Devolution

UNITARY AUTHORITIES

Labour’s logic is that larger unitary authorities will help generate savings - £2.9 billion over 5 years according to PwC figures. However, they will also water down the influence of residents’ groups in councils as part of Angela Rayner’s war on ‘NIMBYs and blockers’. Mayors will have similar powers to those Sir Sadiq Khan has in London, including the ability to overrule decisions on major applications, reducing the influence of local opposition. These changes will be felt most acutely in the Tory Shires. The Government is saying do it voluntarily, before we do it to you. 

• Reorganisation will bring a more centralised and efficient system for securing planning consent.  

• S106 and CIL contributions will be spread across larger areas which may worry residents they won’t see the benefits of development.  

• Larger geographies threaten to make it harder to create pro-development coalitions behind proposals. 

• The process for merging planning departments will take some time, potentially causing delays. Where it has happened the new super authorities have gone for regional planning committees matching the old structure. They are compelled to use the existing adopted plans until they write their own. So the impact from a planning point of view takes time to come through.

Mayors in Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region and the North East will be the first to receive the new integrated funding settlements, covering housing, regeneration, local growth, transport, skills, retrofit and employment support. The Government has a strong preference to see Mayors in place across the whole of England – making it the default status for regions across England.

The Government wants elected Mayors so they can take strategic decisions and ultimately take the credit or blame for successes or failures in local transport, housing, health, transport etc. This also means providing multi-year financial settlements.

Existing MCA/MCCAs

• • • North East 

    • Tees Valley

    • York & North Yorkshire

    • West Yorkshire

    • South Yorkshire

    • Greater Manchester

    • East Midlands

    • Liverpool City Region

    • West Midlands

    • Cambridge & Peterborough

    • Greater London

    • West of England

MCA/MCCAs in the process of being established  (confirmed since election)

• • • Greater Lincolnshire

    • Hull & East Yorkshire

Non-mayoral institutions in the process of being established  (confirmed since election)

• Lancashire

• Devon & Torbay

Single Local Authority non-mayoral agreements in the process of being established (confirmed since election)

• Cornwall

• Surrey

• Buckinghamshire

• Warwickshire