Blog

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

Ben Johnson
Politics
16 Jan 2026
The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill is the Government’s flagship attempt to “hard-wire” devolution across England, as set out in the 2024 Devolution White Paper which preceded it. It lays the ground for the execution of the raft of local government reorganisation schemes currently proposed around the country (doing away with the remaining two-tier, county and district councils, thus completing the unitarisation of local government in England – a project ongoing since 1992).  And there are new powers for Mayors and combined authorities, including in some eye-catching areas like the regulation of micromobility schemes.  

The Bill reaches its Committee Stage in the Lords on Tuesday, where line-by-line scrutiny, and a raft of amendments, will no doubt create a number of minor headaches for MHCLG ministers and civil servants. Some concessions may be possible, but don’t expect the government to bend too far on what it considers to be a set of key measures which, in advancing devolution, will deliver regional growth as well as spreading accountability for it.

Key measures:

1) A new devolution “operating system” via Strategic Authorities: The Bill creates a statutory framework for three new kinds of ‘strategic authority’ (which will incorporate combined authorities, such as Greater Manchester, and combined county authorities, as well as the Greater London Authority). There will be three tiers:

  • Foundation– combined authorities without an elected Mayor, with limited devolution. This will include non-mayoral Combined and Combined County Authorities as well as single councils that have been specially designated as a Strategic Authority.
  • Mayoral– areas with an elected Mayor, which will have greater devolution. This includes mayoral Combined and Combined County Authorities.
  • Established Mayoral– Mayoral Strategic Authorities which are able to satisfy additional governance requirements. They will have access to the broadest range of devolved powers and functions, including the ability to request further devolved powers from the government. The government will officially name those it has already announced as Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities shortly after the Bill becomes law – expect this to include London, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and other well established city region Mayoral authorities.

2) Stronger mayoral levers on growth and planning: Mayors of Strategic Authorities will gain powers closer to London’s model—particularly around calling in strategically significant applications and using Mayoral Development Orders (MDOs) to streamline certain consents.

3) Local government reform, governance and neighbourhood empowerment: The Bill will enable further local government reorganisation (including enabling the Secretary of State to direct development/submission of proposals) so that the last remaining two-tier county and district authorities can be replaced by unitary local authorities.

4) Fixing the local audit bottleneck: The Bill establishes a new Local Audit Office intended to improve oversight, standard-setting and the functioning of the local audit market/system.

5) Micromobility regulation: Strategic Authorities (TfL in London) will be given the power to shape the local regulatory and operating environment for shared micromobility operators (e-bikes, e-scooters and related services), particularly around licensing, integration with public transport, parking/kerbside management and safety standards.

6) Community rights and commercial lease change: Two measures that are likely to land on attract the attention of local landowners

  • A ban on upwards-only rent reviews in new and renewal commercial leases in England and Wales (a big signal for retail, leisure and property markets).
  • A community right to buy certain assets of community value, including a new category of sporting assets.

Together, these measures are likely to be welcomed by business in bringing greater clarity for those looking to navigate relationships with the sub-national tiers of government. But the proof will be in the pudding as ever: as developers have found in London, despite the GLA’s stronger strategic role in planning and economic development, there remains, sometimes, tension and a lack of strategic alignment between the GLA and London’s local authorities. Such tension is naturally most pronounced across the political divide – where a council is one colour and the Mayor another. But that is not always the defining factor: the tension between local concerns and regional strategic priorities – especially where there are electoral concerns – can lead to internal party rows as well. 

 

 

So what is this likely to all mean in practice?

For local government (and local public services)

• More strategic, place-based delivery (transport, skills, regeneration) where devolution footprints are established.

• Short-term disruption risk where reorganisation and new structures run alongside business-as-usual delivery—planning pipelines and investment programmes may pause or slow during transitions in some places.

• Audit and assurance: if the Local Audit Office works as intended, councils and partners could see more consistent audit timetables and clearer accountability.

For business

• A clearer “front door” for major development, growth and investment projects: Strategic Authorities are intended to become the key convenor for regional growth and investment, infrastructure, skills strategy and regeneration priorities. In theory, this should make major investment decisions easier to navigate than at present, where developers and businesses looking to invest in regions have had to deal with multiple, uncoordinated bodies. New mayoral tools could speed up strategically important schemes, although this will raise questions and tensions about local consent and governance.

• Micromobility regulation: For operators and investors, the new powers for regional transport authorities to regulate services will remove the need for deals to be done on a council-by-council basis. This should mean greater consistency at a city-region level, but also potentially more assertive local rule-setting, with clearer expectations around data-sharing, coverage and public realm impacts.

• Commercial property: the upwards-only rent review ban could materially affect lease negotiations, valuations and portfolio strategies, especially for those operating commercial portfolios largely in retail, hospitality and leisure.

• Potential new local funding tools (e.g. precepts/levies in devolved models) may create variation in the local cost landscape—an area investors will watch closely.

For communities

• More say over local places via neighbourhood governance and the community right to buy—potentially strengthening local legitimacy for regeneration and high-street change.

What to expect from the Lords

The Bill reaches its Committee Stage in the Lords on Tuesday, where line-by-line scrutiny, and a raft of amendments, will no doubt create a number of minor headaches for MHCLG ministers and civil servants.

Expect the Lords to focus their attention on:

  • Accountability and checks/balances for mayors (including concerns about decision-making and scrutiny).
  • Limits and oversight on Secretary of State “direction” powers for creating/expanding Strategic Authorities and driving reorganisation.
  • Planning safeguards, including proposals to reintroduce/strengthen local planning authority consentaround MDOs.
  • Funding clarity for Strategic Authorities (long-term sustainability and reliance on local revenue tools).
  • Additional “place” competencies such as culture/tourism/creative industries, plus climate and warm homes duties—areas the relevant sectors expect peers to push on.

Some minor concessions may be possible, but don’t expect the government to bend too far on what it considers to be a set of key measures which, in advancing devolution, will deliver regional growth as well as spreading accountability for it. The Bill and its contents enjoy broad support within the PLP, so any amendments at this stage will only be entertained if the Government sees them as improving the legislation – unlike so many other areas of policy these days, this is not U-turn territory.