The UK Community Renewal Fund will provide £220 million additional funding to help places across the UK prepare for the introduction of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
A new £12bn national infrastructure bank was announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak in a Budget billed as being pro-business but offering little for public services.
Mr Sunak announced a series of measures to help the national economy bounce back, including £1bn for town deals, and the locations of eight freeports.
He also announced a further business rates holiday, for which councils will be compensated.
And there was extra support for towns, with £1bn for 45 new town deals, and the National Infrastructure Fund being asked to produce a report on how infrastructure can best support economic prosperity and quality of life in towns, focusing on transport and digital infrastructure in particular.
The government has announced that the UK’s first ever national infrastructure bank is set to launch this spring, offering loans to councils as well as the private sector.
The bank will eventually support at least £40bn of investment for local infrastructure projects, with £4bn allocated to local authority lending in its initial stage.
Located in Leeds, the bank will invest across the UK in public and private projects to finance what the chancellor termed the “green industrial revolution”.
Beginning this spring, it will have an initial capitalisation of £12bn, of which £4bn will be allocated to council lending. This will enable them to borrow to fund infrastructure projects including roads and other transport facilities, schools and housing.