Title

PLANNING

Clark told levelling up is little more than a 'slogan'

MPs have criticised the Government’s flagship levelling up Bill for a lack of clarity and funding commitments.

MPs have criticised the Government's flagship levelling up Bill for a lack of clarity and funding commitments.

The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee warned the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill contained little to ensure improvement in key areas such as transport, skills training or digital connectivity.

MPs also warned the Government had ‘yet to commit to the spending that is necessary to level up the country'.

In a letter to levelling up secretary Greg Clark, the committee expressed concern about the Bill's lack of detail on planning amid fears of a move to a more centralised approach to decisions.

The committee called on the Government to provide more clarity on how it was going to deliver 300,000 homes each year.

Committee chair Clive Betts said: ‘In its current form, the Bill does little to reassure that levelling up will prove to be more than just a slogan and that we will have meaningful change in local communities across the country.

'In key areas, it is unclear how the Government intends to drive change.'

Chief executive officer at the Centre for Cities think-tank, Andrew Carter, said progress on levelling up had been 'slow' as he warned economic divisions across the UK were 'widening at an alarming rate'.

PLANNING

The analogue landline switch-off: why councils must act now to protect their communities

By Professor Sultan Mahmud | 24 September 2026

With the UK’s PSTN switch-off approaching, councils need to identify hidden analogue dependencies, says director of health and communities, business, at BT B...

PLANNING

Loneliness is a public health crisis: Could city branding be the cure?

By Paul Blackburn | 24 September 2026

Paul Blackburn says stronger place identities can help councils foster connection, community and civic pride.

PLANNING

The talent market isn't waiting for certainty

By Helen Anderson | 24 September 2026

There will be different responses to uncertainty across any workforce, so the conversation needs to shift from trying to predict every structural outcome to ...

PLANNING

Radical leader

By Ann McGauran | 24 September 2026

Anna Randle talks to Ann McGauran about her long commitment to local government reform working with communities and her excitement about the Burnham agenda.

Popular articles by William Eichler

-->