Northern authorities face planning duty with uneven funds

Burnley, Barrow and Crewe are among places that may come under a new regional planning duty on 26 November 2026, but the position of the combined authorities covering them on direct brownfield capital allocations is not established here. Regulations made by housing minister Matthew Pennycook on 3 November 2026 switch on section 58 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, requiring strategic planning authorities to prepare spatial development strategies.

A government geography paper and the 2026 establishment orders are said to identify the first northern group as 12 bodies: North East, Tees Valley, Lancashire, York and North Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Hull and East Yorkshire, Greater Lincolnshire, Cumbria, and Cheshire and Warrington. The same instrument commences section 39 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026. The source does not establish whether the required brownfield regulations have been published or what definitions or tests will determine how contamination, viability and flood risk should be weighed.

Published records are said to give a split answer to the practical questions of budget, staff and timetable. The records reportedly identify grants, proposed teams and indicative timetables for several authorities, while other authorities are described as preparing or expressing intent. Those accounts are not independently supported by the material supplied here.

That makes the instrument’s claim of “no, or no significant, impact” difficult to square with the parent Act’s own impact assessment. The MHCLG assessment reportedly estimated public-sector strategic plan costs at between £63 million and £147 million, with a central estimate of £101 million. The planning grants identified in authority papers provide preparation money, not capital to clean contaminated land or install the infrastructure that makes difficult sites viable. Any shortfall lands on combined authority budgets, constituent councils and ultimately other local services.

Capital exists, but it is unevenly distributed. The government’s National Housing Delivery Fund guidance is said to list direct capital routes for some northern authorities, while Lancashire, Cumbria, and Cheshire and Warrington are said not to be listed. Projects there can still approach Homes England and councils can seek Brownfield Land Release Fund money, but that is not the same as a devolved allocation. For former mill, rail and works sites in Burnley, Barrow and Crewe, the new power may therefore identify the right land without supplying the money to use it. The next fixed date is 26 November 2026, when the duty begins.