Funding for new and innovative work on NSIPs work by local authorities
The Innovation and Capacity Fund is a key element of the NSIP Reform Programme, providing additional capacity to local authorities to find new and more innovative ways to engage in the NSIP process.
Government announced the first round of the Local Authority Innovation and Capacity Fund in August 2022 with the aim of supporting faster, better and greener delivery of major infrastructure projects. Ten local authority projects each received between £60,000 and £90,000 to explore a range of ways to improve the NSIP process and how they engaged with it as well as with local communities.
Based on feedback and presentations from each of the projects, PAS prepared a short report looking at the outcomes from this work, how funding supported local authorities to engage in the NSIP process and what lessons have been learned.
A second round of Innovation and Capacity Funding was launched in summer 2023 with the successful projects confirmed in November as part of the Getting Britain Building Again prospectus. A total of £2.7m has been awarded to 22 projects across 37 different local authorities. These projects build on the round one experience, trialling a range of new initiatives and approaches.
The NSIP Local Authority Network led by PAS helps to ensure that insights or lessons from each project are shared and used to help shape the work of other local authorities. To find out more about the progress of Round 2 projects and wider NSIP issues, join the NSIP network by emailing [email protected]