English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill: LGA Briefing 5 December 2025

LGA proposed changes to the Bill as first introduced

• Introduce an eighth area of competence on culture, tourism and creative industries.
• Provide safeguards to decision-making by simple majority to: Remove the mayor’s casting vote on tied decisions on Spatial Development Strategies and Local Transport Plans; and ensure political balance in decision-making.
• Impose additional limitations on the use of powers available to the Secretary of State to establish and expand strategic authorities (SAs) without local consent, through an additional statutory test and parliamentary oversight.
• Require co-production of micromobility schemes and local growth plans with constituent authorities.
• Safeguard and clarify the role of appointed commissioners and their potential influence on delivery of SA functions, specifically public safety commissioners and the interface with deputy mayors for policing and crime.
• Require SAs to exercise joint leadership with employer representative bodies in developing Local Skills Improvement Plans.
• Introduce a duty on local public service partners – such as NHS bodies, police, and fire authorities – to co-operate with SAs and principal councils.
• Introduce appropriate fire safety governance and scrutiny arrangements.
• A broader approach to the right to request additional powers.
• Introduce an option for councillors to attend meetings remotely.
• Impose a duty on SAs to prepare, publish and review a Warm Homes Strategy, in partnership with local authorities.
• Commits SAs to improving the energy efficiency of homes in their area, in partnership with local authorities.
• The LGA seeks to expand the environment competency within the Bill to respond to national adaptation and mitigation ambitions.  

LGA proposed changes to the Bill as amended by the Commons

• Restrict expansion responsibilities for post-16 education to SAs, providing clarity on existing roles and responsibilities to prevent duplication of local government services.
• Provide additional flexibility on the requirement for councils which currently operate a committee system to move to a leader and cabinet governance model.
• Re-introduce legal consent from local planning authorities for Mayoral Development Orders.  

Additional messages

• The Government now needs to come forward with a clear timetable and a commitment to support those areas not part of the Devolution Priority Programme (DPP) or home to an existing foundation or mayoral strategic authority.
• This timetable should provide a framework for the wider integration of public services, including the new NHS operating model (including Integrated Care Boards (ICBs)), reform of police and crime services and commissioners, to ensure there is coordination across government departments, and efficient use of local and broader public service resources and capacity to meet national ambitions for change.
• As it currently stands, there is insufficient financial detail in the Bill, specifically the financial arrangements relating to mayoral SAs. Clarity is needed on how SAs will be funded over the long term. Overreliance on mayoral precepts and levies risks the sustainability of SAs and is predicated on whether mayors choose to enact these revenue raising powers. New powers and responsibilities must be backed by sufficient resources, but these cannot be at the expense of existing, hard-pressed council budgets.

Skills and employment

Require SAs to exercise joint leadership with employer representative bodies (ERBs) in developing Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) – Ian Sollom MP, Labour

Public service partnership

Introduce a duty on local public service partners – such as NHS Trusts and ICBs, police, and fire authorities – to co-operate with SAs and principal councils – Helen Morgan MP, Liberal Democrat

Energy efficiency

Impose a duty on SAs to prepare, publish and review a Warm Homes Strategy, in partnership with local authorities – Zöe Franklin MP, Liberal Democrat

Commits SAs to improving the energy efficiency of homes in their area, in partnership with local authorities – Zöe Franklin MP, Liberal Democrat

Local democracy

Replace the requirement for a council to move from a committee system to a leader and cabinet model, with an option to do so – Munira Wilson MP, Liberal Democrat

Remove the requirement for a council to move from a committee system to a leader and cabinet model altogether – David Simmonds MP, Conservative

The LGA has identified the following opportunities to strengthen the Bill and ensure it strikes the right balance between protecting local decision-making and delivering strategic oversight across new and established devolution footprints. The LGA is ready to work with government ministers and other parliamentarians to ensure the legislation provides the best outcomes for devolution for local areas.

Culture, tourism and creative industries

Clause 2: Areas of competence

The LGA seeks to amend Clause 2 to see culture (arts, heritage and libraries), tourism, and creative industries (as defined in the Industrial Strategy) recognised on a national footing as drivers of the local economy, of place-based development and of wellbeing through the form of an additional competency. These sectors contribute to national and regional growth, and this should be formally reflected within the devolution framework. 

This additional competency would empower mayors, working in partnership with constituent authorities, to identify strategic collaborations at a regional level, taking account of any sub-sector regional specialisms or strengths (such as screen industries or tourism). It is crucial that this competency complements, not duplicates, the existing duties and responsibilities held by local government. It would assist those six mayoral strategic authorities to invest the devolved £150 million Creative Places Growth Fund, and the Tees Valley Creative Investment Zone funding, as announced in the Industrial Strategy. Constituent authorities would remain responsible for place-based cultural strategy and delivery, tailored to local needs and opportunities.  

A mayoral competency on culture, tourism and creative industries would provide: 

• Strategic leadership and convening power.  
• Integrated place-based planning linking culture, tourism and creative industries with transport, housing, health, and regeneration. 
• Enhanced coordination of funding and investment strategies. 
• Improved evidence for decision-making and data for impact measurement.  

Ministerial powers

Schedule 1: Establishment, Expansion and Functions of Combined Authorities and CCAs

The LGA wishes to amend Schedule 1 to limit the use of the ministerial powers to establish and expand SAs without local consent. The LGA seeks to insert an additional statutory test and parliamentary oversight to embed the principles included in the English Devolution White Paper (EDWP) to determine appropriate geographies for any new SAs. This includes: 

• Scale: Have a comparable size to existing institutions, enabling effective delivery of devolved functions.  
• Economies: Reflect functional economic areas, including local labour markets and current and potential travel-to-work patterns. This should include consideration of rural economies, and where travel to work areas are small and fragmented. SAs must be capable of supporting coherent economic strategies, including Local Growth Plans and Spatial Development Strategies. 
• Identity: Reflect a coherent local identity that supports public engagement and democratic accountability. Demonstrate how residents will be able to recognise, engage with, and hold to account their devolved institutions.  
• Contiguity: Contiguous across current and potential constituent councils. Where contiguity is not currently met, there must be a clear and agreed plan for achieving it through local government reorganisation.
• No ‘devolution islands’: Must not create devolution ‘islands’, i.e. areas left too small to form viable authorities or lacking natural partners. Demonstrate how surrounding areas will be integrated or supported to ensure inclusive devolution. 
• Delivery: Be capable of delivering key strategic functions, including: Spatial Development Strategies, Local Transport Plans and Get Britain Working Plans; and show evidence of institutional capacity and readiness to implement devolved responsibilities. 
• Alignment: Promote alignment between devolution boundaries and other public sector boundaries, including health, policing, transport and fire. Minimise administrative complexity and duplication. 

To ensure appropriate and sufficient consideration of local identity, the legislation should set out a definition of local identity:   

'Local identity' means the shared sense of belonging, cultural heritage, civic recognition, and geographic association experienced by residents of a defined area, which contributes to their ability to engage with, understand, and hold to account local institutions.  

In determining the presence of local identity, the Secretary of State shall have regard to: 

• The historical and cultural coherence of the area, including recognised place-names, traditions, and community institutions. 
• The patterns of civic participation, including local democratic engagement, voluntary activity, and public consultation responses. 
• The geographic recognisability of the area to its residents and neighbouring communities. 
• The extent to which the proposed governance arrangements reflect and reinforce existing local identity rather than fragment or obscure it. 

There should be sufficient parliamentary oversight for the use of such a strong Ministerial power. The LGA recommends:  

• The Secretary of State publish a geography assessment statement demonstrating how a proposal to establish or expand an SA meets the statutory test, and submit this for parliamentary scrutiny, subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.  
• Introduction of a sunset clause, to impose a time limit on the use of these powers, aligning with the government’s ambition to achieve 100 per cent devolution in England, and impose a requirement to seek parliamentary approval for any extension to use these powers. 

Local accountability and decision-making 

Clause 6: Combined authorities and CCAs: decision-making and validity of proceedings

Whilst the LGA recognises the need for effective decision-making, and we see the value in part in introducing more standardised voting requirements, we are concerned at the prospect of moving to simple majority voting in MSAs.

In most instances, the Government's support for simple-majority voting is predicated upon a tied proposal being taken as disagreed. However, they have set out circumstances where a mayor may be granted a second casting vote in such scenarios. This includes Spatial Development Strategies (SDS) and Local Transport Plans (LTP).

This would disproportionately impact CAs with an even number of voting members and could mean that a strategic proposal is determined with the majority of local authorities in disagreement.

We believe that there is a need for safeguards in decision-making.

To ensure that consensus is at the heart of English devolution, we are advocating for:  

• The removal of the mayor’s casting vote in instances where decision-making is tied for SDSs and LTPs.
• The Bill to include a review of simple majority voting after 12 months, and additional reviews at five-year intervals thereafter, with a view to amending voting thresholds where needed.
• The Mayoral Capacity Fund to be at least doubled and secured as a long-term government commitment, to enable the effective delivery of overview and scrutiny functions.
• Where there is local support, and a need due to large population disparities between constituent councils, places to have the option to adopt weighted voting. In areas which are expected to undertake local government reorganisation, there would be review points to possibly phase out this arrangement as population disparities are addressed.
• In line with their constituent local authorities, it should be left to individual combined authorities to identify an appropriate level of quoracy for Overview and Scrutiny, rather than the current prescription of two-thirds in legislation.
• The language contained within existing and future devolution legislation should reflect political groups rather than political parties to recognise the vital role of independent politicians. This should reflect the language contained in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

Appointment of commissions 

Schedule 3: Commissioners

We recognise that the appointment of commissioners could add sector-specific value to SAs’ vision-setting. Commissioners will fulfil a significant role in new SAs and should be held to the same high standards as others in public life. There is potential that following LGR, in some SAs there could be fewer constituent councils than commissioners, given the mayor’s power to appoint a commissioner for each area of competence. The LGA feels that as elected leaders of places, representing communities and residents, councils should be at the forefront of regional decision making and delivery. There must therefore be adequate safeguards surrounding the role of commissioners and their potential influence on the SA.

We welcome the government’s recent announcement on plans to legislate to reform and strengthen the standards and conduct framework for local authorities in England. Commissioners should be explicitly in scope of anticipated reforms to the standards regime for local authorities, creating a common standard of conduct and behaviour for all those in public life in local and regional government.

Whilst the LGA welcomes the safeguards set out in the Bill to enable removal of commissioners, the threshold by which the SA can agree this decision is too high. The LGA seeks to amend Schedule 3 paragraph 10, by which the SA overview and scrutiny committee and then board can recommend the termination of a commissioner’s appointment, reducing the threshold for the latter from a two thirds majority to a simple majority. This decision should be in line with other decision-making principles included in the Bill for effective governance and scrutiny.

The LGA also seeks clarity in statutory guidance on how commissioners will be recruited, including their selection and appointment, and scrutiny arrangements for the work of commissioners. The LGA is ready to work with government on this to ensure recruitment processes are robust.

The LGA are concerned about the name ‘commissioner’ used in the legislation, as this has negative associations for councils to the role of government commissioners appointed to take over some or all of a council’s functions when it is facing severe financial or operational difficulties. The LGA suggests a change in name to move away from the potential optics of an external expert entering an SA and usurping the role of constituent elected local leaders.

Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime and Public Safety Commissioners

Where a mayor holds policing and crime responsibilities (PCC), they are required to appoint a Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) to oversee those police functions. The Bill also permits appointment of commissioners in any “area of competence”, which includes public safety. This raises a risk of role duplication and confusion, which could blur lines of accountability in public safety, with both a DMPC and an unelected commissioner involved in community safety or policing matters.

The LGA seeks to amend schedule 3 to the effect that where a mayor exercises PCC powers, the mayor should rely on the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime as the dedicated lead for police and crime matters and should not appoint an additional Public Safety Commissioner. Conversely, mayors without police authority should continue to have the option to appoint a Public Safety Commissioner to advise on community safety – but not if they later gain policing powers.

Growth and micromobility

Schedule 19: Local Growth Plans & Schedule 23: Powers to make regulations in relation to functions of SAs and Mayors

Neither the Bill nor accompanying guidance includes explicit requirements on the mayor or SA to engage with constituent authorities on the development of micromobility schemes and/or local growth plans. Whilst constituent authorities are included in the decision-making process for adoption of these plans and strategies, the sector believes it is crucial local government is involved from the outset to inform their development, as experts on their areas.

The requirement to consult is explicitly included for other fundamental regional plans and strategies, including Spatial Development Strategies. Therefore, this should be replicated in Schedule 19 to apply to local growth plans. Given local government's preeminent place-shaping role, wealth of experience in driving growth, and the fact that local authorities will be responsible for delivery of many of the plan’s outcomes, mandatory co-production from the outset is vital.

Whilst specific instances related to transport and micromobility require consultation and co-production with local authorities (for example preparation of local transport plans and provision of transport infrastructure), an up-front duty included in Schedule 23 will ensure this is robust and cover all instances.

Whilst the Bill includes a duty to convene local partners and an obligation on said partners to respond, this does not provide for meaningful consultation nor co-production. Without this additional requirement, clause 21 is at risk of becoming a tick box exercise.

Fire and rescue 

Clause 46: Functions of fire and rescue authorities

The LGA advocates for an amendment to this clause to introduce robust governance and scrutiny arrangements for fire services. The LGA would support enabling mayors the option of appointing Deputy Mayor for Fire or a Fire Committee to oversee decision-making. The LGA supports ensuring that there are clear, strong and appropriate scrutiny arrangements with effective powers and tools supporting the delivery of fire services with clear lines of accountability for senior officers in the service. 

Requesting additional powers

Clause 49: Requests by EMSAs for changes

The LGA seeks to amend clause 49 to enable those strategic authorities that wish to go further and faster, taking on new responsibilities, to be able to do so. The LGA seeks to amend this clause to include a mechanism whereby EMSAs can request additional areas of competence to be added to the framework for devolution set out in clause 2. This should be included in the guidance that the Secretary of State is required to produce on the formal request process. 

Climate duties 

New clause: Environment and climate change 

The English Devolution White Paper (EDWP) set out commitments to empower SAs to act on climate change and the environment, including in helping deliver the Local Power Plan and Local Nature Recovery Strategies.  

The LGA seeks to expand the environment competency within the Bill to respond to national adaptation and mitigation ambitions and include further detail on empowerment for local action on climate change and the environment.   

The LGA seeks to transpose commitments set out in the EDWP into the EDCEB on environment, energy generation and energy systems into the Bill with similar levels of detail as included for other competencies.  

The LGA also seeks statutory duties and powers for local authorities, along with sufficient funding, and robust support to lead on climate action. Over the coming months the LGA will undertake further analysis on the duties and set out our next steps for developing detailed, evidenced, and costed proposals for this. The LGA would welcome the opportunity to work with government to shape these duties and powers. 

Consensus could not be reached within the Local Government Association on the issue of statutory duties and powers for local authorities, along with sufficient funding, and robust support to lead on climate action.  

In line with the LGA's governance framework, this position therefore reflects a majority view of the LGA's political leadership. Both the LGA Conservative Group and Reform UK Group are opposed to this position and voted against it when put to the LGA’s Neighbourhoods Committee.  

Inclusive local democracy 

New clause: Remote attendance at council meetings

Similarly, the Government has committed to introducing remote attendance for councillors. This reform should be incorporated into the EDCEB to ensure that new authorities are established with these protections and powers in place from the outset.

The future of devolution in London 

New clause: Greater London Authority decision-making 

A new clause to require the Secretary of State to establish a London Combined Board to ensure cooperation and joint decision-making between the GLA and representatives from London borough councils.

The LGA has called for a formal joint decision-making role for London local authorities within the Greater London Authority. This would enable better collaboration, better outcomes, and better value for money in public services across the region.