The East of England Local Government Association (EELGA) has expressed disappointment in the lack of additional support for the region in the Spring Budget.
The Chancellor announced 12 ‘Investment Zones’ for the UK to ‘supercharge’ growth in hi-tech industries. However, none of these will be located in the East of England. This is a huge missed opportunity as the region is home to a wealth of world-class education and innovation clusters.
The region has also missed out on it’s fair share in the Government’s ‘City Region Capital Regeneration Funding’ and ‘City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements’. Although the news of £8m for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is welcome, this is the lowest share of all regions for capital regeneration funding. Moreover, the allocations across both funds highlight the government’s urban-centric approach to it’s decisions, leading to the East of England once again missing out.
There was some welcome news in the announcement of a potential ‘Levelling Up Partnership’ for Tendring. Also, £6.7m and £4.3m of funding have been allocated for Tendring and East Suffolk for regeneration projects. However, this does not go nearly far enough and is indicative of the Government’s lack of understanding of the needs of the East of England.
EELGA also welcomes the announcement of preferential borrowing rates for councils to develop more social housing. As highlighted in EELGA’s recent report ‘Opening the Door: Good Quality, Available and Affordable Housing in the East of England‘, this is one of the biggest challenges faced by our region. Anything that can be done to increase the supply of social housing is of benefit. However, more detail is needed on how this will work in practice and what impact it could have on the housing crisis.
Cllr Matthew Hicks, Chair of EELGA, said: “In February, MPs and council leaders across the East of England called for immediate Government action to level up parts of the region. However, the budget shows we have once again lost out on our fair share of potential funding which could make a real difference to the region.
“While there are areas of the budget we welcome, significant efforts must be made to address the multiple levelling up challenges our communities are facing right across our region, including the deepening housing crisis which is holding back our economic growth.”