BLOGS

The most significant restructuring of planning governance in England since the abolition of regional spatial strategies in 2010 is now underway. Following Royal Assent of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, elected metro mayors across England will gain strategic planning powers comparable to those held by the Mayor of London since 2000.

For investors, developers and lenders tracking the UK residential market, this represents a fundamental shift in how large-scale projects will be approved, funded and delivered outside the capital.

What the new powers include

The Act creates a three-tier hierarchy of "strategic authorities" with escalating planning competencies:

• Foundation Strategic Authorities: Non-mayoral bodies with limited devolved powers

• Mayoral Strategic Authorities: Access to Spatial Development Strategies, Mayoral Development Orders and call-in powers

• Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities: The broadest suite of powers, including rights to request additional devolution and Integrated Settlements for flexible budget allocation

For mayors, the practical toolkit includes the power to direct refusal of planning applications deemed strategically important, the ability to call in major schemes for mayoral determination, and Mayoral Development Orders that can grant planning permission for specific developments without a traditional application process. A new Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy will also allow mayors to capture value from strategic sites to fund regional infrastructure.

Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Liverpool City Region will transition to Established Mayoral status, while newer authorities in areas like Cumbria, Hampshire and the Solent, and Greater Essex will build capacity through the Mayoral tier.

The housing delivery gap: regional cities versus London

REalyse planning data highlights a persistent gap between London and regional city-regions on major residential schemes. Across the eight English regions with current or forthcoming mayoral governance, London dominates both pipeline scale and approval efficiency for developments of 50 or more units.

Greater London leads with over 685,000 residential units in its major-scheme pipeline, an average scheme size of nearly 390 units, and an approval rate of 96%. Greater Manchester and the West Midlands follow with 339,000 and 337,000 units respectively, though average scheme sizes are notably smaller—around 220 to 250 units compared to London's near-400 average.

Further down the table, South Yorkshire (172,000 units), West Yorkshire (143,000 units) and the North East (126,000 units) show solid pipelines but smaller typical developments. Liverpool City Region and Tees Valley sit at 99,000 and 54,000 units respectively, with Tees Valley recording the lowest approval rate at 84.5%—more than 11 percentage points behind London.

These disparities suggest that London's two decades of strategic planning experience may correlate with larger, more complex schemes gaining approval. The new powers offer regional mayors an opportunity to close this gap.

Green belt and cross-boundary decisions

One of the most contentious aspects of the reforms relates to green belt land. Mayors will gain the ability to coordinate strategic decisions across local authority boundaries—a friction point that has historically delayed major housing schemes where housing need calculations vary significantly between neighbouring councils.

For areas like Greater Manchester, where green belt release has been politically charged, the new framework places decision-making with a single strategic voice rather than fragmented local committees. This may smooth the path for urban extensions and strategic sites that straddle multiple boroughs, though it will inevitably test relationships between mayors and constituent local authorities.

Critics, including the District Councils' Network, have warned that the reforms risk creating "remote bodies" disconnected from local communities, with concerns that some powers are being shuffled from local government rather than genuinely devolved from Westminster. The success of strategic planning interventions may ultimately depend as much on political capital as technical planning capacity.

Implementation challenges ahead

Despite the promising policy framework, several hurdles will determine whether the reforms accelerate housing delivery.

Resourcing disparities: London's strategic planning function is supported by a substantial team at the Greater London Authority. Replicating this capacity across multiple combined authorities will require significant investment. Planning departments outside London have faced years of budget constraints, and adding strategic oversight responsibilities without commensurate funding risks creating new bottlenecks.

Infrastructure levy mechanics: The Community Infrastructure Levy is currently administered at local authority level. If mayors gain planning authority for strategic sites, the distribution of CIL receipts becomes considerably more complicated. Poorly designed funding frameworks could create friction that delays the very schemes the powers are meant to accelerate.

Political complexity: Unlike London, where the mayoral planning role has evolved over two decades, regional mayors inherit these powers into existing—and sometimes contested—political relationships with constituent councils.

What this means for market participants

The next 18 to 24 months will be decisive. As implementation frameworks emerge and the first Spatial Development Strategies are published, the market will gain clarity on how these powers translate into practical planning outcomes.

REalyse data suggests the prize is worth pursuing: regional cities with streamlined planning could close the efficiency gap with London's benchmark and unlock substantial housing delivery. For developers, lenders and investors, the areas that adapt quickest to the new framework will likely see capital flow toward their pipelines. Those that struggle with transition may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

Key dates to watch include the May 2026 mayoral elections in priority devolution areas and the subsequent publication of regional Spatial Development Strategies. These documents will provide the clearest signal of regional development priorities—and the schemes most likely to benefit from mayoral backing.