NHC submits response to consultation on mayoral planning powers
Mayors will receive important new planning powers from “early 2027”
Last week, the NHC submitted a response to the Government’s consultation on new planning powers for Mayoral Strategic Authorities.
The consultation proposes a range of new powers for mayors, including the ability to intervene in strategically important planning applications, introduce Mayoral Development Orders and establish a Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy (MCIL). In its response, the NHC supports the broad direction of the proposals while highlighting a number of issues that will need to be addressed if the powers are to deliver their intended benefits.
A key theme of the response is the need for flexibility. Housing and land markets vary significantly across the North, meaning that a single national set of thresholds may not always identify developments that are genuinely strategic within local areas. We therefore made the case that mayors should have the ability to tailor thresholds to reflect local circumstances.
Our response also makes the case for regeneration to be recognised as a distinct category of strategic importance. Across many northern communities, the most significant development opportunities are not large greenfield sites but estate renewal, town centre regeneration and the remediation and redevelopment of brownfield land. Mayors should have clearer powers to support these schemes and unlock delivery.
Our response further highlights the importance of recognising the different governance arrangements that exist outside London. In mayoral authorities outside of the capital, mayors work alongside constituent council leaders through combined authority structures, and constructive relationships between those partners are essential to delivering housing, regeneration, transport and skills ambitions. New powers should support these relationships and be implemented in a way that protects collaborative working across mayoral areas.
Alongside this, there are concerns about capacity and resourcing. Feedback from strategic authorities suggests that many areas will require additional specialist planning, development and viability expertise if they are to make effective use of the new powers. We therefore called for additional capacity funding to support implementation at the Autumn Budget in 28th October.
The response also highlights the potential impact on local planning authority finances, particularly where Mayoral Development Orders could remove planning functions and associated fee income from councils. The government has not yet clarified how it intends to address this issue.
On infrastructure funding, the we support giving mayors greater flexibility over how any future MCIL is designed and used. It is critical that any levy reflects local market conditions and does not undermine development viability in areas where viability is already challenging. Furthermore, we also called on Government to consider allowing MCIL receipts to support affordable housing delivery, which they currently cannot.
The Consortium will continue working with members and Government as the proposals are developed further.
Our full response can be found here.
