Solace blog

So much for a mini-Budget. There were plenty of maxi changes to taxes but it changed very little for local government, at least directly.

Let’s start with what was announced. The creation of up to 38 new investment zones is potentially positive for the places selected, especially for those areas most in need of levelling up, if they can help accelerate commercial growth and large-scale housing delivery.

The Government’s plans include a promise to provide councils with 100% of the business rates growth in designated sites above an agreed baseline for 25 years, and providing mayoral combined authorities – but seemingly not individual council areas – with a single local growth settlement in the next Spending Review period.

However, much of the detail of how all of this will work remains missing.

Click here to read the full article by Martin Reeves, Solace spokesperson for finance, on the MJ