Spatial development strategies across England have a firm statutory starting date after ministers made new commencement regulations on 3 November 2026. The principal strategic-planning provisions of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 are due to come into force on 26 November. That is a new stage in law, not the adoption of any particular council plan or approval of a building project.
The regulations also activate two narrower provisions on 4 November 2026, relating to the costs of strategic-plan examinations and a requirement on ministers to make regulations concerning the prioritisation of previously developed land. The timing matters because the earlier commencement does not activate the entire spatial development strategies system.
For local authorities, developers and landowners, the return of statutory strategic planning outside London is significant. It means broad decisions about housing growth, infrastructure and land use will have to be considered across wider areas, rather than being confined to individual district boundaries. Local plans will still matter for detailed policies and sites.
What the spatial development strategies regulations do
The new instrument is SI 2026/1157 (C.98), the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5) and English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 (Commencement No. 5) Regulations 2026. It was made on 3 November by housing minister Matthew Pennycook. Regulation 3 appoints 26 November for the uncommenced remainder of section 58 and Schedule 2 of the 2025 Act.
The central change is in section 58 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025. It inserts Part 1A into the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, introducing a requirement on strategic planning authorities to prepare spatial development strategies. The Act identifies combined authorities, combined county authorities, qualifying upper-tier county councils, unitary authorities and strategic planning boards established by further regulations.
The individual geography for an area still requires careful checking. The government consulted earlier in 2026 on how authorities might group together, but a suggested boundary in a consultation is not an established strategic planning board. Some areas may be covered by existing mayoral structures while others need further formal arrangements.
Spatial development strategies are designed to deal with genuinely strategic matters. Section 12D allows them to address broad amounts and distribution of housing, affordable housing and major infrastructure. It also says an adopted strategy must not specify particular sites where development should take place
. That limit is critical: an individual promoter cannot rely on the statutory duty as permission to build on a favoured site.
What happens on 4 November 2026
Regulation 2 of SI 2026/1157 commences paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the 2025 Act. It amends section 303A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which deals with the recovery of examination costs, so that it applies to the public examination of a spatial development strategy. This is narrower than the principal duty beginning on 26 November.
Regulation 4 separately brings into force section 39 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, so far as not already commenced. That section amends section 12G of the 2004 Act. It requires the Secretary of State to make regulations prescribing the desirability of prioritising development on previously developed land as something a strategic planning authority must have regard to in preparing a draft strategy.
The brownfield provision is therefore a duty to make further regulations, not an automatic allocation of brownfield sites or a new permitted development right. Anyone assessing a land opportunity should continue to consider the statutory definition and existing planning policy. The Planning Geek guide to previously developed land explains those existing tests.
How strategic plans will be prepared and examined
Part 1A sets out a formal route for strategic planning. Authorities must prepare a strategy timetable, develop a draft, publish it and invite representations through the applicable process. An examination will ordinarily be held in public by an examiner appointed by the Secretary of State unless a direction removes that requirement. Specific procedural periods can still depend on regulations.
There is an important distinction from assumptions about local plan hearings. The statutory provisions state that no person has an automatic right to be heard at a spatial development strategy examination, although the examiner may invite people to participate. Once the examination is complete, the authority must consider representations and the examiner’s report, then submit the draft to the Secretary of State before it can be adopted.
The Secretary of State can seek amendments where a submitted strategy conflicts with current national policies or harms interests outside the strategy area. An adopted strategy becomes operative when the authority publishes it. Spatial development strategies coming into force as a legal framework on 26 November does not mean individual strategies immediately become operative on the same date.
What this means for councils and developers
A new strategic plan could change the broad distribution of housing growth and investment in transport or other infrastructure. However, it will not replace the local plan process for site allocations and detailed planning policy. Councils should follow the relationship between the new regional framework and their existing and emerging plans, particularly where large developments have effects across council boundaries.
The underlying legislation also requires spatial development strategies to consider local nature recovery strategies and to contribute to climate-change mitigation and adaptation. These matters will need to be balanced against housing and employment requirements. Strategic planning is not simply a mechanism for increasing a housing number; it is intended to coordinate development with infrastructure, environmental considerations and wider economic needs.
The Planning Geek spatial development strategy guide explains the strategic tier, while the local plans guide covers the distinct work that continues at local level. Landowners should monitor new strategic consultation timetables and plans, but should not assume a change to the strategic framework guarantees support for a particular application.
Next legal and planning milestones
The key commencement dates are now fixed in the legislation: 4 November for the specified examination-cost and brownfield regulation-making measures, and 26 November for the remainder of the new strategic-planning framework. The precise practical effect for each council will depend on its strategic planning authority, any board-formation regulations, its preparation timetable and later consultation and examination stages.
The government’s earlier February consultation described the purpose and potential geographies of strategic planning, but today’s statutory instrument provides the operative dates. Future announcements about newly established boards, published draft strategies, examination reports and adopted strategies will be separate decisions requiring their own verification. For now, the legal foundation for spatial development strategies across England has moved from expectation to a specified commencement date.
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