There is much debate about what the Government mean by Levelling up but are there clues in the White Paper?

Here are some of the key highlights:

• A review of neighbourhood governance, including looking at the role and functions of parish councils and how to make them quicker and easier to establish.
• Explore how the existing Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) can be used to support neighbourhood and community activity where parish councils do not exist and continue the neighbourhood portion of CIL as it introduces a new Infrastructure Levy.
• No top-down restructuring of local government.
• A new Strategy for Community Spaces and Relationships.
• Enhance the offer in the Community Ownership Fund, learning lessons from the first bidding round to maximise the impact of the fund.
• Consider how the existing Community Asset Transfer and Asset of Community Value Schemes can be enhanced.
• Councils and communities will create new local design codes to shape streets as residents wish, widen the accessibility of neighbourhood planning, encouraging more accessible hybrid models for planning committees in England and look to pilot greater empowerment of communities to shape regeneration and development plans. • The ability to have a meaningful say on individual planning applications will be retained and improved through new digital technologies.
• Work to build local government capacity and capability through ongoing sector support and funding a programme of improvement covering a range of priorities which is reviewed periodically.
• Extend centrally designed training, advice and guidance, and market and supplier intelligence to the sector.
• Introduce an obligation for the UK Government to publish an annual report on delivery against the levelling up mission
• A new approach to place through Levelling Up Directors, providing a key point of contact for local areas, acting as a bridge between local leaders and central government.
• Setting up local panels, drawn from a wide range of stakeholders, to serve as a sounding board on levelling up delivery and implementation, working closely with new Levelling Up Directors.
• Engage with local government and key stakeholders on the simplification of the local growth funding landscape with respect to the publication of further plans later this year. • Explore piloting local votes for funding, putting choices in the hands of local communities to let them decide what matters most
• Launch the UK Shared Prosperity Fund providing funding of £2.6 billion by March 2025, with all areas of the UK receiving an allocation from the Fund via a funding formula rather than a competition.
• Establish a body to focus on local data, transparency, and outcomes.

Some of the things we like

The idea that communities can have a say or a voice in their streets and localities is a must. If we truly care about grass roots revival then people must have the right to shape their communities, input their ideas and be listened to. A new debate about the interconnection between public space and people is welcomed, as is an obligation on Government to report progress against transparent outcomes. More funding is always a bonus, although we question the ability of some Town or Parish Councils to be bigger players than they currently are. Levelling Up Directors seems like a good idea in principle, but these people should not be Government minded but community spirited (and there is a difference).

Some of the things we don’t like

Anything that has centralised, or quango written all over it such as centralised training (why?) or a new body to check out outcomes (why?).

I guess there will be more debate over the coming months and VIN is keen to compile a White Paper Working Group – and will keep you all informed on progress. If anyone is interested in joining the debate, contact russell.rolph@voluntaryimpact.org.uk