Projects supported by three UK regeneration programs remained unfinished in May 2026, with a Guardian review counting 821 of 1,347 schemes as incomplete and highlighting delays in local infrastructure delivery.
The newspaper examined freedom-of-information data on projects in the Future High Streets Fund, Town Deals and the Levelling Up Fund. It reported that all 73 council areas with at least one approved scheme had no project fully complete in the May snapshot. The Guardian excluded 69 projects that had been canceled or combined with others, and noted that some entries described larger programs with components at different stages.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) describes the Levelling Up Fund as a £4.8 billion UK-wide program for local infrastructure, including transport, town centers, and cultural and heritage sites. In September 2025, MHCLG brought Town Deals, the Levelling Up Fund and the Pathfinder Pilot under the Local Regeneration Fund. Eligible authorities have until the end of March 2028 to spend allocations from Town Deals and the Levelling Up Fund. The Future High Streets Fund was excluded from the change; MHCLG says it concluded in March 2025.
A 2024 report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee said delivery was behind expectations amid project-specific problems, the pandemic and inflation. It found that 60 of 71 first-round Levelling Up Fund projects shifted planned spending into 2024-25, while 19 of 185 projects begun under the Future High Streets Fund had been paused. The committee cautioned that a project marked as underway could still be in preliminary stages, without on-site construction having begun.
Jack Shaw, director of Groundwork Research, told the Guardian that one-time funding commitments had yielded too little change in the communities they targeted. An MHCLG spokesperson told the newspaper that the Local Regeneration Fund was helping earlier programs deliver funds more quickly.
A separate MHCLG assessment compared towns that received Future High Streets Fund support with similar places that did not, and recorded 6.7% higher footfall in the funded towns. The analysis covered projects completed in time for the assessment; MHCLG said it could not yet determine longer-term economic effects.
Separately, the Pride in Place Programme provides up to £5.8 billion over 10 years for 284 communities. MHCLG says accountable bodies must submit monitoring returns by Thursday, Oct. 29.
