The Government’s recent Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill includes measures to address excessive risk-taking arising from local authority investment and borrowing.

The proposed interventions are intended to protect taxpayers’ money while providing local authorities the freedom to make much-needed investment in service delivery, economic regeneration and housing projects. This is arguably understandable given the scale of local government borrowing and investment in recent years and some of the challenges this has brought, particularly where the sector has been investing in new areas.