Budget 2020 – on-the-day briefing
The Chancellor presented his Budget on March 11th. Whilst recent events have dwarfed the scale of announcements, it contained some important news for our members.
The NHC produced our usual on-the-day briefing after the Budget earlier this month. There were elements to welcome within the Budget – such as the commitment to extend the Affordable Homes Programme, and overall the budget represented a welcome first step in levelling-up for the North. There is more to come – and we need to see evidence of a commitment to levelling-up when the planning white paper, infrastructure strategy and the comprehensive spending review emerge.
NHC submitted a Budget Representation to HM Treasury in February, which you may have seen was reported on the front page of Inside Housing. Our representation focused on local authority housing and planning capacity, the affordable homes programme and regeneration via decarbonisation.
Post-budget, we are particularly keen to influence the development of the £400m brownfield fund the Chancellor announced on March 11th. We were already engaging with MHCLG officials on this, prior to recent events. If you have thoughts on how this fund should operate, then please do contact Brian Robson.
Whilst our immediate priority is supporting our members through current uncertainty, in the longer-term, the NHC will continue with our influencing activity to ensure that Government’s promise of levelling-up is realised and that housing’s contribution is recognised.
Read the full on-the-day briefing here.
