Member Article

The much-anticipated levelling up white paper has finally been published, including 12 legally binding ‘missions’ to improve health, living standards, transport, crime and wellbeing by the end of the decade.

When it comes to the devolution of powers to help to realise these outcomes, rather than marking a radical departure from earlier policy, the white paper advocates a continuation of the devolution process in England.

Nine areas are earmarked for new county devolution ‘deals’, namely Cornwall, Derbyshire and Derby, Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, Durham, Hull and East Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire & Nottingham, and Suffolk. Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) also feature in the mix, with proposals for an MCA for York and North Yorkshire together with an expanded MCA deal for the North East, and ‘trailblazer’ devolution deals for West Midlands and Greater Manchester to extend their existing powers.

What is new is the stated ambition that by 2030, every part of England that wishes to have a ‘London-style’ devolution deal will have one.

Homes England will be ‘repurposed’ and its remit expanded to include the regeneration of towns and cities which will hopefully assist when it comes to better aligning housing and economic growth. The revamped body will be tasked with spearheading ‘ambitious Kings-Cross style’ regeneration projects in 20 town and city centres, starting off with Wolverhampton and Sheffield.

The white paper’s commitment to decentralise funding to local leaders is key to ensuring that levelling up moves from rhetoric to reality.

Levelling up is, however, reliant on strategic planning frameworks being put into place to ensure that investment is directed to where it will be most effective - achieving tangible changes to communities. The white paper outlines this briefly in next steps, with plans to ‘introduce legislation to Parliament to underpin in statute the changes fundamental to levelling up, alongside wider planning measures.’

The speed and success of rolling out these strategic planning frameworks will be critical to levelling up, while having major implications on the future of the planning system.