The Conservatives are committed to the agenda and Labour, if elected, are unlikely to want to let down the Red Wall voters who have paved their way back to government.
At its heart, levelling up is about rejuvenating town and city centres, with people tired of seeing boarded-up shops and soulless empty properties where they would rather see thriving hubs that make them proud of where they live.
Andy Haldane, the outgoing head of the government’s Levelling Up Taskforce, told the Financial Times in March, before relinquishing his six-month role, that the cost-of-living crisis had in recent weeks escalated the need for levelling up even more. “The cost of everything – including borrowing, energy, goods, services, people – has gone up,” he noted. “It’s going to make the levelling-up goals harder to achieve and even more important to achieve.”
With the build-to-rent (BTR) sector growing rapidly across Britain – the latest BPF statistics show there are now 212,177 BTR homes in the UK, of which 70,785 are complete, 42,119 are under construction and 99,273 are in planning – I believe the sector has a crucial role to play in levelling up.
This is because at its best, BTR can create vibrant neighbourhoods that represent the very best in mixed-use development.
