Five takeaways from the devolution white paper

Billed as the “biggest transfer of power out of Westminster this century”, the white paper sets out how the government plans to put the destiny of England’s regions in their own hands.

Here are five key points from the eagerly anticipated, 118-page English Devolution White Paper. Alternatively, you can read it in full.

Strategic Authorities

Local government as we know it will be overhauled, allowing for devolution to spread to all areas of England.

Councils in areas where a combined authority does not already exist – such as Cheshire and Warrington – are being asked to put forward ideas for strategic authorities, taking into account economic geographies, current and potential travel-to-work patterns, and local labour markets.

The default assumption is for these strategic authority areas to have a combined population of 1.5m or above where possible.

If areas cannot agree on the best way to form a strategic authority, the government will be able to step in and do it for them.

More powers for mayors

Combined authority mayors like Steve Rotheram in Liverpool City Region and Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester will be given additional powers – akin to those that the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has – to enact change and drive growth in their areas.

They include:

• Development management powers that include the ability to call in planning applications of strategic importance

• Ability to charge a “Mayoral Levy” to ensure that new developments come with the necessary associated infrastructure. A Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy was introduced in Greater London in 2012 to help finance the Elizabeth Line

• Control of grant funding for regeneration and housing delivery and ability to set the strategic direction of any future affordable housing programme.

Underpinning the above are integrated settlements, which are effectively a single funding pot that mayors can spend however they see fit.

Greater Manchester and West Midlands combined authorities are in line to receive theirs in 2025 with others following in subsequent years.

The government hopes fiscal devolution will end local areas having to “slalom between pots of money to deliver the answer they already know is right”.

Spatial plans for all

All areas, with or without a strategic authority, will have to produce a spatial development strategy similar to the Places for Everyone plan in Greater Manchester.

Another tactic aimed at speeding up the delivery of homes is moving Homes England “to a more regionalised model” to allow the agency to better respond to local needs.

The white paper states that mayors are “integral” to delivering the government’s 1.5m homes target. Devolving responsibility for housing delivery to regions will give the government someone else to blame if the target is not met.

Rail control

As expected, Labour’s devolution white paper sets out a plan to make it easier for combined authority areas to take control of their bus networks as has been seen in Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester, and West Yorkshire.

However, the draft bill also sets out plans for mayors to have more control over the rail network.

Mayors will have a “clear right to request greater devolution of services, infrastructure, and station control where it would support a more integrated network”, the white paper states.

This is good news for Andy Burnham, who wants to expand the Bee Network to include heavy rail lines to make travel cheaper for workers commuting into the city centre by train.

Standardisation

Labour plans to swap out the current “devolution by deal” approach, which offers deals on a case-by-case basis, in favour of a more systematic approach.

The current system has resulted in an “inconsistent patchwork of powers, coverage and accountability” meaning powers vary between places.

To do this, the government will introduce a “devolution framework” that will standardise combined authority governance at make it easy to understand what they can and cannot do.

The white paper states that: “Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities will be able to propose, individually or with others, additional functions to be added to the statutory devolution framework, or piloted locally, in order to deliver their areas of competence.”