Total Capital - HCA Pilot Initiative

This paper sets out:

  • an initial project to develop the concept and evidence base for a Total Capital approach to investment in places through a study in five case study places

  • proposes the structure and scope of the concept

  • suggests how Total Capital can be developed alongside other policy and delivery developments.

The idea of Total Capital is that public investment could benefit from a similar holistic local perspective to that of Total Place (whereby government agencies should consider the cumulative impact of all spending on a particular place, in practice usually defined as a local authority area). Major infrastructure investments should be aligned in design, timescale and location so as to maximise the overall benefit to the local place.

The aims of this project are to:

  • Establish the potential for developing a Total Capital approach to investing in places

  • Examine the benefits of effective alignment of sources of investment;

  • Show how synergies to deliver good outcomes can be achieved in different local contexts

  • Demonstrate how the approach will support local places to realise their ambitions

  • Look at how it could work in areas with different needs and different local governance arrangements

  • Suggest changes that would make the approach effective

  • Explore the potential to further test the Total Capital approach through a number of pilots, which could draw on the wider roll out of the Single Conversation and the Local Authority Agreements refresh exercise during 2010/11

The following areas have been proposed as the case studies for the project:

  • Swindon

  • Birmingham (Total Place pilot)

  • Leicestershire

  • Greater Manchester City Region

  • Durham (Total Place pilot)

The project will also draw on the emerging evidence of the alignment of capital investment though the Single Conversation from other areas

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is aiming to provide an update on progress with the case studies at Christmas 2009, with a full initial report by mid February 2010

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