Noah News Community Intelligence

New English Devolution Act empowers communities with expanded local powers and protections

Fri, 01 May 2026 08:57:52 +0000

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act has received Royal Assent, heralding a shift of powers to local authorities across England, including new rights for communities and measures to regulate high street practices.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act has now received Royal Assent, marking a significant step in the government's wider plan to shift power away from Whitehall and towards elected mayors and local councils across England. According to the government, the legislation is intended to give communities and local leaders more influence over planning, regeneration, housing and transport, while also strengthening protections for high streets and neighbourhood assets.

Among the most visible changes is a new Community Right to Buy, which gives local residents first refusal when valued community buildings and spaces, such as shops or community centres, come up for sale. The government says the measure is designed to help communities keep hold of places that matter to local life, rather than losing them to speculative or unwanted redevelopment. The Act also introduces Gambling Impact Assessments, giving councils a new tool to consider the concentration of gambling premises on high streets before new shops open.

The legislation also targets commercial rent practices, with a ban on upwards-only rent review clauses in new and renewal leases. Ministers say the reform is meant to stop businesses being locked into rents that can rise but not fall, even when market conditions weaken. In parallel, the Act introduces national standards for taxi drivers, allowing enforcement officers to suspend licences issued by another local authority when a driver is operating outside the area in which they are licensed.

Transport and enforcement powers are also being widened. Local transport authorities will gain stronger powers to act against dangerous pavement parking, including the use of fixed penalty notices, while councils will be able to set licensing conditions for rental e-bikes covering parking, safety and accessibility. The Act also creates Strategic Authorities in law, establishing a faster route for devolving powers and giving mayoral areas broader responsibilities over transport, planning, housing and economic growth. Professional bodies including the Chartered Institute of Housing and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health have welcomed aspects of the law, pointing to new planning powers and a requirement for strategic authorities to consider environmental factors such as air quality and access to green space.

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Source: Noah Wire Services

Proposed planning reforms threaten low-carbon housing ambitions, warn councils and environmental groups

Fri, 01 May 2026 08:57:45 +0000

More than 60 councils, businesses and civil society organisations warn that recent proposed planning reforms in England could hamper efforts to develop genuinely low-carbon homes, risking the nation’s climate goals amid industry and environmental debates.

A coalition of more than 60 councils, businesses and civil society organisations has warned that proposed planning reforms in England could undermine efforts to build genuinely low-carbon homes, with campaigners arguing that the changes would weaken one of the few routes available to local authorities seeking tougher environmental standards.

The intervention, coordinated by the Town and Country Planning Association, comes as ministers consult on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework that would narrow councils’ ability to set energy-performance requirements above building regulations. According to the association, that could make it harder for local authorities to push developments towards zero-carbon operation, even in places that have already adopted higher standards.

Supporters of stronger local powers say the stakes are practical as well as environmental. Councils including Cornwall, Bath and North East Somerset, and Central Lincolnshire have required new homes to be zero carbon in use, a standard intended to cut reliance on fossil fuels and lower household bills. Hugh Ellis of the TCPA argued that building regulations should set only the baseline, while planning policy should remain a tool for innovation. Christopher Hammond of UK100 said local leaders had spent years developing workable plans for warmer, cheaper-to-run homes, only to face a system that could now block them.

The Home Builders’ Federation has pushed back, warning that a fragmented system of local standards would create confusion and slow delivery. In comments reported by The Guardian, the industry body argued that building regulations, not planning authorities, should govern such requirements. But Friends of the Earth said the proposed direction would blunt councils’ ability to set ambitious energy standards and would leave new housing less able to tackle fuel poverty or meet climate goals.

The debate also echoes developments in Ireland, where local authority-led standards helped drive wider national changes to energy rules. The TCPA and other campaigners point to that experience as evidence that local innovation can be scaled up, rather than treated as an obstacle. That argument sits alongside the government’s own stated ambition, set out in its planning consultation and later building-regulations circulars, to support homes that are ready for a zero-carbon future.

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Source: Noah Wire Services

MHCLG begins active monitoring of Doncaster Council amid governance tensions

Fri, 01 May 2026 08:57:44 +0000

The Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government has stepped in to monitor Doncaster Council after senior officers flagged serious governance worries amid political disputes and planning controversies.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has moved into active monitoring of City of Doncaster Council after senior officers raised what they described as serious governance concerns, according to documents now published by the authority. The papers say chief executive Damian Allen and monitoring officer Scott Fawcus identified a developing pattern of issues around council and committee proceedings after the 2025 local elections, when Reform UK won control of the chamber and Labour kept the mayoralty. Doncaster Council’s election results page confirms Reform’s sizeable majority, with 37 seats to Labour’s 12 and the Conservatives on 6. The same documents say the arrangement has left the executive and the council chamber under different political control, placing strain on the constitutional framework.

According to the council report, the concerns were serious enough for Mr Allen to seek external legal advice and alert both the Local Government Association and MHCLG under the Best Value Standards and Intervention Framework. The authority says the department’s involvement should not be confused with formal intervention, and that early engagement does not mean the Government has decided to step in. MHCLG said it does not comment on its dealings with individual councils, but added that its stewardship team continuously reviews local authorities’ governance, finances and service delivery.

The row comes amid a wider breakdown in relations inside Doncaster politics. The Yorkshire Post reported that Reform councillors accused senior officers of altering motions without permission during a series of tense meetings, although Coun Craig Ward had already agreed the wording changes in a WhatsApp exchange with Mr Allen. Place Yorkshire has separately described the situation as a governance dispute that prompted monitoring by the department. In April, Reform’s deputy leader on the council, Jason Charity, said the party intended to refer Mr Allen to the chief officers investigatory sub-committee, while insisting the authority itself had now acknowledged the seriousness of the position.

The fallout is also feeding into the argument over Doncaster Sheffield Airport, where Reform is considering revisiting its approval for a £57m loan package linked to the reopening plan. The BBC has reported that the party has also tabled a motion of no confidence in Mayor Ros Jones, accusing her of misleading the public over the timetable for the airport’s return. Reform figures say they were not given enough information when the loan was approved in November 2025.

Mayor Ros Jones has urged councillors to put party interests aside, warning that prolonged political conflict would harm residents. She pointed to Doncaster’s earlier experience of special measures and said the council had previously had to work hard to regain stability, including control of children’s social care, which later received a good Ofsted rating in 2025. With MHCLG now watching the authority closely, the council’s own papers suggest officials are hoping the process will calm relations rather than lead to a more formal intervention.

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Source: Noah Wire Services

Rapid reforms in England’s planning system breed uncertainty and delay, experts warn

Fri, 01 May 2026 08:57:33 +0000

As the UK overhauls its planning policies amidst a flurry of reforms, experts warn that the pace of change is causing hesitation, confusion, and delays, threatening the country's growth ambitions.

England’s planning regime is being reshaped so rapidly that the result, according to James Clark of Foot Anstey, is not simplicity but hesitation. In an article for PBC Today, he argued that successive reforms have made the process harder to interpret, with developers, councils and advisers increasingly forced into defensive behaviour as they try to second-guess what rules will apply next.

That warning comes as the government pushes ahead with a broad overhaul of the system. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been consulting on a revised National Planning Policy Framework, with proposals that would favour development around railway stations and in high-density urban locations, while also fast-tracking schemes that meet strong design standards. At the same time, the department has been publishing new planning guidance and digital standards intended to make the process more coherent and data-driven.

But the pace of change is itself becoming part of the problem. Clark said local planning authorities are struggling to keep their plans aligned with national policy because the goalposts keep moving. He noted that the country is now moving into a new plan-making system, built around a 30-month timetable, while a transitional arrangement will allow older-style plans submitted before the end of 2026 to continue under the previous regime. For many authorities, that means operating two systems at once while detailed guidance is still awaited.

The pressure is being felt in the numbers as well. MHCLG data released in December showed that planning authorities made 303,215 decisions in the year to September 2025, the lowest annual total since records began in 2012 and 5.6% down on the previous year. In parallel, the department has acknowledged that planning decision data is still scattered across multiple formats and systems, and it is working on a common specification to standardise that information across England.

Clark also pointed to wider structural change within local government. Reorganisation is affecting 21 two-tier areas and more than 160 local planning authorities, adding another layer of disruption just as councils are being asked to absorb a new planning framework. He argued that these overlapping reforms are diverting attention away from day-to-day plan-making at precisely the moment when clarity is most needed.

The sector is also waiting for further national policy direction. The long-trailed National Development Management Policies are still expected, but their eventual effect may be weaker than originally intended after confirmation that they will not carry statutory force. Meanwhile, the consultation on the draft NPPF has closed, leaving applicants and advisers in a period of uncertainty in which many are lengthening submissions to anticipate future requirements and reduce the risk of challenge.

Clark’s prescription is blunt: once the current round of reform is complete, the system needs breathing space. He also called for faster modernisation, including electronic execution of documents, digital committee processes and standardised planning tools, alongside clearer guidance on what a proportionate application should contain. Above all, he said planning authorities need more staff, skills and technical capacity if the system is to support the government’s growth ambitions without becoming even more cautious and cumbersome.

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Source: Noah Wire Services