A Year of Change: Culture, Place and a Government Yet to Deliver

On 4 July 2024, the Labour Party swept into government with a 165-seat majority and a promise to “get Britain building.” One year later, the rhetoric around housing and infrastructure has stayed loud – 1.5 million homes, planning reform, new towns – but what about the places that make places feel like places? 

Where is the plan for the UK’s creative infrastructure – the studios, galleries, rehearsal spaces, performance venues, co-working hubs and culture-led neighbourhoods that give meaning and memorability to the built environment? 

So far, mostly still on paper. 

One year in: a lot said, little built 

In spring 2025 – just within their first year – the Labour Government launched its Creative Industries Sector Plan. Framed as one of eight national growth missions under the upcoming 10-Year Industrial Strategy, it’s bold in scope and language. The Plan sets out to reposition the UK’s creative industries – worth £125bn to the economy pre-pandemic – as central to national renewal, not peripheral. 

Highlights include: 

• A £150 million Creative Places Growth Fund, to be devolved to six Mayoral Combined Authorities 

• Support for “creative superclusters” and production corridors across the UK (e.g. Thames Estuary, the North West, West of England to South Wales) 

• Reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to better protect and enable cultural spaces in planning – potentially a big deal if implemented 

• Business rate relief extended for film and TV studios until 2034 

• An £85 million Creative Foundations Fund (announced June 2025) to help cultural venues with capital repairs, accessibility and energy efficiency 

• Investment in creative career pathways, screen-tech R&D and skills infrastructure 

The intent is clear: culture is to be treated as vital economic infrastructure, not artistic afterthought. But… there’s a but. 

Delivery: still in development 

Twelve months on from Labour’s landslide, the overwhelming feeling across the sector is one of cautious optimism, tinged with fatigue. With a few exceptions – like the capital repair fund – none of the major pots of funding have launched, and planning reforms are yet to materialise. 

The Sector Plan reads well, but few local authorities have seen the cash. The Creative Places Growth Fund remains a headline without guidance. The promised planning reforms haven’t yet appeared in local plan reviews or NPPF updates. And there’s been no visible progress on protecting long-term affordable workspace – something we know is already under acute pressure in high-growth areas. 

Meanwhile at the Arts Council… 

Technically an ‘arm’s-length body’, Arts Council England (ACE) is the main public funder of arts and culture in England, distributing government and lottery money to hundreds of creative organisations and individuals. In late 2024, DCMS commissioned Labour peer Baroness Margaret Hodge to lead a full independent review of ACE, due to report in autumn 2025. It asks fundamental questions: Is ACE fit for purpose? Does the regional funding model work? How can independence be preserved while delivering government priorities? 

In the meantime, ACE has paused the next round of applications to its regularly-funded National Portfolio, extending current funding to 2028. That provides short-term stability to the current 985 National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) across England, but new entrants (and the places they serve) are locked out. 

All of which means: if culture is going to do the heavy lifting in regeneration or economic renewal, it can’t rely on the usual funding channels – at least not for now. 

Three years to go: a test of pace and partnership 

Labour has – fairly – argued that governing is harder than campaigning. The Creative Sector Plan shows strategic coherence. But its success will depend not just on vision, but speed and clarity. 

There are now three years until the next general election, and Labour’s political momentum is already softening. According to Politico’s Poll of Polls in June 2025, Labour had slipped from 34% on election day to 23%, trailing Reform UK. If delivery doesn’t accelerate soon, this may become yet another good plan stranded by political timing. 

What this means for the built environment 

For those of us working in planning, development, regeneration and placemaking, this moment offers both opportunity and urgency.  

Even if the money hasn’t landed yet, the policy positioning has. Cultural infrastructure is now part of national strategy. That gives weight to arguments many have been making for years: that studios, co-working, rehearsal and performance spaces are not ‘nice to have’ – they’re foundational. 

And while this is national in ambition, delivery will be local. Now is the time to:

• Build relationships with cultural partners – before the design is locked and the value engineered out.  

• Treat cultural space as critical infrastructure, not optional activation. That means securing affordable workspace, enabling long-term leases, and resisting the temptation to “meanwhile-wash” community provision. 

• Align your plans with regional growth ambitions – the Creative Places fund may not be live yet, but it will favour projects that already demonstrate intent and partnership. 

• Use culture as the great connector that it is, anchoring social value and telling the story of neighbourhoods, high streets, towns and the people who live there. 

At LCA, we’re already helping clients navigate this transition – from creative workspace strategies in new towns, to storytelling for culture-led regeneration schemes. We know that getting it right isn’t about waiting for policy to land, it’s about building ahead of it. 

Don’t wait for Westminster 

Labour sees the creative industries as part of the UK’s economic future (hooray!). But it could be a future that they are not in. 

Our sector can get there first, shape what creative investment looks like in place, and show how culture can power development, regeneration and growth. 

Because if the last year has taught us anything, it’s that political momentum is fragile. But places – and the people who shape them – have staying power.