Local government councils throughout Australia are struggling to pay for the increasing demands for services, maintenance and renewal of existing facilities, and new infrastructure investments required to keep their cities productive and attractive places to live, work and play. In order to address this issue, a number of state and local government agencies are investigating the application of value capture methods to help fill the rising funding gaps in their transport infrastructure and urban renewal programs.

Value capture is a public funding method that recoups a portion of the public’s investment in infrastructure and other public domain expenditures, and uses the funds thus collected to help fund the initial investment. Value capture methods are widely used overseas but have not been fully embraced as a funding mechanism in Australia. Joe Langley discussed this concept at an event hosted by the Centre.