The government has published the following response to the consultation titled "Development Corporation Reform - Technical consultation" (which ran for 12 weeks from 26/10/2019 until 18/01/2020):
- August 2022: Development corporation reform - technical consultation response (link) (pdf print version of HTML webpage).
Notes:
- The "Introduction" at the start of the above response document includes the following information:
- "On 26 October 2019 the department published the Development corporation reform: technical consultation, seeking views on reforming the legislative framework for development corporations. The consultation invited ideas on whether and how legislative reforms might ensure that, in future, where it is appropriate for a development corporation to be used, a fit-for-purpose model exists.". - The "Next steps" section at the end of the above response document includes the following information:
- "The government wants to ensure places have access to stronger and more consistent range of powers, giving local areas access to the tools they need to deliver their housing and regeneration ambition, and that development corporation legislation supports the government’s levelling up mission.".
- "In summary, we are legislating on the measures contained in this document via the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill, including to enable local areas to establish a locally-led Urban Development Corporation and ensure all forms of development corporations can access plan-making and development management powers.".
- "We are standardising the statutory process for establishing and designating a locally-led development corporation including by moving to a ‘negative’ procedure and removing the cap on the number of board seats which is in place for NTDCs [New Town Development Corporations] and UDCs [Urban Development Corporations], bringing them in line with MDCs [Mayoral Development Corporations]. We are also removing the aggregate borrowing cap for development corporations; instead, agreeing borrowing limits with HMT on a case by case basis.".
- "We will continue to work with stakeholders on drafting secondary legislation and to strengthen and streamline the guidance to support the creation and operation of development corporations.".
Other sources of information: