Budget 2016: New cash for flood defences and road improvements
George Osborne has unveiled a “low tax enterprise” Budget he believes will protect the UK from a “dangerous cocktail” of global economic risks.
There was little new in the Budget for construction beyond what had already been trailed in the past few days, but there was new cash for flood defences and road improvements in the North - £700m and £230m respectively - as well as progress on a number of devolution deals for East Anglia, the West of England, Edinburgh and Swansea.
In the Budget documents released after Osborne had sat down, there was a series of announcements on housing including bringing forward the delivery of 13,000 affordable homes and a consultation on increasing transparency in the property market.
Osborne confirmed £300m of funding for transport - including funds for HS3 and Crossrail 2 - as announced yesterday.
He scrapped the carbon reduction commitment - a mandatory emissions reduction scheme for large organisations - claiming it was a “tax” that had hit retailers in particular hard.
Osborne also outlined a radical overhaul of England’s education sector, including a £1.5bn plan to convert all state schools into academies by 2022, and a tax on sugary drinks.
Fuel duty was not increased, despite reports in recent days that it could rise for the first time since 2011.
Budget round-up
- Extra £700m announced for flood defences
- £300m for transport projects - including funds for HS3 and Crossrail 2
- More than £230m earmarked for road improvements in the north of England, including upgrades to M62
- The delivery of 13,000 affordable homes two years early by bringing forward £250 million of capital spending to 2017-18 and 2018-19
- Starter Homes Land Fund prospectus inviting local authorities to access £1.2bn of funding to remediate brownfield land for housing
- Consultation on increasing transparency in the property market
- HCA working with Network Rail on releasing land for housing and commercial schemes
- Legislation to make it easier for local authorities to work together to create garden towns
- East Anglia and the West of England (Bristol and Bath) to get combined authorities
- Osborne has opened negotiations with Edinburgh and Swansea over new City Deals
- New Shakespeare North theatre on the site of the first permanent theatre outside of London
- The carbon reduction commitment - a mandatory emissions reduction scheme for large organisations - has been scrapped
- Stamp duty reform for commercial properties
- Small businesses will be exempt from business rates up to £15k in revenue. 600,000 small businesses will pay no rates at all
- Corporation tax to be cut to 17% by 2020
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