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UK government working towards further devolution of powers to city regions and mayors


The UK government has announced that it is working towards agreements to devolve powers to several English city regions and that it intends to hand additional planning powers to the mayor of London and a future mayor of Greater Manchester.

The government reached a deal in November to devolve powers to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and a directly-elected Greater Manchester mayor. In the summer Budget (123-page / 1 MB PDF) delivered by chancellor George Osborne last week, the government said it was "working towards further devolution deals with the Sheffield City Region, Liverpool City Region, and Leeds and West Yorkshire and partner authorities".

The document said the regions would be "granted significant additional powers" should agreement be reached including on the regions accepting directly-elected mayors. The announcement follows the introduction to parliament in May of a bill to pave the way for the transfer of powers to local and combined authorities with elected mayors.

The government also used the summer Budget to announce further progress with the devolution of powers to Greater Manchester. It said a Greater Manchester Land Commission would be established and the city region would be granted "powers over planning subject to the agreement of the Cabinet member representing the district in which the power is used".  In a separate document released on Friday (88-page / 919 KB PDF), the government revealed proposals to allow the Greater Manchester mayor to set up development corporations and to promote the use of compulsory purchase powers.

Outside the north of England, the government said that progress was being made towards a devolution deal with Cornwall and that combined authority proposals had been received from local authorities in the East Midlands and West Midlands. Just two days after releasing the summer Budget, the government confirmed that it would give the mayor of London planning power over the capital's wharves and sightlines and would consult on plans to allow him to call in planning applications of 50 homes or more for his own determination.

Also announced in the summer Budget were the proposed establishment of a new body to focus on redevelopment and commercial land sales on the country's rail network; a "commercially-driven approach to land and property asset management across the central government estate"; and the commitment of £6 million to "ensure local government rationalises its estate".

Planning expert Jamie Lockerbie of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "This latest announcement makes it full steam ahead for planning devolution, and not just for Manchester which has been the focus of recent discussions. It seems likely that the spread of planning powers by the next election in 2020 will be very different to how it is currently in 2015. Devolution of planning powers appears to be one of the cards George Osborne is playing to try and cement 2015 Conservative gains in areas such as Cornwall which are less secure than the south east heartlands."

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