Autumn Statement 2014

The Chancellor George Osborne delivered his Autumn Statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday 3rdDecember 2014. The key announcements that could impact on local government include:

  1. Planning

1.1The Government will work ‘with industry and local authorities to test whether more can be done to support the approval of small sites in the planning system’. It was further announced that the Government would be ‘publishing new data on local authorities’ performance in meeting their statutory duty to process smaller planning applications within 8 weeks’.

1.2Further measures, including those to speed up S106 negotiations and reduce delays to the planning process were announced as part of the National Infrastructure Plan 2014.

  1. Devolution

2.1Confirmed proposals to allow greater devolutionof power to northern cities and intention to build a ‘Northern Powerhouse’. However, there was little or no detail on moves towards devolution elsewhere in the country.

  1. Flooding

3.1Announced£162mof flood defence funding over 6 years across the East and Central Midlands, out of a total £2.3 billion for the country as whole, e.g. Boston Flood Barrier £89.6m; Derby flood defence scheme in the Lower Derwent Valley £29m; Louth Improvements £5.82m; Southwell and LowdhamFlood Alleviation schemes £1.68m and £2.3m respectively; Local Communities at Risk (Lincoln) – Surface Water Flood Risk Improvements £1.5m; Horncastle Improvements £8.27m; Avenue Flood Balancing Reservoir, Chesterfield £2.71m; and River Soar Flood Risk Management £6.91m. A full list of schemes can be downloaded here and are also available via an interactive Google maphere.

  1. Infrastructure

4.1£15 billion plan to increase the capacity and condition of more than 100 of England’s roads and publication of ‘Road investment strategy’. Strategic Road Network (SRN) schemes announced or confirmed in the region include committed investment in the A5 (M42-M69); A38 Derby Junctions (to ‘expressway standard); A14 (J10a) – junction to support Sustainable Urban Extension at Kettering; M1 (J20a) – junction improvements and upgrades to ‘smart motorway’ standard between J19 and J23a; M1/East Midlands Gateway – M1 mitigation scheme for Roxhill; A1/A17/A46 commitment for widening the Newark northern bypass.

4.2Other Roads Investment Strategy (RIS) schemes include committed funding for A52 Nottingham Junction improvements; M1 Smart Motorways between J23a and J25; and A45 Thapston to Stanwick funding to upgrade the link between the M1 and A14. The announced investment for the whole of the Midlands (East and West) is £2.9 billion, £1.4 billion of which is new investment, with 900 construction jobs expected to be created as a result.

  1. Other

5.1Current spending plans would see Whitehall department budgets lowered by £13.6bn in 2015/16 and he said decisions on this scale would be required in the two succeeding years, with further expenditure controls needed after this period.

5.2On health spending, Mr Osborne pledged the NHS would receive £2bn annual extra funding from Whitehall underspends and a further £1.2bn investment would be allocated to boosting GPs services from fines levied on City financiers.

5.3The full text of the Autumn Statement is available here.