Part of the plethora of planning reforms announced by the new Burnham Government over the Summer was the proposed expansion of Mayoral Call-in powers. The proposal will see the power currently held by the Mayor of London to review planning decisions taken by local planning authorities for applications of potential strategic importance expanded to outside of London to those Mayors of Strategic Authorities.
The proposal is very much based on the system currently in place in London pursuant to the Town and Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2008 whereby, in certain circumstances, a validated application of potential strategic importance can be referred to the Mayor who would then consider how the application sits within the Spatial Development Strategy. Strategic applications are those that hit the thresholds which are proposed to be applications over 150 homes, commercial space exceeding 15,000 square metres, a building over 30 metres or an increase of 15 metres or more in height where the resulting building would be over 30 metres. It is not part of the current proposal but there is a query as to whether the newer London category 3J approach – 50 homes or more where the local planning authority is minded refusing – should be extended to Mayors outside of London.
If an application is considered to be strategic then, once the local planning authority has considered the application and has reached a conclusion as to whether it is minded to grant or refuse the application, it is then referred to the Mayor who will have 14 days to either leave the decision with the Council, direct refusal or call the application in. Like London, if the Mayor calls in the application then the Mayor becomes the local planning authority for the purpose of deciding the application and proceeds by way of a public hearing or written representations as well as leading on the planning obligations.
This expansion of Mayoral powers is seen as part of the Governments devolution drive, and we consider the Mayoral call-in powers are a welcome tool to ensure that development can be brought forward as envisaged at a strategic level. Our experience in London is that these powers are not used very often but they can be used to unlock strategic sites particularly around housing and infrastructure that are blocked as a result of local political dynamics. Sometimes just the fact that the Mayor has the ability to call-in those projects can focus minds on delivery at local level and avoid a costly and time consuming S78 appeal which, outside of London, is sometimes seen as the only route available where local opposition is preventing delivery. That said, Mayoral call-ins in London will add time on to the determination process and inevitably that means further costs thereby adding to viability problems.
The Consultation was published on 24 August 2026 and runs until 5 October 2026. Whilst the enabling framework is already in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, secondary legislation will still be required, and we do not anticipate these call-in powers to be available outside of London until January 2027 at the earliest.
When the PM was the Mayor of Greater Manchester he did not have these powers available to him to enable delivery and therefore we can assume that the PM considers that these planning call-in powers to Mayors will be critical to delivery not least because it is one of the first major planning amendments made since he became Prime Minister. We will also watch with interest whether these powers are used by the new Mayor of Greater Manchester, Bev Craig, who has made a commitment to deliver 10,000 social rented homes before March 2028. She has also asked for local authorities in Greater Manchester to put forward public land where housing and infrastructure can be delivered and, again, we wait with interest to see if she will utilise these call-in powers to unlock delivery across Greater Manchester.