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Uneven progress in devolution across England could result in council resistance to Government plans to drive housing growth via development corporations.Proposals for a centrally-led Greater Cambridge Development Corporation have met with strong opposition from the two councils it will cover.Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire DC would have to cede control over planning powers, for which they currently share responsibility.The leader of Cambridge, Cameron Holloway, said: ‘I can see no justification for the proposal to take planning powers from the council.‘Local residents' voices must play a key role in this consultation and in any plans for the future work of a development corporation.'South Cambridgeshire's leader, Bridget Smith, said it was ‘unacceptable and unnecessary'.She added: ‘Government should be working in partnership with local councils, not punishing them.'Chief executive of the Localis think-tank, Jonathan Werran, said there was a need to consult with councils in Cambridgeshire.He told The MJ: ‘Local leaders are going to have to be on board in some capacity in future years – there is a long way to go.‘They feel left out and are within their rights to say this is being imposed upon them.'Chair of the Labour Housing Group, Jack Shaw, argued the Government had opted for a centrally-led, rather than a mayoral or locally-led model, due to the ‘nationally significant' opportunities in Cambridge and ‘legitimate concerns about the performance and governance' of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.He said: ‘While things now seem to be on a better track, it's likely that a development corporation would not have progressed had it been locally-led.‘It poses wider questions about who is responsible for economic development, and whether and how the governance of development corporations should be integrated with strategic and local authorities.'Werran added: ‘The direction of travel is giving everything to mayors to run with, but we have such asymmetric devolution within England.‘This wouldn't be as controversial in Greater Manchester, the West Midlands or parts of Yorkshire that are more advanced down that road.' Labour sees development corporations as a means of delivering housing at scale.They are able to operate across local authority boundaries and are often granted land assembly and planning powers.In addition, development corporations have ring-fenced budgets and can provide backing for infrastructure and development partners.The New Towns Taskforce, a panel of expert advisors established by the Government, said that ‘development corporations are generally best placed to deliver new towns'.It also recommended central government should decide whether a locally or centrally-led model should be used in each case.Steve Reed said: ‘The preferred mechanism is development corporations, because they allow the grip and the flexibility to drive them forward.‘Whether those would be central development corporations or mayoral development corporations will depend on the circumstances of the new town sites that are identified.'

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PLANNING

Uneven devo prompting push-back on housing growth plans

By Martin Ford | 09 April 2026

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