From Redcar’s steelworks corridor to Stockport town centre, Whitehall has set 14 April 2026 as the switch‑on date for a fresh round of Levelling Up planning powers. Signed on 2 March by Minister of State Matthew Pennycook, the Tenth Commencement Regulations bring into force key parts of the Levelling‑up and Regeneration Act 2023 affecting development corporations and metro mayors.

Two provisions matter immediately for councils and landowners across the North. First, the Secretary of State can designate Urban Development Corporations and locally‑led New Town Development Corporations as the local planning authority for plan‑making and neighbourhood planning, with scope to pass specific development management work back to the relevant councils. In defined cases, corporations can also take certain consenting functions under the Electricity Act 1989. These planning functions do not extend minerals and waste plan‑making to the locally‑led models. (legislation.gov.uk)

Metro mayors gain new discretion too. On a case‑by‑case basis, a mayor can decide that a Mayoral Development Corporation becomes the minerals and waste planning authority for plan‑making across all or part of its area, can ask councils for assistance with those functions, and can later remove or curb an MDC’s planning powers if needed. (legislation.gov.uk)

Governance and finance are being loosened. The long‑standing cap on board member numbers for Urban and New Town Development Corporations is removed, bringing them into line with Mayoral corporations. Just as significant, statutory borrowing limits for those bodies are scrapped for money borrowed after commencement-borrowing still needs Treasury approval and the Secretary of State’s consent, but the old £30m/£100m aggregate cap for UDCs and the £4.6bn/£5.25bn cap for NTDCs fall away. (legislation.gov.uk)

For readers wanting a refresher, Mayoral Development Corporations are statutory regeneration vehicles set up by metro mayors to accelerate projects and, where conferred, hold planning powers-including plan‑making and deciding applications-over defined zones. They can be granted compulsory purchase and rates relief tools to drive schemes. (instituteforgovernment.org.uk)

Stockport shows what a mature Northern MDC looks like in practice. The corporation describes itself as “an innovative partnership” bringing together devolved powers from the Greater Manchester Mayor, Stockport Council leadership and Homes England’s long‑term backing to deliver its town‑centre vision. Major projects-from Stockport Exchange to the Interchange neighbourhood-are already on site. (stockportmdc.co.uk)

Tees Valley’s MDCs in Middlesbrough and Hartlepool already hold planning powers within their zones. Middlesbrough Council’s monitoring report records the MDC becoming the local planning authority on 1 June 2023, while Tees Valley’s mayor has pitched the model as a way to “get on with the job” of town‑centre regeneration at schemes like Gresham. The new minerals and waste plan‑making option will matter where heavy industry and remediation are in play. (middlesbrough.gov.uk)

Liverpool is moving too. The Combined Authority has begun work on a business case for designating a Mayoral Development Area covering the North Docks and creating an MDC to manage its regeneration, and Liverpool City Council has commissioned Arup to support a Locally‑Led Urban Development Corporation programme. Today’s changes clear the path for those proposals to firm up. (liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk)

There are checks as well as new freedoms. With bigger boards and the ability to borrow more, the onus on transparent appointments, scrutiny and value‑for‑money rises-particularly after governance rows around asset transfers in parts of the North East and Tees Valley in recent years. Ministers have also kept a safety valve: mayors can restrict or remove MDC planning powers if they overreach. (yorkshirepost.co.uk)

For plan‑makers, the practical question is who leads what from 14 April. Development corporations can be handed local plan and neighbourhood plan duties; mayors can opt in to minerals and waste plan‑making for MDCs; and corporations can still ask councils to handle day‑to‑day casework. Clarity will come via the specific orders and mayoral decisions each area now brings forward. (legislation.gov.uk)

Business readers should note the finance shift. Removing statutory caps won’t mean blank cheques-Treasury controls still apply-but it does allow larger, multi‑year borrowing packages to be structured for infrastructure, remediation and site assembly in places like Tees Valley’s industrial belt and Greater Manchester’s brownfield sites. Expect boards to revisit delivery timetables and funding stacks quickly. (legislation.gov.uk)

The timetable is tight. With commencement fixed for 14 April 2026, combined authorities, councils and corporations across the North have a few weeks to finalise who will write which plans, how minerals and waste policy will be handled, and where extra board expertise is needed. We will track each mayoral and ministerial order as it lands.