The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLHUC) has issued guidance for local authorities and towns on the establishment of new ‘Town Boards’ in England, Scotland and Wales, and development of their ‘Long-Term Plan’, following September’s commitment of endowment-style funds to 55 towns of £20 million each over 10 years for ‘local people’s priorities’.
image for illustration: Open Government Licence v3.0
… Town Boards, the new decision-making bodies, will be run by local people for local people…
DLHUC writes:
Foreword from the Prime Minister
In September, we launched our Long-Term Plan for Britain’s Towns, a core part of the government’s levelling up programme that has so far invested more than £13 billion to support projects in places that for too long have been taken for granted.
Towns are the places most of us call home, where most of us work, and where many of us grew up and want to raise our families. For too long politicians have focused on cities and businesses have been encouraged to invest elsewhere, local communities have been eroded, and too many young people have concluded that the only way to get on, is to get out.
The result, in too many places, has been run-down town centres, empty, boarded-up shops, discarded rubbish, appalling antisocial behaviour and people left angry and frustrated by the neglect. There is nothing inevitable about this. With the right plan, our towns can turn themselves around.
Our plan will complement our existing work and give towns the focus and attention they deserve. We’re investing £1.1 billion in 55 of our towns and giving them the tools they need to help build a better future for their local people. We will do so in 3 important ways.
First, we’re putting towns back into the hands of local people, so that they can decide on local priorities and what’s best for the long-term future of the places where they live. Each town will have a new Town Board made up of local community leaders and employers, who will draw up their town’s Long-Term Plan for the next 10 years. This work will be backed by up to £20 million of “endowment-style” funding and support to invest over the next decade.
Second, we’re not wasting time. We want towns to set up their Town Boards as soon as possible. So we’re providing £50,000 this year, and £200,000 the next – along with a dedicated data pack full of local insights and intelligence – so that towns can build their own local capacity, talk to local people about what they want from their town, and get going on their Long-Term Plans.
Third, we want to make towns places where people and businesses want to invest, creating new jobs and breathing new life into our high streets and town centres. And we believe that the government’s local £20 million endowment-style funding and support in each town will be a catalyst for private investment and community capital too.
So, this is our plan to turn around Britain’s towns: local people in charge, accelerating change, and bringing in new investment. This guidance sets out the next steps in delivering on that plan, and our support offer to you to ensure that Long-Term Plans are grounded in the best available evidence. In addition, our policy toolkit sets out the range of powers available to local areas.
It’s time that we do away with the idea that some communities and some places can never and will never get better. They can – and they will. Our Long-Term Plan for Towns fundamentally changes the way politics works to support local communities – putting them in control. And it sets out a new direction for Britain’s towns: one that is right for local people, and right for the future of the country.
Foreword from the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Our Long-Term Plan for Towns is levelling-up in action. Communities driving progress so that towns can go further, faster than ever before. Councils allowed to be bolder, so that they can bring bustle and life back to rundown high streets. Residents encouraged to make the most of their can-do spirit so that prosperity returns to towns around the country.
The Long-Term Plan is centred on local stakeholders acting in the interests of local people.
Why towns? Well, for the overwhelming majority of Britons, home is a town – the place where they live and an important part of their identity. Yet many towns are struggling.
Since the financial crisis of 2008, jobs growth in towns has been just half that in cities, and a quarter that in London. Whenever I visit one of our many great towns, I come away inspired by the passion and pride of the people. Yet I also share their anger and frustration over shabby high streets lined by empty shops, and their anxieties about antisocial behaviour and crime.
We have made great strides for towns and for cities, too, through the Levelling Up Fund that has so far awarded £4.8 billion to support regeneration. The Long-Term Plan for Towns is something distinct again: a way of doing local politics that draws on our experience with previous Funds and respects local feedback to take a different approach – one that captures and makes the best use of all that councils and communities already do for their area.
It means that Town Boards, the new decision-making bodies, will be run by local people for local people: bringing together residents, business and community leaders to devise and agree a shared vision for the future.
I look forward to working with Town Boards as partners in this new-style politics. I am excited by the prospect of the entrepreneurial, creative and forward-looking initiatives that will flow from the funding. And I know we all want to see the difference in lives and outcomes as we unleash a new era of regeneration, aspiration and pride in place in towns across England, Wales and Scotland.
Long-Term Plan for Towns summary
This guidance is relevant to Town Boards in England, Scotland and Wales. We will release dedicated Scottish and Welsh versions of the policy toolkit early in 2024, which will build on existing publications, and a Welsh language version of this guidance will follow.
Purpose: Regenerate local towns across England, Scotland and Wales over the next decade.
Type of fund: Allocative
Eligibility: Preselected local authorities via a methodology set out on GOV.UK.
Funding available: Towns will receive funding and support totalling up to £20 million.
Important dates:
Between 18 December 2023 and 1 April 2024:
- local authorities receive £50,000 of capacity funding
- local authorities receive a data pack for their town, with a local insight profile curated by DLUHC’s Spatial Data Unit, to be shared with the Town Board once established
- where relevant, appoint a chair for Town Boards
- local authorities work with the chair to set up the Town Board or repurpose an existing Town Deal Board or equivalent relevant Board in Scotland/Wales
- Town Boards start planning and initiating community engagement
By 1 April 2024:
- all Town Boards are established
From 1 April 2024 to 1 August 2024:
On 1 April, DLUHC will release the next £200,000 of capacity funding to support the development of the Long-Term Plan, including additional community engagement activity.
Town Boards submit their Long-Term Plans (comprising their 10-year vision and 3-year investment plan) from 1 April and before 1 August. The Plan will set out how funding will be allocated and spent, with the local authority as the body ultimately accountable for funding.
We strongly encourage Town Boards to submit plans as early as possible – the earlier the Town Board is established, and Plan submitted, the quicker funding can be unlocked by DLUHC.
DLUHC assess plans as they come in, and release 2024 to 2025 capital and revenue funding once plans are approved.
We acknowledge that Scottish councils operate with different recess periods to their English counterparts. We will discuss the implications of this with the local authorities in Scotland.
For more background see the IHBC NewsBlog
