STATEMENT: “We should be tackling both poverty and sustainability through joined-up investment”

Responding to today’s Autumn Statement, Groundwork Chief Executive Graham Duxbury said:

“We are glad to see the government maintain its commitment to the Levelling Up Fund and look forward to seeing the round two allocations when they are published later in the year. The communities that have been hit hardest by multiple crises over recent years – the climate crisis, Covid-19 pandemic and now the soaring cost-of-living – need and deserve investment to create greener, healthier, happier and more equal neighbourhoods.

“Of course this more sustainable future won’t be delivered through individual competitive funds and we share the widespread concern that restricting public expenditure beyond the NHS and education will constrain our ability to regenerate communities, tackle the wider determinants of health and deliver our net zero and nature recovery goals.

We welcome the focus on energy efficiency but there are many more areas where we should be tackling both poverty and sustainability through joined-up investment programmes.

“For example, our analysis of the first round of the Levelling Up Fund found that the government was missing an opportunity to drive local regeneration through green infrastructure. Local nature benefits health and wellbeing, increases climate resilience and community spirit, and boost local economies. Despite this, less than one-twentieth of the funding went to green infrastructure projects and three quarters went to areas where the average distance to green space is the shortest, suggesting it is not reaching the areas that need it the most.  We urge the government to redress this imbalance in the next round.

For further enquiries, please contact media@groundwork.org.uk