Local Metro Fund

Proposal 1

Create a Rail Growth and Housing Accelerator Fund. Provide £250 million to £500 million for targeted rail capacity, station and access improvements that unlock substantial housing. Funding should be conditional on agreed housing delivery and local or developer contributions, creating a rail counterpart to the existing £165 million road-focused Growth and Housing Accelerator Fund

Proposal 2

Fund 10 Local Metro Area pilots. Use modest development funding to prepare Treasury-compliant, ConnectedCity Place-Based Business Cases integrating rail services, housing, utilities and local infrastructure. This would implement the Green Book commitment to appraise housing and transport together rather than as separate projects.

Proposal 3

Establish Station Growth Zones with local tax retention. Permit participating authorities to retain an agreed share of additional council tax and business rates generated within station catchments, using the proceeds to repay infrastructure investment.

Proposal 4

Introduce development-linked, recoverable funding. Release government support in stages against planning consent, private investment, housing starts and completed homes. Where schemes outperform, recycle repayments or revenue shares into further Local Metro Areas.

Proposal 5

Standardise land-value capture. Introduce template Section 106 provisions and station-area infrastructure agreements, reducing negotiation costs and securing transparent contributions from land-value uplift towards rail, affordable housing and active travel. Parliamentary evidence identifies uncertainty, complexity and negotiated reductions as weaknesses in the present system.

Indicative fiscal impact

£250 million over 5 years, substantially offset by developer contributions, tax uplift, recoverable investment, savings and staged, performance-linked payments.