This year we saw a particularly rowdy House of Commons for the budget statement. Noise is somewhat customary, but it does traditionally wait for the Chancellor to announce something. Deputy Speaker Dame Eleanor Laing had her work cut out, but was able to keep things functioning, employing the memorable phrase “Please shout more quietly!”.
While the contents of a budget leaking was once a resigning matter for the Chancellor, nowadays the media provides a clear picture of what is likely to be announced. The 2p cut to employee National Insurance, the freeze on fuel and alcohol duty, and the 4p in the pound reduction in capital gains tax, were all foretold. Some speculation raged that there would be a cut in annual spending increases from 1% to 0.75%, but this never materialised.
There were a number of interesting points for the built environment sector broadly, with £260 million pledged to “build more homes now”. Given the issues in recent years around nutrient neutrality, it is positive to hear that the Government is launching round 2 of the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund, which will support delivery of 30,000 homes by 2030 that would otherwise be stalled due to high levels of nutrient pollution. In the longer term, £3 million will be spent to match industry-led funding for a skills and education programme to attract more people to take up roles as local planners in planning authorities.
This comes alongside a consultation on the introduction of an accelerated planning service, which would offer a new application route with accelerated decision dates for major commercial applications and fee refunds wherever these are not met.
Certain areas, in particular, will benefit from the changes announced today. £240 million is to be spent on housing projects in London, particularly 7,200 homes in Barking and up to 750 in Canary Wharf. Additionally, a new £20 million investment in social finance will build up to 3,000 new homes and improve capacity of local community groups to deliver housing. A further twenty places across the UK will receive £400 million of investment to extend the Long-Term Plan for Towns. This provides those places with ten years of endowment style funding and support worth up to £20 million each to invest in communities and regeneration.
Cambridge is a particular beneficiary of today’s announcements. As well as a long-term funding settlement for the city’s Future Development Corporation, an additional £7.2 million will be provided in order to unlock improvements to local transport connections between the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and the city, while £3 million will be made available for Cambridge University NHS Trust to support plans for growth. Coming on top of the announcement that AstraZeneca is to invest £650 million in the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, it seems that the city is in line for a considerable boost to its economy.
Whether these proposals will make a significant enough difference to people to keep the Chancellor in situ for another year remains to be seen. He will be hoping a combination of duty freezes, small tax cuts and an effort to increase house building will provide a platform upon which to campaign on at the next election.
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