{
  "id": 2763320,
  "title": "Burnham to hand mayors power to overrule local councils’ planning decisions",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/23/burnham-to-hand-mayors-power-to-overrule-local-councils-planning",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-23T09:16:21.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "City AM",
    "slug": "city-am",
    "url": "https://www.cityam.com/burnham-to-hand-mayors-power-to-overrule-local-councils-planning-decisions/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Andy Burnham is set to grant UK mayors new authority to challenge local council planning decisions and expedite large-scale developments. Prime Minister will announce proposals this week to empower regional mayors in 13 areas, including Manchester, Liverpool, and the West Midlands, with the ability to override planning decisions and direct councils to approve or reject plans. The mayors will also be able to grant developers upfront permission to commence construction without filing applications for buildings over 150 homes, 15,000 square meters of commercial space, or structures 30 meters tall or higher.\n\nThe new rules will apply to developments that comply with planning rules, local area plans, and national policies. The regional mayors, who have received support from 10 of the 14 devolved mayors, will possess similar powers to London's mayor, Sadiq Khan, who recently obtained the ability to \"call in\" on planning decisions to build more affordable homes across the city. The planning decisions must still adhere to planning rules, local area plans, and national policies.\n\nIn addition, mayors will have a greater influence on how national housing funding from Homes England, the government's housing and regeneration agency, is spent in their areas. They will also have the power to levy a fee on developments to fund major infrastructure projects. A consultation on these proposals is expected to be released this week.\n\nHousebuilders are currently facing challenging conditions since the financial crisis in 2008. Only a quarter of the way to their goal of constructing 1.5 million homes in England over the next five years, housebuilders are experiencing the most difficult build conditions since the global financial crisis. Johan Svanstrom, the chief executive of property portal Rightmove, stated in July that new home developments are at \"historically low levels due to continued softer build rates.\" The FTSE 250 property platform reported that growth in its new homes business has been \"subdued\" due to a 6% decrease in new-build developments compared to the previous year. Svanstrom noted that developers are currently experiencing \"the most difficult conditions experienced since the global financial crisis, and as a result, new developments are at their lowest in over a decade.\"",
  "summary": "Andy Burnham will give mayors across the UK new powers to overrule planning decisions made by local councils and to greenlight large-scale developments. The prime minister will unveil proposals this week to give regional mayors in 13 areas including Manchester, Liverpool, and the West Midlands, powers to take over planning decisions as well as direct [...]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}