further financial support will also be available in the Growth Areas, Growth Points and Eco-towns for local transport projects from the £200m Community Infrastructure Fund. Other councils and communities will also be able to benefit from additional funds through the Growth Points and Eco-towns programmes if their bids are successful.
Across the Growth Areas and Growth Points, the Government aims to bring together the best of design and planning to ensure new communities are of the highest quality and have proper public services and infrastructure. We want to see development of the highest quality - models of well-designed, vibrant urban living, marrying homes with jobs, quality public services and infrastructure.
This funding announced today means that, since 2003, Communities and Local Government has provided £1.5bn to support delivery to the Growth Areas and Growth Points complemented by £2.2bn of transport spending from DfT.
Examples of some of the schemes set out in the programmes of development include:
- major town centre schemes in Swindon, Oxford, Leicester and Northampton;
- major improvements to road capacity at Peterborough, Ashford and Didcot to increase capacity, help open up new housing sites including more sustainable travel through Park and Ride and better cycleways and walking routes; and
- a new access road to link the new railway station at Cranbrook near Exeter in step with the early phases of the development of the town to ensure the infrastructure is in place at the earliest opportunity.
In addition, the new Planning Reform Bill sets out proposals for a new Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) that will provide further additional investment in the vital infrastructure that growing communities need. CIL has the potential to help councils raise hundreds of millions of pounds, and can be spent on a wide range of community infrastructure at both local and regional level.
All development creates some need for infrastructure, services and amenities and it is only fair that every development pays its share. Currently 86% of planning permissions for housing don't contribute anything. Authorities will be able to assess and cost the infrastructure that is needed to support planned development and consult on their proposed Levy charging scheme.
Notes to editors
1. The £732m Growth Fund allocations are part of the Growth Areas and Growth Points programmes. More information can be found here: www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingsupply/growthareas
2. £224m has been allocated for 2008/9 with indicative awards of £336m for 2009/10/11. DCLG will make a further allocation of around £172m to the growth areas and existing growth points for 2009/10/11 following a consultation testing the new funding system. A full list of awards by local authority can be found here at Annex A (see below).
3. This funding comes with increased flexibility for local authorities. Instead of funding individual projects, the Growth Fund will provide non-ringfenced block funding to local authorities and partnerships based on an assessment of their Programmes of Development. As an non-ringfenced grant, with the exception of reflecting the split between capital and revenue there will be no grant conditions about how or when it is spent. It will be for local authorities to prioritise how the funding is used in their area.
4. The Government recently invited expressions of interest from locations across the country to become additional Growth Points and Eco-towns including for the first time places in the north. Details of selected locations will be announced in the spring.
5. The Government will also shortly be inviting expressions of interest for the Community Infrastructure Fund, run jointly with Department for Transport, for £200m for transport schemes to support housing growth projects. Taken together this makes a total of over £900m for housing growth over the next three years.
6. The new CIL would be based on infrastructure needed to support development and follow consultation with the local community and developers ensuring the public have had a real say in what their local community needs. It is anticipated that CIL will be available for councils to use from spring 2009.
7. In the current planning system, only around 14 per cent of all housing new given planning permission makes a contribution to infrastructure for services and amenities. The windfall gain when planning permission is granted for housing can be as much as £2.5m per hectare.
Note: Annex A - Detailed Funding Allocations - Growth Areas is available as an attachment to this press release on www.gnn.gov.uk
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