Chancellor Sajid Javid’s spending plans for the next year promised a 15-year peak for day-to-day spending up £13.8bn, but housing and planning were notably missing from the review.
Property leaders called for greater funding for local authority planning departments and valuable infrastructure upgrades.
The government’s spending plans for “Britain’s first year outside the European Union” aimed to deliver certainty ahead of the Budget later this year.
Javid said: “The first priority of our new economic plan will be to rebuild our national infrastructure.”
He added the caveat: “To keep spending under control we will of course set a high bar for funding projects, and they’ll have to show real value for money, with credible delivery plans and budgets, starting with the government’s rapid review of HS2.”
The plans seek to deliver a 2.7% increase in finance for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. There was a £54m boost to reduce homelessness, up to £433m, and a total of £241m for the Towns Fund, to support the regeneration of high streets, town centres and local economies.
Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: “Additional funding for local authorities is much needed and welcome. However, today’s spending review offers little to support new housing delivery or overstretched planning departments.”
Leech said under-resourced local authorities are not able to focus on long-term issues, such as planning bottlenecks, preventing the delivery of housing and town centre regeneration. She called for funding allocation for planning departments, which she said have seen “the most severe cuts of any local authority service”.
According to the BPF, planning spend per employee has fallen by 55% between 2010/11 and 2017/18.
“While today’s announcement may ease some of the funding challenges facing local authorities, we cannot ignore the need for a more comprehensive change in the way that local government is valued and resourced,” Leech added.
Hew Edgar, head of government relations at RICS, said: “We find ourselves in a position where our lack of infrastructure is negatively impacting lives and productivity.”
Edgar called for funds to maintain and upgrade existing infrastructure. He said: “The chancellor will have the opportunity to fine-tune his approach, and we would urge him to recognise that the provision of new infrastructure is not the only avenue to sufficiently tackle the UK’s infrastructure woes.”
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