Six regions will receive new mayors and a share of the mayoral funding package to build new homes and regenerate decaying high streets
The mayoral funding package will see each of the six regions receive up to £200m per year over the next 30 years to help build new homes and enhance communities.
This will amount to an investment of nearly £6bn shared among the regions.
These moves fall under the Devolution Priority Programme
The six areas set to receive a new mayor and access to the funding are:
- Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority: £21.7m per year
- Cumbria Combined Authority: £11.1m per year
- Greater Essex Combined County Authority: £41.5m per year
- Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority: £44.6m per year
- Norfolk and Suffolk Combined County Authority: £37.4m per year
- Sussex and Brighton Combined County Authority: £38m per year
All of these regions will receive a minimum of £3m over the next three years alongside a £1m payment in the coming months. Four of these regions are already reorganising their local councils to be stronger unitary authorities.
The other two areas already have unitary councils in place.
Minister for devolution, faith and communities, Miatta Fahnbulleh MP, said: “This money will help transform communities for the better as part of our Plan for Change.
“It will help new mayors achieve what their areas’ want most, from building more of the 1.5m homes this government has promised to improving the green spaces that locals love – this is how devolution improves lives across the country.”
“Creating new homes at scale relies on close collaboration between local government and businesses”
Writing for PBC Today last month, Tim Reid, customer relationship director at NHBC, discussed devolution and whether it will have an impact on housing delivery.
Tim wrote: “Continuing the pattern of shifting decision making from Westminster to regions that took shape in the late 1990s, the aim is to empower local areas to deliver the changes needed on their doorsteps.
“At the heart of the bill’s approach is the creation of strategic authorities.
“Combined authorities such as those in West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, not to mention the Greater London Authority, already work to join up thinking in large regions with strong economic and cultural ties.
“Now, by providing them with greater powers and changing the structure of regional government more broadly, it is hoped that the resulting three-tiered strategic authority system will give local leaders extra leeway to drive growth throughout the country.
“So what could the new proposals mean for the construction industry, and how might further devolution impact housing delivery and skills provision?”
Tim continued: “The promises of greater speed and reduced red tape should be positive for private sector construction, yet their commitment will, of course, ultimately depend on their confidence in investing and wider market conditions.
“Creating new homes at scale relies on close collaboration between local government and businesses that can sometimes be difficult to achieve.”
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