Housing investment skewed in favour of South of England, new report finds

Colour-coded map which demonstrates the imbalance of the funding proposal, with only three areas north of the M62 in receipt of significant investment

The distribution of roughly £7 billion of government investment in five separate housing programmes over the next five years is inconsistent across England, with areas across the South of the country disproportionately funded, according to a new report from Core Cities UK and the Key Cities Group.

The two bodies, which between them represent 30 key urban centres across England, Scotland and Wales including Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Salford, have analysed the Government’s announcement that approximately 80% of allocated funds are to be channelled towards areas of “highest affordability pressure”, largely in the South and East of England.

Local councils have spent recent weeks processing data released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in late-October to support the Housing Infrastructure Fund Forward Fund, the Estates Regeneration Fund, the Home Building Fund, the Small Sites Fund and the Land Assembly Fund.

The figures show how applying the Government’s definition, using a ratio of median house prices to median workplace-based household incomes, skews the allocation of around £5.6 billion available from these programmes. Core Cities UK and the Key Cities Group have established that this definition, when applied, favours the more affluent areas of the country.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “I am still trying to give the government the benefit of the doubt on its promises of a Northern Powerhouse but this map makes it very difficult.

“It is simply indefensible to shovel billions of pounds of public money into the more affluent areas when all parts of England are facing a housing crisis. The fact that only three areas north of the M62 will receive any benefit at all says everything.

“Such a skewed distribution of public money is demonstrably unfair and unacceptable. It overlooks the huge economic potential of the North of England and the Midlands, as well as several Southern English cities and coastal towns, and will fuel the economy where it is already strongest.

“Right now, the government should be working hard to bring our country back together rather than widening its economic and social divides. We need policies that will rebalance our economy and that are fair to people everywhere. That’s why this policy cannot go unchallenged and I call on the government to think again.”

Core Cities UK and the Key Cities Group have published a colour-coded map which demonstrates in stark terms the imbalance of the funding proposal, with only three areas north of the M62 in receipt of significant investment.

Only four Local Authority areas in the North of England - and none in the North East - qualify for priority funding.