The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government recently consulted on plans to significantly expand mayoral planning powers across England.
If implemented, the reforms would give mayors in England's 13 strategic authorities a much greater role in deciding where development takes place, how major planning applications are determined and how infrastructure is funded. For developers, landowners and investors, this could influence where growth is prioritised, how planning risk is assessed and which sites become more attractive for investment.
The consultation forms part of the government's wider devolution agenda and closed on 5 October 2026. The government intends to introduce the necessary legislation by the end of 2026, with the new powers expected to come into force in early 2027.
This article explores the new powers expected to come into force for strategic authorities as part of the devolution process.
The government’s proposals apply to mayors in Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, the West Midlands and the West of England.
It focuses on four key changes:
Applications of Potential Strategic Importance: allowing mayors to intervene in strategically significant planning applications and potentially determine applications themselves.
Spatial Development Strategies: requiring strategic authorities to prepare long-term plans identifying growth priorities, infrastructure needs and development opportunities.
Mayoral Development Orders: enabling mayors to grant planning permission in advance for certain strategic sites, with the aim of reducing planning risk and speeding up delivery.
Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy: enabling mayors to raise funding for strategic infrastructure needed to support growth.
Taken together, these proposals would move certain planning decisions to the strategic authority level.
For developers, promoters and investors, this means that understanding mayoral priorities may become increasingly important when assessing development opportunities. Sites that align with a mayor's growth strategy could benefit from greater policy support, enhanced infrastructure investment and, in some cases, a quicker route through the planning system.
For local authorities, the reforms represent a shift towards greater coordination across wider economic areas, particularly in relation to housing delivery, infrastructure planning and economic growth.
One of the consultation's most significant proposals was a national framework for Applications of Potential Strategic Importance, extending powers currently exercised by the Mayor of London to mayors across England's strategic authorities.
Applications of Potential Strategic Importance are developments that, by reason of their scale, nature or location, are considered sufficiently significant to warrant strategic oversight beyond the local planning authority. Initially, the regime would apply to larger developments that are more likely to affect more than one local authority area, including:
Residential developments of more than 150 dwellings,
Developments comprising more than 15,000 square metres of non-residential floorspace,
Buildings exceeding 30 metres in height; and
Developments involving an increase in height of 15 metres or more where the resulting building exceeds 30 metres.
Applications meeting these thresholds would need to be referred to the relevant mayor during the planning process. The mayor could choose not to be involved, refuse the application, or call in the application for their own determination. Applicants could also request mayoral intervention where an application has not been determined within the statutory timeframe.
Ministers are considering allowing mayors to introduce additional locally defined categories reflecting strategic priorities within their area.
The consultation also raised the possibility of extending powers to allow intervention where a local authority is minded to refuse applications for 50 or more homes. If adopted, this would extend mayoral oversight beyond major strategic schemes and into a much larger proportion of residential development proposals.
Some industry participants have questioned whether lower intervention thresholds could significantly increase the number of residential schemes subject to strategic oversight, although supporters argue that greater mayoral involvement will assist in overcoming barriers to housing delivery.
The proposed Applications of Potential Strategic Importance are closely linked to another key reform: Spatial Development Strategies. These strategic plans are prepared by a mayoral authority and set out priorities for housing, infrastructure, regeneration and economic growth across the wider region.
Major planning applications may increasingly be assessed through both a local and strategic lens.
The proposals indicate that regional planning priorities could play a much greater role in development decisions in future. Developers may therefore need to engage with strategic authority objectives much earlier when promoting sites, assessing opportunities and preparing planning applications.
The most successful schemes will be those that align not only with local planning policy but also with the wider growth, housing and infrastructure priorities identified by the relevant mayor. As Spatial Development Strategies become embedded in the planning system, understanding those priorities will become an increasingly important part of site selection, promotion and investment decision-making.
Alongside the proposed Applications of Potential Strategic Importance, the consultation sought views on the introduction of Mayoral Development Orders. These are based on the concept of Local Development Orders, already familiar to the planning system.
A Mayoral Development Order would allow a mayor to grant planning permission in advance for development on a specified site or group of sites. Rather than requiring developers to submit a traditional planning application, a Mayoral Development Order would establish the principle and parameters of development upfront, creating a framework within which development could proceed.
The proposed regime is modelled on the existing Local Development Order framework. Before adopting a Mayoral Development Order, a mayor would be required to prepare a draft order, publish supporting information and consult local authorities, statutory consultees and local communities. The consultation proposed a minimum 30-day consultation period before an order could be adopted.
For some developers, this could provide earlier clarity regarding the type and scale of development likely to be supported on a site. However, consultation and stakeholder engagement would still be required, meaning Mayoral Development Orders are unlikely to remove debate around development proposals altogether. Instead, those discussions may occur earlier in the planning process.
Once adopted, a Mayoral Development Order could grant planning permission either unconditionally or subject to specified conditions and approval requirements. Development would still need to comply with the parameters established by the order, but a separate planning permission would not be required for development falling within its scope.
The consultation envisages Mayoral Development Orders primarily being used to facilitate major housing, regeneration and economic development projects.
For landowners and promoters, inclusion within a Mayoral Development Order could increase confidence in a site's deliverability by establishing key planning parameters at an earlier stage. Developers and investors may also benefit from greater visibility over the likely planning framework when assessing acquisition, viability and delivery strategies.
The government does not intend Mayoral Development Orders to be available in all circumstances. The consultation proposed excluding certain environmentally sensitive forms of development, including certain categories of development requiring mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment development and minerals development, from the regime.
The principal attraction of the regime is the potential to bring forward strategic sites with a clearer and more predictable planning pathway.
If used effectively, Mayoral Development Orders could provide developers with greater certainty and increased confidence when assessing site acquisition, project viability and investment decisions. They could also help mayors direct growth towards sites that support wider housing, regeneration and infrastructure objectives.
The consultation also proposed extending the Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy beyond London. For developers, landowners and investors, this could mean an additional infrastructure charge in some mayoral areas, but also greater investment in the infrastructure needed to support future growth.
Community Infrastructure Levy charges already help fund infrastructure needed to support development and growth. Currently, the Mayor of London is the only mayor able to impose an additional strategic levy, with receipts helping to fund major projects such as the Elizabeth Line.
Under the proposals, mayors outside London would be able to introduce a levy where they have adopted a Spatial Development Strategy. The proposals suggest retaining the existing London model where local planning authorities would collect the levy on behalf of the mayor.
Mayors and local authorities would also be required to take each other's levy rates into account when setting charges, helping to ensure development viability is properly considered.
Unlike the current London regime, which has principally funded strategic transport infrastructure, the government is considering a broader role for Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levies outside London.
The consultation sought views on whether levy receipts should be capable of funding a wider range of strategic infrastructure, including:
transport infrastructure,
utilities and services infrastructure,
energy infrastructure; and
other projects necessary to support growth across a mayoral area.
The current position is that Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levies should primarily fund infrastructure delivering benefits across more than one local authority area, rather than infrastructure serving purely local needs.
The most immediate implication is that development in some mayoral areas could become subject to an additional strategic levy alongside existing Community Infrastructure Levy charges, section 106 obligations and other development costs.
While the government intends development viability to remain central to the rate-setting process, a Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy has the potential to increase the overall infrastructure funding burden associated with development. This may affect land value assumptions, scheme viability and investment returns, particularly on large-scale developments.
Developers acquiring land in areas expected to introduce Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levies will need to take potential levy liabilities into account at an earlier stage when assessing project viability and acquisition strategies.
The impact is not exclusively a question of cost. Where levy receipts are used effectively, improved transport, utilities and energy infrastructure could make sites more attractive, support delivery and increase confidence in long-term investment decisions.
The key question will be whether the benefits of additional infrastructure investment outweigh any additional financial burden placed on development. This is likely to vary between mayoral areas and depend on how individual authorities choose to implement the regime.
Mayors are set to play a much greater role in planning decisions. In the 13 strategic authorities, mayors could gain powers to influence where development takes place, determine major planning applications and raise funding for strategic infrastructure.
Spatial Development Strategies will become increasingly important. These strategies are expected to underpin many of the new powers and could play a significant role in identifying future growth areas, infrastructure priorities and investment opportunities.
Major developments may face greater strategic oversight. Applications meeting the Potential Strategic Importance thresholds could be referred to mayors, meaning developers may need to demonstrate alignment not only with local planning policy but also with wider regional priorities.
Mayoral Development Orders could change how strategic sites come forward. For selected sites, Mayoral Development Orders may provide a more direct route to development by establishing planning parameters in advance, although their effectiveness will depend on how widely they are used in practice.
Infrastructure funding could become a more important consideration. The proposed Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy regime may increase development costs in some areas, but it could also support the delivery of transport, utilities and other infrastructure needed to unlock growth.
Early engagement with mayoral priorities is likely to become more important. Developers, promoters, landowners and investors will need to consider strategic authority objectives much earlier when assessing sites, promoting land and preparing planning applications.
The practical impact will depend on implementation. The reforms have the potential to provide greater coordination and certainty, but questions remain around resourcing, intervention thresholds and whether the new powers will streamline the planning process or add further complexity.
For more information, please contact our planning and infrastructure consenting team.
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