Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities – Supplementary written evidence (RST0007)

 

At the Liaison Committee evidence session on regenerating seaside towns and communities on 28th March, I committed to write to you on a number of follow up issues. My sincere apologies for the delay in responding.

 

At the outset, I would reiterate that the Government acknowledges the shared challenges and opportunities faced by many coastal towns and communities.

 

Funding available to coastal towns and communities

 

As I set out at the hearing, coastal towns and communities have had access to a range of funds and are receiving significant support under these schemes. However, given the difficulties with defining what we mean by a coastal community and due to differing methods of funding allocation, it is sometimes difficult to provide detailed breakdowns of the funds received by coastal towns and communities.

 

Current funding programmes and interventions include:

 

An interactive map detailing projects which have received funding from the Levelling Up Fund (LUF), Community Ownership Fund (COF), Future High Street Fund or Town Deals can be found here: https://levellingup.campaign.gov.uk/projects-near-me/

There are also a number of established programmes from which funding is still being invested in coastal communities:

 

 

All of this builds upon historic programmes such as the Coastal Revival Fund, which ran from 2015 – 2019, providing a total of £7.5 million to coastal projects. This was a competitive fund providing funding awards up to £50,000 to Coastal Community Teams and similar organisations, to help revive heritage assets important to local communities that had not reached their full economic potential or were facing neglect.

 

Levelling Up Partnerships

 

A number of coastal towns will also receive support by being invited to undertake a Levelling Up Partnership. These partnerships will bring the collective power of Government to provide bespoke place-based regeneration and support for twenty of England’s areas most in need of levelling up over 2023-24 and 2024-25, at a total value of £400 million. These locations include several coastal areas such as Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Hull, Torridge, Torbay, Tendring and Hastings.

 

This programme builds upon previous ‘deep dives’ which led to targeted interventions in the coastal towns of Blackpool, Blyth and Grimsby. This included a scheme in Blyth to repurpose run-down and empty homes and fund new high-tech training equipment for a new education facility; work in Blackpool to improve housing quality and unlock regeneration through the public estate; and in Grimsby, vital bridge repairs and the forging of a partnership with Homes England to renew the town centre and attract private investment.

 

Freeports

 

Coastal areas also stand to gain from the benefits of Freeports, which bring together ports, local authorities, businesses and other key stakeholders to create national hubs for trade, innovation, commerce and global investment. 11 out of the 12 Freeports across the UK are based in coastal areas. Each Freeport will receive up to £26 million in Government funding over the next few years, and potentially hundreds of millions in locally retained business rates to upgrade local infrastructure and stimulate regeneration in coastal communities.

 

Devolution

 

Our approach to English devolution since 2011 has brought the benefits of strong local leadership to coastal areas across England. Since 2011 (excluding the Greater London region), we have done deals that cover many of our coastal communities:

 

 

These deals will or already are giving their mayors and leaders greater local control over things like transport, infrastructure and skills. Devolution is about empowering local residents and ensuring they have a say in decisions affecting them and their communities, by bringing politics closer to people. It must be locally led, rather than top-down.

 

Through devolution deals, we have delivered for coastal communities:

 

 

Data and mission metrics

 

The government recognises that different places face different challenges, and this is why our levelling up missions take a place-based approach. The metrics by which each mission is measured are set out in the Technical Annex to the Levelling Up White Paper. We actively monitor performance against these metrics, allowing us to monitor the impact of levelling up across a range of different types of place, including coastal communities.

 

The majority of these metrics are publicly available and are measured at lower-tier local authority level, unless otherwise stated. The Department is also continuing work with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and other Government Departments to strengthen local data and to develop all metrics at the most appropriate level of geography, for example through developing new measures of Government and business Research and Development, which will be released on 17th April.

 

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Spatial Data Unit is also funding the ONS to strengthen subnational statistics which can aid Levelling Up. All of this is enhanced through the ONS Local programme - an analytical advisory service - working with local areas across the UK. Examples of statistical outputs from this include local neighbourhood (‘Lower Super Output Area’, or LSOA) estimates of Gross Value Added (GVA) published on 24 January 2023.

 

Gigabit broadband

 

The Government recognises that hard to reach and remote coastal regions are in need of next generation gigabit-capable broadband to avoid being left behind. Improving digital connectivity coverage in coastal areas contributes to increasing economic growth, innovation and productivity and supports those who are vulnerable or disadvantaged to access high-quality services. As you know, the Levelling Up White Paper includes a mission that by 2030, the UK will have nationwide gigabit-capable broadband and 4G coverage, with 5G coverage for most of the population.

 

We are investing to deliver gigabit-capable broadband for the hardest to reach parts of the UK, including £5 billion for Project Gigabit and a £500 million investment (matching the £532 million investment promised by the 4 major networks in the UK) in the Shared Rural Network.

 

There has already been significant progress made in expanding 4G coverage to over 90% of the UK. The Shared Rural Network, developed by the UK’s four mobile network operators and Government, will deliver 4G coverage to 95% of the UK, enabling rural businesses and communities to thrive. Meanwhile, basic 5G is now available from at least one operator outside 77% of premises across the UK. Data and maps of available mobile coverage is available via Ofcom’s coverage checker at https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/mobile-coverage.

 

Since the Levelling Up White Paper publication, gigabit-capable broadband coverage has extended from 65.8% of UK premises in January 2022 to 74.6% in March 2023. This demonstrates sustained progress towards the 2030 levelling up mission and the 2025 departmental targets. Data on gigabit broadband rollout at local authority level is available from Ofcom’s 2022 Connected Nations Report, and in monthly updated data from ThinkBroadband, an independent broadband comparison website.

 

To deliver gigabit-capable coverage in harder to reach areas, Project Gigabit has now completed market surveys across the UK, with 8 contracts signed reaching up to 148,000 premises, and 16 more areas in procurement, with over £1bn of funding available. For example, as of February 2023, contracts were live in areas including Cornwall, Cumbria and Dorset, and procurement was live in areas including Norfolk, Suffolk and Kent.

 

The publication of the Wireless Infrastructure Strategy sets out the Government’s further ambitions and plans to deliver gigabit broadband to at least 99% of premises by 2030; to help sectors and businesses harness the benefits of 5G and attract further commercial investment; and to prepare for the subsequent generation of wireless connectivity (6G).

 

Changes to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)

 

Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have played a vital role since 2011 in bringing together business and local leaders to drive economic growth in all parts of England, including coastal communities. That said, as part of the Government’s ambition to accelerate devolution in England it is exploring how the functions currently undertaken by LEPs, including their work with Destination Management Organisations (DMOs), are best delivered at a local level in future. This follows the Chancellor’s ‘minded to’ decision announced at Budget to withdraw LEP core funding from April 2024.

 

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department for Business and Trade are holding an information gathering exercise to ensure there is a full understanding of the implications of further devolving decisions on local growth.

 

We would encourage LEPs covering coastal areas - 19 out of 38 LEPs have a coastline - to include any specific issues relating to DMOs and other matters as part of their response to the questionnaire survey. Our aim is to publish an updated policy position and guidance on next steps by summer 2023. We will work with local areas and LEPs to manage the transition should the decision to cease LEP core funding be taken forward.

 

Thank you for your ongoing interest in coastal communities and the work this Government is doing to support them.

 

21 April 2023