A view from the north : understanding local authority housing and planning capacity in an era of austerity

Since 2010, successive governments have sought to reduce funding to local government in England as part of a package of austerity measures that have yielded real-term reductions in central allocations of local authority funding of 49% and spending power of 29% between 2010-11 and 2017-18. This report has two aims. The first is to develop an understanding of how net expenditure on housing and planning and development services has changed in the north of England (North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber) compared to the rest of England between 2010-11 and 2018-19. The second is to prompt further discussion of what the implications of these changes might be for housing and planning capacity in the north of England going forward. In doing so, use is made of Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Local Authority Revenue Expenditure and Financing statistics for the financial years 2010-11 (baseline) to 2018-19 and semi-structured interviews with local authority actors and partner organisations.