The Chancellor’s Budget and The Mayor’s London Plan
The Budget announcement included the confirmation of the new UK Infrastructure Bank to be based in Leeds and supported by an initial £12bn of capital investment, the new Help to Grow scheme and the new super-deduction.
What we know about the Infrastructure Bank is that it will provide financing support across the UK, offering a range of financing tools including debt, hybrid products, equity and guarantees to support private infrastructure projects. It will begin operating in spring 2021. The Help to Grow scheme will offer up to 130,000 companies across the UK a digital and management boost and will rely on access to digital infrastructure, and a new 130% first-year capital allowance for qualifying plant and machinery assets (super-deduction) with a 50% first-year allowance for qualifying special rate assets. This is expected to cut companies’ tax bill by 25p for every £1 they invest in new equipment.
The full list of Budget 2021 documents can be found here.
Also this week Sadiq Khan unveiled The London Plan 2021 which is the Spatial Development Strategy for Greater London. It sets out a framework for how London will develop over the next 20-25 years and the Mayor’s vision for Good Growth. The Plan is part of the statutory development plan which means that the policies should inform decisions on planning applications across the capital. It is recognised that there is a significant need to invest in enabling infrastructure which includes digital connectivity and is estimated that £8 billion will be required to provide the digital connectivity infrastructure London needs.
