Autumn Budget 2021: Levelling Up Fund

The Government’s £4.8 billion Levelling up Fund will invest in infrastructure set to improve everyday life across the UK.

What is the Levelling Up Fund?

The Levelling Up Fund was set up to bring with it a wave of local jobs and career opportunities which is integral to the Government’s levelling up plans. The prospectus for the Levelling Up Fund was launched alongside the Budget 2021. The Government has worked on identifying areas of priority based on an index of local need to receive funding and will help them in the co-ordination and on-going support of their applications.

Local authorities submitted their bids for infrastructure improvements such as the regeneration of town centres, high streets, local transport projects and investment in cultural and heritage assets.

Successful bidders in the South East

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, revealed in his Autumn Budget announcement last Wednesday that the first share of the £4.8 billion fund (worth £1.7bn) had been allocated to 105 areas across the UK. This includes the following projects in the South East:

Capacity funding has been provided to help out the councils most in need of levelling up to develop high quality bids for the Fund. COVID-19 has played a part in restricting local areas from putting bids together for their communities and this process has been put in place as a measure to reduce the risks of local capacity issues arising.

The full prospectus of the levelling up fund is available to view here.

Next steps

Feedback sessions will be offered to unsuccessful places to support applications into further rounds of the Fund. Round two will open in Spring 2022 and further details will be set out in due course.

If you have any questions or would like further information, then please contact a member of our team on 01903 234094.