The PM has announced changes to investment rules to make funding decision fairer for projects across the country.
Andy Burnham has set out plans to deliver a package of Green Book reforms at next week's budget.
The government’s ‘Green Book’ is the official framework used to assess business cases for spending projects across the UK.
At the moment, projects which tackle different issues for example a housing scheme or transport proposal, are considered independently of each other. This means that the wider potential available from projects in a certain area is often missed or undervalued. Considering projects together could give a fuller picture of their potential.
Updated guidance will help places, including local and strategic authorities, to build investment plans around a more detailed picture of their local economy, pinpointing the barriers to growth and coordinating investment around those challenges.
The updated framework will help generate new place-based business cases which will put local priorities at the heart of investment decisions, looking at a place’s potential for growth and what is needed to unlock it and making sure places previously overlooked for investment are properly considered.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: "Communities have been let down for years by outdated rules that haven’t properly looked at what’s needed to unlock their potential.
"That’s why we’re changing the system so that local priorities are put at the heart of decision making.
"This is what No10 North is all about. Rebalancing power away from Westminster. Backing local leaders. And making sure government is set up to deliver what communities actually need to feel the difference."
Chancellor John Healey MP said: "This government wants to back places with the ambition and ideas to grow and make sure good opportunities for investment aren’t overlooked simply because the system doesn’t see the bigger picture. This change gives regional leaders a stronger voice in where investment can make the biggest difference in their communities.
"And at next week’s Budget I will set out plans to transfer more power and resources out of Westminster and into postcodes across the country."
