Solid Foundations: Local investment need for a decade of renewal

The urgency of the task is underscored by the twin In this context, this report brings together localised climate and nature emergencies we are facing, as estimates of the size of the capital investment some of our infrastructure was built with the 19th- requirement for England across four critical areas and 20th- rather than 21st-century challenges in that provide the foundation of a good life an. [...] However, the estimates need to be seen in the context of the crisis of local government Finally, we do not consider public investment in the finances and severe gaps in local government tradeable economy that could be part of a place- revenue funding.27 The hollowing out of local based industrial strategy. [...] 5 SOLID FOUNDATIONS LOCAL INVESTMENT NEED FOR A DECADE OF RENEWAL The estimates provided in this report are large, The rest of the report is structured as follows: reflecting the dire state of the foundational provision in England after decades of neglect • Chapter 2 briefly outlines some of the main and the severity of regional disparities, as well problems with the UK’s overly centralised and as. [...] The share of UK tax returns with social value and tends to prioritise the revenue collected outside the central government is former over the latter.53 A focus on land value in below 10% and the second lowest in the OECD.66 appraisal has also been cited as a reason for under- England has no local income or sales taxes, and the invested parts of the north of England, where land structure of existin. [...] Our modelling suggests that the investment need investment need is highly concentrated in larger in transport and housing are far larger than the cities, reflecting their larger share of the existing investment need in the other two sectors (even ridership of rail and buses and our proposal for ten when the higher investment levels of the initial new light rail networks in urban areas.