The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act has arrived promising more power for mayors, councils and local people, leaving the mini high street wondering whether it is finally entitled to a ceremonial chain. The Act received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026 and includes a Community Right to Buy for valued local assets, new powers over pavement parking and rental e bikes, national taxi driver standards, and Strategic Authorities with wider responsibilities for transport, planning, housing and economic regeneration.
This is empowerment after a thorough journey through Whitehall, a ministerial filing system and several rooms containing chairs arranged in a circle. Local people may gain a first right of refusal when a community shop or centre is put up for sale. The mini high street has begun practising its thoughtful expression in case the opportunity arises to purchase itself.
The Act also introduces Gambling Impact Assessments, allowing councils to consider the effect of new gambling shops on high streets. New and renewed commercial leases will no longer be able to use Upwards Only Rent Review clauses. At last, a business rent may acknowledge that reality occasionally travels in the other direction.
There are road powers too. More local transport authorities will be able to enforce against dangerous pavement parking, while rental e bike operators will face local requirements covering parking, safety and accessibility. The pavement has welcomed the news, although it would like somebody to establish which part of it currently belongs to the e bike fleet.
Strategic Authorities with elected mayors will receive more powers over transport, planning, housing and economic regeneration. They will also have scrutiny committees, local growth plans and duties to consider health improvement and health inequalities. The system is being supplied with more levers and a committee to check that nobody has pulled them simply for the satisfying clunk.
That is the central joke. Local government is being offered responsibility in a nationally itemised package, complete with instructions explaining how much freedom may be exercised and in which approved direction. The mini high street has applied to become a mayor, but its form has been returned for failing to demonstrate that it is not already a Strategic Authority. It has now formed a scrutiny committee to investigate the paperwork, which is the first local institution ever to demand powers over its own queue.
Source: GOV.UK.
