The Kings Speech and the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act

It has been a big week for new legislation. On Monday, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 was finally published, and just a short while ago, the Kings Speech set out this year’s legislative agenda.

On the basis that I am currently planning a five-year old’s birthday party*, you will have to forgive me for dealing with both of these events in the one blog post.

The Kings Speech

Thankfully, after what feels like many consecutive years of major legislative reform, there is not a stand alone planning bill in this year’s King’s Speech.

There are, however, a handful of proposed bills that may well impact planning and development, including:

• The Regulating for Growth Bill: which proposes strengthening the growth mandate already given to key regulators – including Natural England and the Environment Agency – by placing it on a statutory footing and including monitoring and reporting requirements.
• The Highways (Financing) Bill: which sets up a route for private investment into major road schemes.
• The Northern Powerhouse Rail Bill: Which puts the Government’s plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail on a statutory footing.
• The Clean Water Bill: Which proposes significant reforms to the water industry – including setting up a new regulator, changing enforcement mechanisms for pollution events and reforming “the New Appointments and Variations framework, which enables new water and wastewater companies to be appointed for new developments. This will support the delivery of ambitious housing targets, alongside strengthened planning powers, and measures to promote competition in infrastructure delivery”.
• The Remediation Bill: which further regulates to ensure unsafe cladding is remediated – including (for the first time) making it clear that manufacturers of defective cladding products will be expected to contribute.
• The Social Housing Renewal Bill: Which includes provisions to make further changes to Right to Buy, to ensure new-build stock will not be eligible for 35 years from construction; and to repeal legislation that requires for local authorities to sell high-value homes, grant flexible (fixed-term) tenancies, and to charge higher income tenants higher rents.
• The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill: which sets out the transition for the end of Leasehold and the creation of a new statutory framework for Commonhold properties.
• The Armed Forces Bill: which includes the creation of a Defence Housing Service – which is interesting in the light of the NPPF consultation proposal to include housing for the armed forces in the definition of affordable housing.
• The Energy Independence Bill: which includes promises to “reform market, planning and regulatory frameworks to accelerate the deployment of clean power including offshore wind, hydrogen and smart grid technologies. Speed up the build-out of vital grid infrastructure… ” and “Introduce powers needed to take a more strategic approach to planning and building energy infrastructure..”
• The Nuclear Regulation Bill: Which is intended to “overhaul existing regulation, giving regulators greater clarity and direction, streamlining the regulatory institutional framework and strengthening regulatory capability and capacity. Embed a proportionate, outcomes-focussed regulatory and legislative frameworks….” and “Improve the coordination and speed of regulatory decision-making, reducing duplication and delay to support timely delivery alongside safety and environmental protections”

All of which would make for quite a busy year, regardless of everything else that is going on!

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026

We also, finally, have the published text of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 (EDCEA), which received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026.

EDCEA does an awful lot for an act that hasn’t been attracting all that much attention. In particular it:

• Sets the statutory framework for Labour’s devolution agenda – including the creation of new Mayoral Strategic Authorities, which will be granted wide ranging planning powers, including the ability to set Mayoral CIL charges in their areas.
• Prohibits parking on footways and verges
• Sets national standards for taxi licensing
• Changes the rules around rent reviews for business and commercial tenancies;
• Gives the Secretary of State powers to discharge statutory trusts; and
• Extends the general power of competence to English National Park authorities and the Broads Authority**

However, I don’t want to talk about any of that. Instead, I want to talk about the changes to the Assets of Community Value (ACV) Regime introduced by s.67 and Schedule 31 of EDCEA.

These are some of the remarkably few provisions in EDCEA which require commencement regulations to bring them into effect, which is handy, as the changes are significant.

At a very high level, under this new ACV Regime:

• New categories are created for “sporting asset[s] of community value” and “assets supporting sporting assets of community value”, which need to be listed separately.
• “Standard” registered ACVs remain on the list for ten years. ACVs that fall into the new categories remain registered indefinitely.
• The requirements for entry onto the list and the procedure for listing remain broadly unchanged, but can be further shaped by regulations.
• However, the consequences of being listed have changed significantly. The previous community right to bid has been replaced with a community right to buy – which is a right with teeth. In essence, under the new ACV regime, the owner of an ACV who wishes to sell (otherwise than by an exempt disposal) would HAVE to sell it to an interested community group at an agreed value, if there is a group willing to buy it who can raise the funds. If the seller and the community group cannot agree on the price, the Act contains a procedure for allowing a valuer to determine the market value of the asset and permits the Secretary of State to make regulations setting out how “market value” should be determined in that respect.
• The ACV can only be sold to a third party is there is no registered community group seeking to buy it, or the sale stalls and the process is ended early under provisions to be set out in future regulations.

In short, having an asset registered as an ACV has gone from something which might delay a sale, but otherwise would be of relatively little consequence, to something that may well matter a LOT moving forward.

So, it might be worth keeping an eye out for those new ACV Regulations when they appear… and paying very close attention once they do!

*complete with 30 similarly aged children and most of Team Spidey

** to pre-empt a question that I am pretty sure I will be asked – these provision (s.88 and Schedule 33 of EDCEA) will come into force at the end of the period of two months beginning with the day on which EDCEA is passed – which I make to be 29 June 2026