A waste of paper - the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill

Out of idle curiosity, I took a look the other day at the so-called Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill introduced in the Commons on 11 May (when it received its purely formal First Reading).

We can dispose very quickly of the “levelling up” content of the Bill. It comprises a mere six sections, which are among the most meaningless legislative provisions that have ever been drafted. Ministers are enjoined to publish statements of “levelling-up missions” for their ministries, replete with targets and progress reviews. Those of us who have ever worked in any kind of corporate body are depressingly familiar with meaningless and content-free mission statements, which are promptly forgotten before the ink has even had time to dry on them. This pathetically thin part of the Bill is no more than the regurgitation of an empty slogan, devoid of any policy or plan actually to deliver any meaningful change or improvement to the lives of citizens in those parts of the country that have been left behind as a result of de-industrialisation, lack of public investment in infrastructure and, above all, lack of revenue support from central government for vital public services. In truth, the idea of ‘levelling-up’ is entirely devoid of content. The government has absolutely no idea how to deliver on their election promises to those parts of the country that have suffered from the government’s previous long-term neglect, and they have no real intention of doing so.

As for “Re-generation”, this appears only in the title of the Bill. There is apparently an unwritten assumption that re-generation will miraculously occur, simply through the magical thinking of ministers. Harry Potter-like they have only to intone “Regeneramus!” and, lo, it will happen (although don’t ask how or when). [It seems from the Explanatory Memorandum that ministers are relying on Parts 6 and 7 of the Bill, dealing with Urban Development Corporations and Compulsory Purchase, to deliver ‘regeneration’. But where’s the funding?]

The rest of the Bill is a mish-mash of miscellaneous tinkering with local government and the planning system. So far as the structure of local government is concerned, the Bill provides for more ‘regional’ mayors, presiding over combined county authorities. There are currently 12 of these combined authorities. We already have one of these in the West Country, and so far it has been absolutely useless and its Mayor a mere cipher.

The provisions relating specifically to Town and Country Planning are really designed only to tinker with various administrative procedures. Some minor reforms are welcome, for example beefing up temporary enforcement notices, and some additional protection against unlawful works to listed buildings, but the overall impact of the changes to the planning system is minimal.

Even the much vaunted proposal for ‘street votes’ [Clause 96] is only a skeleton provision, giving the Secretary of State power to make regulations (which may or may not be forthcoming). The universal mirth that has greeted this proposal may prove to be fatal to the concept, and I strongly suspect that this bright idea may turn out to be dead on arrival. No doubt ministers will huff and puff, and claim that this Bill will herald a wonderful new dawn for the country, but any such claims are nonsense. Like so many other initiatives of this government, there is an almost complete lack of substance, and this Bill will not deliver any significant economic benefits, let alone ‘levelling-up’ those parts of the country that are in dire need of government support – not simply a rag-bag of infrastructure projects that it will take years to deliver, and some of which may be quietly dropped on grounds of cost once the fanfare with which they are announced has been forgotten. What is really needed, and which the present government will never deliver, is a major increase in current revenue support to local authorities and other public bodies at a local level to boost existing public services.

Roll on the next General Election!

© MARTIN H GOODALL