Levelling Up

The CFPI welcomes the potential that Levelling Up offers public spaces.

The 2022 Levelling Up White Paper pronounced a bold call for a renewal of place, stating:

“By 2030, pride in place, such as people’s satisfaction with their town centre and engagement in local culture and community, will have risen in every area of the UK, with the gap between top performing and other areas closing.”

The Levelling Up Fund

Opportunities to deliver pride in place have been made available through various pathways. Primarily, the Levelling Up Fund. Providing capital investment in local infrastructure, building on and consolidating prior programmes such as the Local Growth Fund and the Towns Fund, the first round of the Levelling Up Fund supported £1.7 billion of projects in over 100 local areas across all corners of the UK.

The Levelling Up Fund is structured around three investment themes:

1. Local transport projects that make a genuine difference to local areas.

2. Town Centre and high street regeneration.

3. Maintaining and expanding cultural and heritage assets.

Those wishing to invest in regeneration are encouraged to bid with projects that improve the public realm, including high streets, parks and green spaces, designing out opportunities for crime and anti-social behaviour.

A particular emphasis is placed upon the enhancement of infrastructure to help make town centres and high streets more accessible for people with disabilities.

Alongside the Levelling Up Fund, various financing schemes are available to develop civic infrastructure.

Particularly of note are:

The Towns Fund, which provides the core public investment in Town Deals to drive the economic regeneration of towns to address growth constraints and deliver long-term economic and productivity growth through urban regeneration, skills and connectivity

The Future High Streets Fund, which helps local high streets evolve and adapt to change, providing investment to renew and reshape town centres and high streets in a way that improves experience, promotes social connection, drives growth, and ensures sustainability.

City and Growth Deals, which are locally led, with local partners working with UK government, Devolved Administrations and the public and private sectors to develop proposals, deliver interventions and attract further investment to our cities. To date, the UK government has committed more than £3 billion to such Deals.

The UK Community Ownership Fund, which empowers communities to protect vital community assets in their area by providing funding to take ownership over them, in support of the social wellbeing of local communities.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), which administers £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025, with all areas of the UK receiving an allocation from the Fund via a funding formula rather than competition.