The government’s ambitions for levelling up, improving social cohesion and accelerating the path to Net Zero could be accelerated if alternative or additive financing and capability is made available to support local regeneration. Furthermore, Covid-19 has presented an opportunity to change the thinking around regeneration. The shift in commuter patterns and behaviours, the importance of open spaces and the delivery of local services has changed significantly during the pandemic. Successful regeneration will factor in these changes and overcome historic market challenges to deliver faster, better and greener.   

The CLC has been developing a proposal which articulates how the Government could empower local authorities and their development partners to take the lead in the post-COVID revitalisation of towns and cities. This paper sets out how implementing such alternative provisions can both accelerate construction jobs in the next three years and stimulate local and national economic recovery whilst delivering long term benefits for communities. The proposal has been developed with the support of Local Authorities, LEPs and private sector developers, seeking to create the optimum environment for aligning public and private sector interests to deliver for local communities. To illustrate the tangible outcomes a shift in approach would deliver we have described the opportunity with tangible examples, such as Stevenage where the fund would deliver 1860 homes currently planned 3 years earlier, a new town centre 4 years earlier and 1250 additional homes delivered 6 years earlier.