How to Fix Local Roads: Sustainable Road Maintenance Solutions for Local Government
Explore expert insights on sustainable road maintenance and pothole repair, and learn how local government can fix the road network with proactive strategies.
EXCLUSIVE: Labour axes expert levelling up group
14/11/2024 An expert group advising the Government on reducing inequalities has been disbanded by Labour. |
More than £2.5bn for communities ‘stuck in limbo’
28/10/2024 More than £2.5bn in funding agreed by the previous government for local growth is stuck in limbo, a think-tank has found. |
Blyth to be site of biggest AI data centre in Europe
26/09/2024 A £10bn investment aimed at delivering the biggest AI data centre in Europe could create thousands of jobs for the local community in Blyth, PM says. |
Regeneration projects threatened by £20m funding delay
14/08/2024 Newark and Sherwood DC has warned that a delay in making available £20m of levelling up funding is preventing regeneration projects from being delivered. |
Department ditches 'levelling up' moniker
08/07/2024 PM Keir Starmer has ditched Whitehall’s 'levelling up' department and re-named it with immediate effect – signalling an end to the controversial brand. |
Levelling up progress ‘glacial’, think tank says
19/06/2024 Progress on levelling up in England has been ‘glacial’ and – according to some metrics – inequality has got worse, a new analysis by the IFS has revealed. |
Council buys two sites for £19.5m regen scheme
17/06/2024 Dorset Council has bought two parcels of brownfield land as part of its plans to regenerate Weymouth’s waterfront economy. |
NextGov: Boosting social mobility
13/06/2024 Carl Cullinane, director of Research and Policy at the Sutton Trust, looks at what the next government should do to deliver greater social mobility. |
Stoke-on-Trent council welcomes last-minute £20m levelling up funding
28/05/2024 Stoke-on-Trent City Council has welcomed the approval of £20m in Levelling Up Partnership funding, describing the last-minute decision as a ‘relief’. |
Torbay Council secures £20m regeneration boost
22/05/2024 Torbay has been named as the latest place to benefit from a multi-million-pound tailored levelling up regeneration programme. |
Sir Marmot sends MPs damning letter on their constituents’ health
01/05/2024 Health inequality expert Sir Michael Marmot has urged MPs and council leaders to act after a report found government policies were ‘cutting people’s lives short’. |
Watchdog should investigate Teesworks freeport, MPs say
26/04/2024 MPs have recommended that the National Audit Office (NAO) should investigate the finances of the controversial Teesworks regeneration project. |
Addressing regional inequalities
18/04/2024 Andrew Borland, Chief Innovation Officer at the Virtual Engineering Centre (VEC), University of Liverpool discusses the importance of levelling up for growth. |
Dashboard compares healthy life expectancy across councils
10/04/2024 A data tool to compare healthy life expectancy across all councils in England has been launched by The Health Foundation. |
Council tax rises leading to ‘levelling down’
22/03/2024 Households in the Northeast are set to pay £420 more for an average band D property in council tax than those in Greater London. |
Levelling up plagued by ‘astonishing delays’
15/03/2024 The Government’s levelling up agenda has been characterised by ‘astonishing delays’ and blind optimism, according to Parliament’s spending watchdog. |
Less than 20% of levelling up projects completed
04/03/2024 Fewer than a fifth of projects backed by the Government's £3.6bn Towns Fund were on track to be completed by the end of February, FOI requests have revealed. |
More areas get level four devolution powers
01/03/2024 West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and the Liverpool city region will all receive level four devolved powers, local government secretary Michael Gove has announced. |
Levelling up requires ‘meaningful’ devolution, business group says
20/02/2024 Business leaders have called for ‘meaningful decision-making powers’ to be devolved to local authorities to help boost left-behind regions. |
Council to consider levelling up fund judicial review
30/01/2024 Durham County Council will consider seeking a judicial review into how the Government allocated levelling up funding after the authority spent £1.2m on failed bids. |
Levelling up must continue, urges think-tank
22/01/2024 Efforts to level up the country and devolve more powers to local government should continue following the General Election, a think-tank has urged. |
MPs criticise ‘glacial’ progress of levelling up projects
16/01/2024 Mandarins from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities faced the Public Accounts Committee. |
Levelling Up Fund allocated
20/11/2023 The third round of the Levelling Up Fund has been awarded to unsuccessful bids from round two. |
Autumn Statement 2023: Where does all the HS2 money go now?
20/11/2023 Jessica Bowles, director of strategic partnerships and impact at Bruntwood, discusses the future of Northern Powerhouse Rail. |
Economic pessimism a ‘damning indictment’ of levelling up
20/11/2023 Half of people think Conservative policies would have a negative impact on their local economy over the next five years, a think-tank has found. |
Levelling up ambitions blighted by delays, says NAO
17/11/2023 Ministers’ levelling up ambitions have been blighted by delays to key construction projects, with many deadlines unlikely to be met, the UK’s spending watchdog has warned. |
Tory backbenchers pile pressure on Government
25/10/2023 The Government has withstood pressure from its own MPs to allow councils to hold remote meetings. |
Council seeks HS2 compensation over 'levelling down'
25/10/2023 Cheshire East Council is pursuing compensation over the Government’s decision to scrap HS2 north of Birmingham. |
State of rivers ‘hangs in the balance’ amid pollution climbdown
24/10/2023 The Government has reportedly abandoned its plans to scrap nutrient neutrality rules. |
Post-Party Conference Season: What does levelling up look like from a local perspective?
20/10/2023 Andy Rumfitt, head of Business Cases and Funding at Turley, reflects on what the future of levelling up looks like following the party conferences. |
Government ‘dodges scrutiny’ in levelling up Bill amendment
18/10/2023 Both rural campaigners and planners have raised concerns that communities were sidelined in yesterday’s amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. |
Commission calls for £30bn public infrastructure investment
18/10/2023 Government should invest £30bn a year into public infrastructure to level up struggling areas and tackle climate change, says infrastructure commission. |
£7m project to turn bank into flats
16/10/2023 A former Lloyds Bank in Hull will be refurbished into 46 residential properties with support from levelling up funding. |
Fifty-five ‘left-behind’ towns to share £1bn
02/10/2023 Fifty-five towns across the UK are set to benefit from a £1.1bn levelling up investment, the Prime Minister has announced. |
Council injects £6m into former mining village after failed funding bid
20/09/2023 Durham County Council will spend £6m as part of plans to regenerate the village of Horden, where homes are on the market for just £5,000. |
Government fails to block levelling up Bill amendments
19/09/2023 The Government suffered a flurry of last-minute defeats as the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill completed its journey through the House of Lords. |
Level up seaside towns or lose power, Conservatives told
19/09/2023 The Conservative Government must level up England’s struggling coastal communities or risk losing 113 seaside seats to Labour, a conservative think tank warns. |
Government defeated over planning fees
15/09/2023 Councils would be able to vary fees for planning applications under amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. |
‘Levelling up? my a**e’: HS2 faces new axe threat
15/09/2023 Contractors have reacted furiously to reports that ministers are considering cancelling the second phase of HS2, which is due to take the high speed rail line to Manchester. |
Lords block plans to scrap nutrient neutrality rules
14/09/2023 The Government’s attempt to scrap nutrient neutrality rules has been defeated in the House of Lords. |
Councils ‘spending £5m a week to subsidise planning services’
13/09/2023 Subsidising planning services is costing authorities almost £5m a week as they await a proposed fee increase to help cover the cost of processing applications, according to the Local Government Association (LGA). |
Mandatory housing targets rejected
07/09/2023 An amendment to the levelling up Bill for mandatory housebuilding targets has been rejected by the House of Lords. |
Rayner takes levelling up role as Starmer shuffles his pack
04/09/2023 Labour leader Keir Starmer has appointed his deputy Angela Rayner as the party’s new shadow levelling up secretary. |
Levelling up for the next generation
30/08/2023 John Rayson, Atkins’ managing director for the North, asks if the aspirations of the next generation align with decision-makers in the North. |
Liverpool to provide 4,500 tablets to tackle digital exclusion
18/08/2023 More than 4,500 people in the Liverpool City Region will receive free tablets, internet access and training as part of a scheme to bridge the UK’s ‘digital divide’. |
Local government funding system has 'broken down'
15/08/2023 The funding system for local government has ‘broken down’ and what councils currently receive from Whitehall and council tax barely reflects need, a think-tank has warned. |
Haldane: Levelling up a 'mixed bag'
17/07/2023 Most people have yet to see the fruits of levelling up, according to a key Government adviser. |
South Yorkshire named as UK’s first investment zone
17/07/2023 South Yorkshire was named by the Government on Friday as the site of the first UK investment zone. |
Levelling up partnership launched
05/07/2023 A levelling up partnership bringing together organisations in the East of England to work alongside Government, has been launched. |
Call for Government to scrap Levelling Up Fund bidding
15/06/2023 Councils have called for the remaining £1bn in the Levelling Up Fund to be ‘allocated on the basis of robust evidence and local need’. |
North of Tyne Combined Authority agrees £30m investment
14/06/2023 North of Tyne Combined Authority has agreed a £30m investment to 'breathe new life' into a former coal mining town. |
Long-term solution sought to drainage board pressure
12/06/2023 Councils are seeking a ‘long-term solution’ as internal drainage boards (IDB) warn increasing energy costs will pile further pressure on council budgets. |
Fire up Northern Powerhouse 2.0, urges Osborne
12/06/2023 Former chancellor George Osborne has urged the Government to ‘fire up Northern Powerhouse 2.0’ as he backed more devolution for the North. |
MPs call for research into green energy from coal pits
12/06/2023 MPs have called for an investigation on whether water in former coal pits could be used to provide green energy. |
Manchester 'frustrated' at pace of devolution
08/06/2023 Manchester’s leader has said there is ‘a long way to go’ to meet the city’s devolution ambitions. |
Levelling up will fail without long-term funding
26/05/2023 The Government’s levelling up policy will fail without long-term funding for councils, MPs have warned. |
North misses out on £21m of levelling up funding
23/05/2023 Local authority areas in the North have missed out on £21m of funding from the Government’s flagship levelling up fund, a new study has revealed. |
Betts questions Treasury trust of DLUHC
28/04/2023 An MP has criticised a ministerial response, warning it fails to ‘dispute the notion the Treasury no longer appears to trust’ the levelling up department. |
Poorest councils suffer cuts three times higher than richest
26/04/2023 The poorest councils have suffered cuts in Government funding nearly three times higher than the richest, according to a research group. |
Report shows stark variations in levelling up funding
25/04/2023 Competitive bidding has led to a £0.5bn gap in levelling up cash between the best and least funded combined authorities, according to new analysis. |
Budget 2023: Hunt sounds the death knell for LEPs
15/03/2023 Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has unveiled a Budget which has sounded the death knell for Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), but revived the levelling up agenda. |
Betts demands answers after Treasury clampdown on DLUHC spending
14/03/2023 A senior MP has written to ministers raising concerns about the Treasury’s oversight of Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities capital spending. |
Chancellor to announce investment zones backed by £80m
14/03/2023 Twelve investment zones, each backed by £80m, will be announced tomorrow as part of the effort to boost local growth and level up left behind areas. |
Levelling up committee launches local audit inquiry
03/03/2023 An inquiry into financial audit in local authorities has been launched to ensure councils are financially sustainable and remain accountable to residents. |
Levelling up Bill ‘insulting’ to districts
28/02/2023 Peers have called for greater recognition of district councils in combined county authorities (CCAs). |
Nottingham council spends £250,000 on failed levelling-up bids
27/02/2023 Nottingham City Council spent more than £250,000 on unsuccessful bids for support from the ‘leveling up’ fund, according to new information. |
Lowest-funded councils call for funding reform
20/02/2023 The lowest-funded councils that make up the F20 group have called on the Government to address the ‘long overdue’ issue of local government funding reform. |
Aberdeenshire Council accepts £20m levelling up grant
14/02/2023 Aberdeenshire Council has accepted a £20m grant from the UK Government’s levelling up fund. |
Treasury tightens grip over DLUHC spending
08/02/2023 New capital projects by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) will now have to be approved by the Treasury. |
Anti-social behaviour should be top priority, says report
07/02/2023 Tackling anti-social behaviour must become a central tenet of levelling up if the agenda is to succeed, a think-tank has warned. |
‘Hidden’ unemployment rates reveal deepening divides
31/01/2023 Nine out of 10 of the UK’s cities and towns with the highest hidden unemployment rates are in the North, new study reveals. |
Khan condemns system of ‘begging’ for levelling up cash
31/01/2023 London mayor Sadiq Khan has accused the Government of forcing councils to waste money bidding for cash as part of the ‘levelling up’ policy. |
Levelling up directors could be scrapped
24/01/2023 Plans to appoint a dozen levelling up directors may be scrapped, a minister has admitted. |
Minister admits to shifting goalposts on levelling up bids
23/01/2023 A Government minister has admitted to shifting the rules on Levelling Up Fund bids after applications had been submitted. |
Council chiefs blast ‘costly’ approach to levelling up
19/01/2023 Councils have demanded a new way of funding the sector following the announcement of the Levelling Up Fund second round winners. |
London losing out on levelling up funding, says Mayor
15/12/2022 London is losing out on hundreds of millions of pounds of levelling up funding despite having some of the most deprived areas in the country, Mayor Khan says. |
Dozens of pubs saved by nearly £7m boost
12/12/2022 More than 30 pubs, clubs, theatres and other venues at risk of closure have been placed in the hands of local people thanks to £6.67m of levelling up funding. |
Transforming Dorset’s planning system as a new unitary authority
02/12/2022 Cllr David Walsh, portfolio holder for planning, Dorset Council looks at how levelling up opportunities for infrastructure improvements are put into practice. |
Future Forum North: Build individual relationships with mandarins
02/12/2022 Councils need to build individual relationships with Whitehall civil servants if they want to achieve positive outcomes, a former senior mandarin has advised. |
Council chiefs call for ‘clarity’ on post-Brexit fund
30/11/2022 Local authority leaders today called for ‘clarity’ on the future of the delayed post-Brexit shared prosperity fund. |
Think tank warns against ‘anti-London sentiment’
30/11/2022 A think tank has accused policymakers of ‘anti-London sentiment’ and urged Whitehall to do more to include the capital in the levelling up agenda. |
It’s time to re-think the retail-dominated model of our high streets
25/11/2022 With levelling up back on the agenda, Nick Plumb argues there is a need for a new approach to our high streets that moves beyond the retail-dominated model. |
Reeves to make case for economic devolution
23/11/2022 The shadow chancellor will make the case for ‘deeper and broader’ economic devolution as Labour stresses the need for ‘more local powers’ over the economy. |
County leaders call for devolution to be ‘turbocharged’
21/11/2022 County council leaders have called on the Government to ‘turbocharge’ devolution to help them level up by attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI). |
Autumn Statement: Northern Powerhouse Rail to be 'core' only
17/11/2022 The chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed hopes for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) to be completed in full have been dashed. |
Ministers urged to break the link between drugs and deprivation
14/11/2022 Around 1,600 drug-related deaths could be prevented in the North and Scotland if the Government ensures drugs policy reform is included in levelling up plans, a think tank has argued today. |
Cultural institutions face ‘existential threat’, MPs warn
02/11/2022 Theatres, museums and leisure centres in historically left behind areas are facing an ‘existential threat’ from the cost-of-living crisis, MPs warn. |
The place principle
02/11/2022 Chris Malcolm discusses how a holistic, people-centric vision can achieve better results across publicly funded projects. |
‘Disjointed’ council funding undermines levelling up
20/10/2022 Cuts to public services and a local authority funding system that is ‘disjointed’ threatens to undermine the levelling up agenda, financial experts warn. |
Levelling up fails North East, study reveals
07/10/2022 The Government’s flagship policy of levelling up and closing the North/South divide has failed to benefit the North East, a new study has found. |
Councils warn of £2.5bn ‘threat’ to services
04/10/2022 Two thirds of surveyed councils said they either faced a ‘threat’ to or ‘extreme pressure’ on key service delivery over the next financial year, poll reveals. |
Toolkit to level up high street published
27/09/2022 Local authorities will have to prove ‘adept’ in making use of the tools and resources at their disposal if high streets are going to survive, think tank says. |
Nandy pledges to boost council housing
26/09/2022 Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy this week vowed to end the political ‘vandalism’ of UK social housing stock. |
Capitalising on levelling up
26/09/2022 Tim Heatley, co-founder of Capital&Centric, argues that it is a race against time for councils looking to capitalise on levelling up. |
Clarke appointed as local government secretary
06/09/2022 Local government has given new local government secretary Simon Clarke a guarded welcome after he was appointed by new Prime Minister Liz Truss. |
£1.14bn East Midlands devo deal agreed
30/08/2022 A landmark £1.14bn devolution deal for a new combined county authority (CCA) is on offer for the East Midlands, to include a new elected regional mayor. |
Levelling up little more than a ‘slogan’, MPs say
24/08/2022 MPs have criticised the Government’s flagship levelling up Bill for a lack of clarity and funding commitments. |
Grimsby welcomes £8m infrastructure boost
12/08/2022 The leader of North East Lincolnshire Council has welcomed an £8m boost to help repair vital bridges connecting Grimsby and Immingham. |
North-South gap remains wide despite levelling-up rhetoric
09/08/2022 The income gap between the North and the South has remained consistently wide since the early 2000s despite all the talk of levelling-up, think tank says. |
Council ‘disappointed’ at levelling up grouping
29/07/2022 Sefton Council ‘disappointed’ at being grouped with low priority areas for levelling up funds because it has one of the most deprived areas in the country. |
