Report sets agenda to ‘safeguard regeneration’

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Councils should be given greater control of their finances to encourage local development, according to a new report from senior politicians.

The suggestion is one of four top priorities issued to the next government by the All Party Urban Development Group (APUDG), which, it says, are needed to ‘safeguard regeneration over the next ten years’.

Next steps: a regeneration agenda for the next government also calls for a greater focus on where public sector investment is directed, acknowledging a ‘difficult decade’ to come as a result of spending constraints, a weaker credit supply and restricted developer activity.

Based on research, the cross-party independent forum recommends:

• Public sector investment be focused on the areas that need it most
• Localisation of business rates and introduction of tax increment financing (TIF)
• Planning reform limited after the first year of the next government and planning performance agreements (PPAs) used more
• A focus on increasing the housing supply and adjusting stamp duty to encourage greater investment in the private rented sector.

APUDG chair and DCLG select committee member Clive Betts said: ‘By giving councils the cash created by local investment we would encourage local authorities to promote new business in their local areas. At a time when the UK is desperately in need of new jobs, business development is crucial to overcoming unemployment.

‘Localisation of business rates would cut out the middle man and create a system where local authorities can be more directly involved in controlling regeneration and development in their areas.’

Responding to the report, Andrew Ludiman, King Sturge’s head of consultancy, said that while localisation was not a ‘panacea’, it would provide ‘a major shot in the arm for regeneration projects’.

Centre for Cities chief executive Dermot Finch added: ‘Control over business rates should be handed back to cities to invest in local infrastructure. The UK is one of the most centralised countries in the developed world. Local authorities raise only one fifth of their revenues, compared to an OECD average of over half.’