English Devolution Bill Receives Royal Assent

If the phrase ‘Royal Assent’ feels distant, here is the plain-English version: on 29 April 2026, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill completed its passage through Parliament and became law. In its press release, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the Act is meant to push more power away from Whitehall and closer to mayors, councils and local communities. (gov.uk) That matters because devolution is not just a Westminster word. It shapes who gets to make decisions about buses, housing, local growth and the future of the high street. If you want the short version, this Act is trying to make local government less dependent on central permission and more able to act on local problems. (gov.uk)

One of the biggest changes is the creation in law of ‘Strategic Authorities’. GOV.UK guidance says these bodies are meant to make it quicker and simpler to hand powers from central government to local areas, especially where there is an elected mayor. In practice, that means more authority over transport, planning, housing and economic regeneration instead of every major step being controlled from the centre. (gov.uk) **What this means:** if you live in an area with a mayoral authority, more of the decisions that affect daily life could be taken closer to home. But that also raises a fair question for all of us: who checks those decisions, and how do residents know whether local leaders are using these powers well? The Act tries to answer that too. (gov.uk)

Another part of the Act is much easier to picture. It creates a new Community Right to Buy, giving local people the first right of refusal when certain valued assets go up for sale, including places such as shops and community centres. Government documents say this strengthens the older ‘right to bid’ system by moving towards a real first-refusal model, rather than simply letting communities make an offer and then lose out to another buyer at the end. (gov.uk) That could matter a lot in places where a post office, sports ground, local shop or community hall is one closure away from the centre of town feeling emptier. **In classroom terms:** the law is trying to turn community attachment into a legal foothold. Whether communities can raise the money in time is a separate challenge, but the starting rules are now stronger than before. (gov.uk)

The high street measures are more direct than they first sound. Councils will be able to use Gambling Impact Assessments to push back against further clusters of gambling shops, and new and renewal commercial leases will no longer be allowed to include upwards-only rent review clauses. Those clauses meant rents could stay the same or rise, but not fall, even when the market had dropped. (gov.uk) For you, that is a reminder that local economics is often hidden inside technical rules. If rents can only move upwards, smaller firms can get squeezed out. If councils have little say over the spread of gambling premises, the shape of a town centre can change street by street. This Act steps into both arguments at once. (gov.uk)

On transport and street safety, the Act bundles together several powers that sound separate but share one basic idea: local areas should be able to manage public space more firmly. The government says it is introducing national taxi standards, allowing enforcement officers to suspend licences issued by another council when a driver is working outside the area that licensed them. It also adds powers against dangerous pavement parking and gives local transport authorities licensing powers over rental e-bikes and shared cycle schemes, including rules on parking, safety and accessibility. (gov.uk) If you have ever seen a pavement blocked by a hire bike, or wondered why councils sometimes struggle to act when transport services cross local boundaries, this is the sort of change ministers are pointing to. The idea is simple enough: local streets work better when local authorities are not stuck with weak tools. (gov.uk)

The Act is not only about handing out powers. It also sets up Local Scrutiny Committees for mayoral authorities, and it requires Mayoral Strategic Authorities to produce local growth plans. In the official guidance, those plans must include an economic overview, shared priorities with government and an investment pipeline. The Act also creates a duty for mayors and strategic authorities to consider health improvement and health inequalities when they make policy. (gov.uk) That second point is easy to miss, but it matters. A transport plan is also a health plan if it changes access to jobs, clean air or GP appointments. A housing decision can widen or narrow inequality. So the law is quietly saying that local growth should not be judged only by cranes, offices and headline investment numbers. (gov.uk)

There is one more piece worth watching. The Act gives mayors new planning tools, including the power to intervene in applications of strategic importance, prepare mayoral development orders and charge a mayoral community infrastructure levy on developers. It also establishes a Local Audit Office, which GOV.UK says will oversee local audit and help make council auditing more efficient and transparent. (gov.uk) The promise here is big: more local control, more visible accountability and more chances for communities to protect what matters to them. But laws do not improve a town centre or bus route on their own. What happens next depends on money, local leadership and whether residents can actually see, understand and challenge the decisions made in their name. That is the real test of devolution, and it starts now. (gov.uk)