It’s been a busy few months at MHCLG.

Hot on the heels of the NPPF’s publication last week comes the long-anticipated English Devolution White Paper, all wrapped up in time for Christmas. 

On first look, the White Paper is ambitious in policy and tone. Efficiency. Delivery. Fewer politicians, even.

We’ll discuss this in more detail in our January webinar – Link to register here – but in the meantime, let’s see what’s been left under the Christmas tree… 

What do we know so far?

• Labour wants universal coverage in England of what they call ‘Strategic Authorities’. Many places already have Combined Authorities that serve this role, like the West Midlands or York and North Yorkshire.
  
  
• Top-down government is back in fashion. A ministerial directive will be legislated, which will allow the creation of Strategic Authorities where local leaders have, after due time has been allowed, not been able to make progress. This, combined with plans to support local government reorganisation, will help align public service boundaries with Strategic Authorities and will ultimately lead to fewer politicians and what Labour calls a more ‘efficient’ state.
  
  
• All areas, with or without a Strategic Authority, will have to produce a Spatial Development Strategy, which will be adopted with support from a majority of constituent members. The government has said it will implement a universal system of strategic planning within the next five years. 
  
  
• The most far-reaching and flexible powers will be for Mayoral Strategic Authorities, which will be given a statutory role across housing, skills and transport, including the governing, managing, planning and developing of the rail network. They will also be given new development management powers, similar to those exercised by the Mayor of London. This will include the ability to call in planning applications of ‘strategic importance’. 
  
  
• Mayors will be able to charge developers a Mayoral Levy to ensure that new developments come with the necessary associated infrastructure. A Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy was introduced in Greater London in 2012 to help finance the Elizabeth Line.
  
  
• District councils would be abolished and more elected mayors introduced across England under new plans for a major redesign of local government. The government will expect all two-tier areas and smaller or failing unitaries to develop proposals for reorganisation.
  
  
• New unitary councils must be the right size to achieve efficiencies, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks. For most areas, this will mean creating councils with a population of 500,000 or more.
  
  
• The relationship between town and parish councils and principal Local Authorities will be ‘re-wired’, strengthening expectations on engagement and community voice.

What don’t we know yet? 

• For areas affected, will county and unitary elections scheduled for May 2025 still go ahead as planned? Labour says it will work closely with local leaders to explore what support they might need to develop robust proposals and implement new structures, including taking decisions to postpone local elections to smooth the transition process.
  
  
• With a backdrop of difficult public finances, the level of funding on the cards for unitary or combined authorities is still not secure. Many existing authorities, from Somerset to Birmingham, are in financial jeopardy despite already being unitary.
  
  
• While the intention is for a streamlined government to speed up decision-making and attract investment, authorities may be tempted to use any additional money to fund social care, which currently equates to c70% of total expenditure among county councils. What guardrails can be put in place to ensure new investment goes towards speeding up the delivery of infrastructure-related projects, as intended? 
  
  
• While last week’s changes to the NPPF have come into force immediately, the devolution story is another matter. An English Devolution Bill will be brought forward to Parliament, the precise timings for its passage are as yet unknown. 

And the response?

Fans of district councils will claim the reorganisation will create a democratic deficit, only a few weeks after Angela Rayner revealed her plans for planning committees to have their wings clipped, removing decision-making powers for proposals which satisfy national guidelines and local development plan policies.  

Greater devolution means the balance of power will shift to a more strategic level, and finding support for new development will still be critical for long-term delivery. Broadening political boundaries means the area where support can be generated increases, meaning that finally, developers can look for support for people who may otherwise not have been given the chance to have their say under the narrow geographies of the district council model. 

Overall, Labour’s plans to eliminate two-tier local government is eminently sensible. Done right, it will lead to more effective decision-making and coordination over larger areas of the country, meaning new homes and infrastructure can be built in places where it makes the most sense, rather than where it’s politically safest to do, or increasingly, to not bother at all and let our social fabric decline further.