The mayors are coming for your planning applications

Our founder and CEO Tom Lees on what Burnham’s proposed call-in powers really mean - and why the smart money is already closely engaging mayors and No 10 North

Andy Burnham spent seven years as Greater Manchester’s mayor complaining that Whitehall wouldn’t let go. We worked at the heart of his growth agenda over that period including on the £1bn+ Good Growth Fund. Now he’s in Number 10, and his answer to the housing crisis is to hand mayors the very powers he used to ask for.

Under proposals to be announced this week and briefed to the press over the weekend, England’s regional mayors will be able to “call in” major planning applications and direct councils to approve or refuse them. It doesn’t apply to every planning application (yet). Schemes need to be over 150 homes, 15,000 sq m or more of commercial space or be taller than 30 metres. In effect, every mayor in England gets the powers Sadiq Khan has held in London for a number of years.

Ten of the 14 devolved mayors have welcomed the move - across party lines. At least eight wanted it to go further, pushing for a 50-home threshold which shows the mayors are eager for more.

Why this matters

It would be easy to file this as ‘just another planning story’ in a Parliament full of them. I think that would be a mistake, for three reasons:

First, the money is (hopefully) following the power. Homes England - and with it a large share of the government’s £39bn social and affordable homes programme - will come under mayoral direction. We have seen the difficulty of working with national bodies like Homes England from a combined authority perspective through our work Andy’s £1bn+ Good Growth Fund.

Second, this is a ‘quick win’ that can be implemented fast. The government intends to use existing powers under the English Devolution Act, with the new rules in place by the end of the year. That’s only a few months.

Third, the direction of travel is clear. Burnham really meant it when he said that he wanted to push power out of Whitehall. That means that engagement with regional mayors will become ever more important.

A two-way street?

Burnham’s framing is that this power cuts both ways: mayors can override obstructive councils, but they can also block schemes councils wave through against the community’s interest.

He expects that the mere existence of the power will change behaviour - councils coming to the mayor early to work out what’s acceptable, rather than fighting it out at later.

He’s probably right about that. Sadiq Khan (who already has this power) consults on around 200 schemes a year in London and takes over only a handful; the deterrent effect does most of the work.

Early estimates suggest a mayor like South Yorkshire’s Oliver Coppard might see about 30 qualifying schemes a year. The number of actual call-ins will be small. The number of conversations shaped by the possibility of one will be larger.

However, this potentially sets mayors for fights they’re not used to.

They are used to blaming ‘Whitehall’ for various issues or saying it’s the responsibility of their constituent local authorities as in reality mayors have had limited direct power.

Having campaigned against green belt housing at Winstanley Hall during his Makerfield by-election, the prime minister could now watch Bev Craig, his successor in Greater Manchester, force a version of it through. Devolution is a wonderful thing until someone devolves a decision you don’t like.

Labour promised 1.5 million homes over the Parliament that’s about 300,000 a year. Two years in, delivery is running at roughly half that, and around a third of England’s planning authorities face sanctions for missing housing requirements.

What it means for you

If you’re a developer, investor or infrastructure promoter:

• Your engagement approach just changed. For any scheme near the thresholds, the mayoral combined authority is now a primary audience, not an afterthought. Strategy, evidence and relationships need to be built at that level and mayoral offices are thinly stretched and about to be inundated with more power and responsibility. Those who engage early and make themselves useful will be remembered.

• The thresholds may shape scheme design. Expect applications engineered to sit just above - or just below - 150 homes and 30 metres, depending on whether promoters see the mayor as an ally or an obstacle. Knowing who you’re dealing with, region by region, is now a material commercial question.

• Local authority relationships still matter. The likeliest outcome of a contested scheme isn’t a dramatic call-in but a negotiated landing zone brokered between council and mayor. Being positioned on both sides of that conversation is clearly an advantage.

• Political opportunity? Reform and Conservative mayors with very different priorities from Labour - not least when energy powers arrive in 2028 may use these new powers to block development and exploit political differences. A solar portfolio in Lincolnshire faces a rather different mayor than South Yorkshire.

The last two years of planning reform have largely been about changing the rules and removing requirements. This is about changing who decides.

For anyone with a stake in the built environment, the honest question is no longer “does the council support us?” but “what does the mayor think?” — and if you don’t know the answer, someone else is already in the room finding out.

Bradshaw Advisory works with developers, investors and infrastructure promoters on planning, devolution and mayoral and national government engagement across the UK. If you want to talk through what the new call-in regime means for your pipeline, get in touch.