The Devo update two: How devolution will shape planning reforms

Aisling Byrne is Senior Public Affairs Officer at the Royal Town Planning Institute

News surrounding the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (EDCEB) has been quiet as it moves through the legislative process. Perhaps it is a lack of opposition, or perhaps process of shifting power from central government to local leaders and mayors across England is too complex for a headline.

Whichever it is, there are key areas of importance within the Bill that planners need to tune into as it enters Report Stage in the House of Lords on 24 March 2026.

How will the new strategic tier impact planning?

Provisions within the Bill are designed to compliment those we’ve already seen come through the Planning and Infrastructure Act (PIA) and the new plan-making system in the proposed National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

The EDCEB introduces the new devolution architecture for England, centred around the creation of new ‘strategic authorities’. The Bill aims to contribute towards the Government’s goal of universal coverage of devolution in England.

This new tier will be key as we return to an era of strategic planning, as reintroduced by the PIA, which holds the provisions that require strategic planning authorities to prepare a spatial development strategy (SDS). SDSs also now feature in the new plan-making framework as proposed by the Government in the most recent NPPF consultation.

Powers and duties

Part 2 of the EDCEB outlines the powers and duties which existing and future strategic authorities will have, as well as the new process by which new powers and duties can be conferred on strategic authorities by Government in the future.

Many of these powers are akin to those already exercised by the Mayor of London and aim to empower mayors of strategic authorities to drive growth, collaboration and improvements in place.

These new duties and powers for mayors of strategic authorities include:

The ability for mayors to charge mayoral community infrastructure levy (MCIL) to other strategic authority mayors.
A duty on local planning authorities to consult the mayor on applications of potential strategic importance – which the mayor can then intervene on by either directing a refusal of the application or taking over and determining the application themselves.
The power to make a mayoral development order, where the mayor can grant upfront planning permission for a strategic development in their area (similar to the power available to local planning authorities to make local development orders).
A new health duty on all strategic authorities which are combined authorities or county combined authorities, requiring them to ‘have regard’ to the need to improve the health of the people living in their areas and reduce health inequalities between the people living in their areas.
The Bill will require all mayoral strategic authorities, except the Greater London Authority, to produce a local growth plan. This would be a locally led, long-term plan for the purposes of supporting local economic growth. In London, the existing duty to produce an Economic Development Strategy for London will play a similar role.

Ensuring the successful implementation of the Bill for all

As part of our work around the Bill, the RTPI have been advocating for two key areas where the Bill can be strengthened through the addition of new clauses.

Statutory chief planners: Throughout the PIA and EDCEB, Peers from across the house have voiced their support for the chief planner role to be placed on a statutory footing. The existing need to see clear and effective leadership in the planning system will be magnified by the impending programme of devolution and local government reform. We are therefore advocating for the tabled Chief Planner amendment to be included within the Bill.

Duty to consider the needs of rural communities: The Bill draws provisions from the Greater London Act, and whilst it is the right approach to use this as a baseline, the Bill needs to go further in ensuring that measures aren’t urban-centric and consider the different contexts across strategic areas, including those with significant rural populations. We have been working with Peers to table the linked amendment, which ensures that when carrying out their functions, strategic authorities will have regard to the needs of rural communities.

The Government has also tabled several amendments to the Bill addressing points raised by Peers and RTPI briefings during the Committee stage debates. These amendments include raising the number of commissioners able to be appointed by a strategic authority mayor to 10, and changes to ensure a commissioner’s work can relate to one or more aspects of an area of competence, rather than having to relate to every aspect of an area of competence. The Minister has stated that these amendments are intended to support the appointment of commissioners dedicated to crosscutting issues, such as rural matters.