And separately, MSAs will receive seed funding to build capacity and capability, as is standard procedure.

The Annual Investment Fund allocations are as follows:

- Cheshire and Warrington: £21.7 million
- Cumbria: £11.1 million
- Greater Essex: £41.5 million
- Hampshire and the Solent: £44.6 million
- Norfolk and Suffolk: £37.4 million
- Sussex and Brighton: £38 million

Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.

The Government has published its Written Statement on the Devolution Priority Programme.

Each Mayoral Strategic Authority will hold elections in May 2028 - rather than May 2027 as previously conceived.
questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...

How much will strategic authorities receive as part of their Integrated Settlements?

From the Institute for Government:

Good steer. I better read it!

Local government finance policy statement 2026-27 to 2028-29

One detail I missed in the Local Government Finance Policy Statement this week: the Government will review whether sales, fees and charges can be devolved.
www.gov.uk/government/p...

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is consulting on the 17 proposals it has recieved for local government re-organisation. The consultations run until 11 January 2026:

questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...

Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.

Police and Crime Commissioners will be abolished in 2028. Responsibilities will go to strategic authorities where they exist or Police and Crime Boards where they do not:

questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...

That's why in the long-term, strategic authorities should be able to create their own SPVs in the same way they can create Mayoral Development Corporations. Clearly decisions with fiscal implications, such as tax and subsidy regimes, would remain under HM Treasury oversight.

But they are often centrally designed, sit outside local democratic institutions and — most importantly — fragment economic policy.

These SPVs are intended to accelerate investment and innovation which is welcome — and they too should have more autonomy to do so, not least until but strategic authorities mature.

At the same time, however, we’ve seen the rapid expansion of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) such as Freeports, Investment Zones, AI Growth Zones and Development Corporations.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill will extend these strategic authorities across England, giving them new spatial planning powers and a central role in regeneration.

The role of place and the ‘zonification’ of growth - The Productivity Institute Jack Shaw examines the role of place and the ‘zonification’ of growth in relation to Reeves' strategy.

I've written for The Productivity Institute about the 'zonification' of place-based economic policy.

Over the past decade we’ve seen the “rise of the Mayor” — with strategic authorities taking more responsibility for shaping local economies.

www.productivity.ac.uk/news/the-rol...

I agree - would make me question it for the same reason, but I guess it'd be in the design of the process. Plus it exists for Members of Parliament. If there was no genuine and significant wrongdoing, wouldn't the electorate just vote with their feet and not take part in the recall process?

A number of interesting amendments to the Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill submitted by Members of Parliament.

Should the Government establish a recall process for councillors that breach the Code of Conduct?

Autumn Budget 2025: LGA submission Demonstrating the support and value that councils can provide to UK Government in delivering the objectives of the Autumn Budget 2025.

The Local Government Association has published its Autumn Budget submission:
www.local.gov.uk/parliament/b...

Shropshire has announced that is has requested Exceptional Financial Support.

The Government has issued a statement on local government re-organisation in Surrey.

Both proposals met the criteria, but the Government has chosen two unitaries - East Surrey and West Surrey - rather than three. Government will re-pay £500 million of Woking's debt in 2026-27:

Would the tax raise issues related to Subsidy Control, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement? And will it increase the amount written-off for fines given the difficulties of enforcing against non-UK vehicle owners?

Kent County Council is requesting that a portion of income from Dartford Crossing be allocated to it and that it is considering introducing a tax on "foreign freight", which should be hypothecated for fixing potholes.

I wrote about local authorities run by Reform UK for Renewal Journal earlier this year.

Given the challenges facing Kent County Council, this feels pertinent:

There is evidence that local authorities aren't using their Community Infrastructure Levy contributions. Striking that by December 2024 - as the Public Accounts Committee reports - 17 per cent haven't even published their Infrastructure Funding Statement from 2022-23:

The Institute for Fiscal Studies highlights today that should Referendum Principles be set higher and local authorities were to increase council tax by 1 per cent more than expected, it'd raised £500 million in 2029-30. Presumably a tad shy of that over the next three years.

2. Given one in four London authorities are in receipt of it, what will its spatial dimension be in 2026-27?

3. Will more local authorities seek it for their the Housing Revenue Account? In what marks a precedent, Lambeth received it in 2025-26 for its HRA.

The rate of Exceptional Financial Support fell in 2025-26 following a sustained increase. Three pertinent questions:

1. Will it continue to fall in 2026-27? If so, that'd be a significant achievement for the Government.

That local authorities are using reserves at an unsustainable rate is well understood, but the specific dimensions of that aren't. For example, the Institute for Government's new Performance Tracker highlights that LAs are drawing on reserves consistently, in higher numbers:

Reading the amendments tabled to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill under consideration by the Bill Committee.

Protecting green spaces is important, but should strategic authorities really have oversight over allotments? I suspect it'll be withdrawn.

Secretary of State’s Annual Report on English Devolution 2024-25

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published its Devolution Annual Report for 2024-25. It includes a helpful list of devolved functions for strategic authorities:
www.gov.uk/government/p...

The Government has launched a consultation today on the Local Government Pensions Scheme - including whether the roles of Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Councillor and Member of the London Assembly should be eligible to access it: