Metro mayors need a range of powers to make a significant impact, with planning powers often key to shaping urban development, housing, and infrastructure. However, their importance depends on the city's specific context, challenges, and the resources available to the mayor.
Phoebe Gilchrist, Senior Planner, in Carter Jonas’ Leeds office, considers the likely impact of proposed devolution, while Andy Cowan, provides some thoughts from Manchester.
After taking office, the new Government announced a future English Devolution Bill, aiming to transfer powers from Westminster to local authorities in England and reform governance structures. This approach was further detailed in the English Devolution White Paper, published on 16 December 2024, outlining plans to accelerate and standardise the devolution process.
So, what could this mean in planning terms?
Currently, mayors have differing planning powers, with varied and complex devolution deals agreed between central government and combined authorities. For example, the Mayor of London has significant planning powers and uses them to influence housing, transportation, and development, whereas the mayors of (for example) North and West Yorkshire currently have fewer planning powers and instead oversee housing development and promote affordable housing.
Labour’s Devolution Bill aims to enhance regional control by providing a standardised framework for devolution, allowing local leaders greater authority over strategic planning, transport, and employment. The Bill enhances decision-making for mayors by granting them greater autonomy and control over a wide range of local issues, empowering them to make more effective and tailored decisions for their cities or regions.
One of the central aims of Labour’s Devolution Bill is to give mayors more authority over planning and housing decisions. These powers would allow mayors to:
- Address local housing needs: mayors could fast-track housing projects, allocate land for development, and impose conditions on developments, such as affordable housing quotas.
- Develop strategic infrastructure: with greater control over land use, mayors would be better positioned to coordinate housing with transport and infrastructure projects, promoting more integrated and sustainable urban growth.
This would remove barriers that often slow down development projects and make it easier for mayors to address issues such as housing shortages and urban regeneration. This includes metro mayors with enhanced powers being able to move projects forward faster, despite local resistance which often delays the planning process through lengthy public consultations, appeals and legal challenges.
The English Devolution White Paper, authored by Angela Rayner, outlines plans for ‘determined devolution’, proposing a system led by elected mayors and single-tier strategic authorities. This initiative seeks to stimulate economic growth, improve public services, and foster participatory governance.
Under the proposals, all mayoral and combined authorities would be supported to create Spatial Development Strategies (SDS), similar to the London Plan. For other areas falling outside combined authorities, strategic planning powers would be structured by functional economic areas or a grouping of authorities that follow previous working arrangements. This is likely to come through the Devolution Bill but could also come through alternative legislation.
However, concerns have been raised about the top-down nature of these reforms and potential political challenge and there are many examples of devolution stalling local plan development or proving financially challenging. This January, Surrey councillors requested the government write off £1 billion of debt accumulated by Woking Borough Council to facilitate the merger of Surrey’s 12 local authorities (part of Labour’s plan to consolidate smaller councils into larger ‘mega councils’ to streamline services, indicating progress in the devolution agenda).
The revised NPPF, published in December 2024, includes new strategic powers: paragraphs 24-27 suggest that the Government expects the new strategic approach to encourage cross-boundary cooperation and help address the most difficult issues for strategic planning, notably the distribution of housing in areas where planning policy and other factors, including local politics, have constrained growth.
While enhanced planning powers under Labour’s Devolution Bill could provide mayors with greater control over local development, several potential barriers and challenges may arise, including:
- Strong opposition from local residents: many local communities resist large-scale development due to concerns over environmental impact, strain on local services, or changes to the character of their neighbourhoods. The tension between regional planning needs and local opposition could lead to conflicts, making implementation difficult.
- Capacity issues: the complexity of planning and infrastructure projects requires skilled professionals. Smaller, less-resourced authorities may struggle to implement large-scale development projects due to a lack of skills or capacity.
- Financial limitations: planning powers may be insufficient if mayors do not have the funding needed for essential infrastructure, affordable housing, or land acquisitions. If financial autonomy is not also increased, limited finance could be a significant barrier to the Devolution Bill.
- Central government control: despite the Devolution Bill, the central government may still retain control over key areas, such as national infrastructure projects or certain regulatory frameworks.
Clearly Labour’s Devolution Bill, alongside the White Paper, proposes a more expansive and streamlined approach to local governance, potentially providing regional leaders with greater autonomy and a broader toolkit to address local issues. However, should this Bill be implemented, barriers such as the correct skillset, financial limitations and interference from central governance need to be overcome.
The Devolution Bill could provide the planning system with a more efficient strategy in which mayors can, for example, fast-track housing schemes where there is a significant need, and coordinate infrastructure projects. This contrasts with the more defined but somewhat limited scope of powers currently held by the mayors of North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. If implemented, the Bill could lead to a significant transformation in how regional governance is conducted in England, promoting more localised decision-making and potentially leading to more tailored and effective solutions for local communities.
