What developers and land promoters need to know about the current round of planning reform.
Two new Bills are reshaping how land gets planned, governed and brought forward for development in England. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill and the Planning and Infrastructure Bill form the backbone of this change, and for those promoting or delivering sites, they demand close attention.
We’re going to be keeping a close eye on this as these bills work their way through Parliament and will be aiming to keep up updated on what you need to know.
Here’s the current low-down…
The End of Two-Tier Local Government
A cornerstone of the Devolution Bill is the move to unitary local government structures. This means replacing the traditional two-tier system, where responsibilities are split between district and county councils, with Unitary Authorities. This is a model that has been recently introduced in places like Somerset and North Yorkshire, the rest of the country is now set to follow suit.
Critically, the Bill gives the Secretary of State powers to direct local authorities to merge or reorganise. This means that change is coming, whether the district councils want it or not.
Alongside this, the legislation introduces a new legal entity: the Strategic Authority. These authorities will:
- Hold devolved powers over housing, infrastructure, planning, and economic development
- Cover larger geographies and align with metro mayor or combined authority boundaries
- Become key players in the development process, especially for large-scale sites or cross-boundary infrastructure
For developers, this means dealing with fewer, more powerful authorities and, once new plans are in place, will mean more certainty about what types of development can be supported in each location.
Over the coming months we’re going to be mapping where Strategic Authorities are likely to emerge so that you can start to understand their political priorities and appreciate this new landscape may affect your development aspirations.
Strategic Planning Gets Teeth: SDSs Are Coming
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill introduces a new requirement for the creation of Spatial Development Strategies (SDSs). These aren’t just big local plans, they’re strategic, high-level plans that will guide growth and infrastructure across wider geographies.
Key features:
- Mandatory SDSs: Strategic Authorities (created under the Devolution Bill) will be required to prepare them
- Housing targets, infrastructure needs, and environmental priorities will be built into these strategies
- Local Plans must conform to SDSs and will provide the housing (and other) allocations to deliver these plans
- Government can intervene where SDSs aren’t delivered on time or meet expectations
This is a big shift as up until now Strategic Planning only exists in London. Now, authorities will be expected to collaborate across boundaries or risk losing control of their plan-making altogether. Out is the ‘duty to cooperate’, now it’s a full blown requirement.
For land promoters, SDSs are a new battleground. They will define where growth goes and where it doesn’t. Get in early, shape the strategy, and your sites stand a much better chance.
Committee Reform: Less Uncertainty
The Planning Infrastructure Bill introduces sweeping changes to the way the planning committees operate. Shifting from a piecemeal approach, where councils get to decide what kind of development gets input from a planning committee, to a system where committee decisions are limited to specific kinds of application, and this is consistently applied throughout the country.
This change should lead to lower rates of committee overturn (i.e. where a planning officer recommends approval only for the committee to decide otherwise), and should also lead to more consistent and predictable decision making throughout the country.
Nature Restoration Fund: A New Route to Environmental Delivery
The Bill also, controversially, introduces the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF): a central pot developers can pay into to meet certain environmental obligations. Supporters of this part of the legislation suggest that it will offer an alternative to on-site mitigation, particularly for nationally protected sites and species. Payments made to the fund are supposed to deliver Environmental Delivery Plans led by Natural England. Objectors to this provision, who are numerous and vocal, see it as paying for a licence to cause environmental harm. Expect to see this part of the Bill evolve over the coming months.
Compulsory Purchase Reform: No Hope!
CPO processes are being modernised, there’s reform to “hope value” compensation. Public authorities will in some cases be able to disregard development potential when valuing land, especially for regeneration or biodiversity projects. This change could make strategic acquisitions cheaper and faster but it will likely be contested. Watch this space to see how this develops.
Development Corporations: Now in Local Hands
The Bill expands powers for locally-led development corporations, letting combined authorities and councils establish them outside the New Towns framework. These bodies could Spearhead regeneration or strategic site delivery or even act as master developers, landowners, or planning authorities. Where established, these corporations could become gatekeepers for major opportunities.
Other Notable Changes
Here’s a quick scan of other provisions that may be relevant, depending on your portfolio:
- Community Right to Buy: Extends moratoriums for Assets of Community Value to 12 months, and expands what can be listed
- Ban on Upwards Only Rent Reviews (UORRs): Applies to new commercial leases and renewals
- Neighbourhood Governance: Every authority must set up structures to support hyper-local decision-making
Local Audit Reform: A new Local Audit Office will oversee standards and delivery across councils
What You Should Do Next
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1. Get Strategic About Strategic Authorities
Follow where new unitary and Strategic Authorities are emerging. Build relationships with leaders and planners now. -
2. Track and Influence SDS Development
Identify who’s leading on SDSs in your target markets and engage in early consultation. This is your opportunity to shape housing distribution and infrastructure policy. -
3. Rethink Environmental Mitigation
Understand when the NRF applies, and whether it could unlock delivery on constrained sites. -
4. Factor in New CPO and Development Corporation Powers
Especially if you’re looking at regeneration areas or working with combined authorities.
These Bills don’t just tinker at the edges, they signal a fundamental reorganisation of how planning and development happens in England. Combine this with the forthcoming release of National Decision Making Polices, which will set development expectations across the country, this is a massive change to how plan making, and development assessment, is undertaken in England.
We’ll be here with you to help you make sense of what’s going on.
