07.07.2025
As we open our new hub in Leeds, we explore the fast-evolving landscape of planning and development in the North of England.
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We’re excited to announce the opening of our new DHA Leeds Hub, in a vibrant, ambitious city at the heart of one of the most dynamic regions in the UK. As planners and built environment professionals, there’s no better time – or place – to extend our roots into the North, particularly with one of our team being based in North Yorkshire and now having their “feet on the ground” in Leeds.
The North of England is undergoing significant change. Driven by long-term strategic investment, new governance arrangements, and ambitious local leadership, towns and cities across the region are poised for transformation. In this article, we explore the opportunities and challenges we face in planning and development in Leeds, Yorkshire and the North more widely.
Opportunities: Unlocking Northern Potential
One of the most significant developments shaping the North is the shift in governance through devolution. With the establishment of combined authorities (like West Yorkshire Combined Authority for example), local areas are gaining more control over strategic planning, transport, infrastructure and economic development. The election of metro mayors, including West Yorkshire’s Tracy Brabin, has brought stronger leadership and greater accountability. For West Yorkshire in particular, this is driving significant positive change in its economic landscape through a focus on infrastructure and connectivity improvements across the authority area.
These new governance structures are enabling a more joined-up thinking across city and authority areas, which is particularly beneficial for coordinating transport investment, housing delivery and economic growth. Inevitably, the structure should also provide a clearer pipeline for funding, as combined authorities are increasingly seen as key delivery vehicles for central government priorities which has been reinforced through the most recent Spending Review. The delivery mechanism for combined authorities and their ability to make decisions at pace, however, remains similarly convoluted much like most local authorities. This, alongside a general focus on shorter term agendas, continues to pose as a limitation on both the speed and type of change taking place across the regions.
There has been a long-term growing recognition of the widespread social inequality in Britain and the subsequent need to reduce the disparity between the North and South of England. The Conservative Government first articulated the concept of “Levelling Up” in their manifesto in 2019, which saw the introduction of a number of funding programmes that intended to reduce geographic economic, social and health inequalities, with a substantial proportion of the funding being focused in the Northern Regions. Part of this funding for example included the Levelling Up Fund which saw almost £5bn of capital investment into local infrastructure projects with the majority of funding going to North West England and Yorkshire and Humber.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) further provided almost £2.6bn investment into three key priorities, including: communities and place; local business; and people and skills. The fund used Mayoral Combined Authorities (prevalent in Northern England) as a delivery vehicle for investment, with the intention of increasing pride in where people live and work.
The Labour Government has made a decisive change to the way this rebalancing is referred to, with Angela Rayner banishing the phrase ‘levelling up’ in a break away from the Conservative administration. Nonetheless, the Labour Party are still seeking to invest in the reduction of the North / South divide across the country. Whilst the Government are shifting semantics, they still seek to honour the policies and funding initiatives introduced through the Levelling Up Agenda. In doing so, Rachel Reeves announced in the 2025 Spending Review that the Government will continue to drive growth in city regions, seeking for the benefits of growth to be spread widely across the country. In doing so, the Government is providing “targeted long-term local growth funding” to complete the transition from the UKSPF, which will include a new local growth fund and recyclable mayoral growth fund that will focus on changes within communities, alongside regeneration and public realm improvements that are to be directed at specific mayoral city regions in the North and Midlands. The intention of this is to funnel further investment into infrastructure, regeneration and skills across the North of England, creating a wealth of opportunities for development across all sectors.
Reeves further announced a 'Devolution Priority Programme' which not only demonstrates a continued centralised emphasis on devolution, but also a shift in the type of delivery vehicle being used to promote change across the country. This will see the rise of a greater number of combined authorities across the UK, building on what combined authorities across the North of England, like that of WYCA and Y&NYCA, are already offering. This, amongst other funding announcements like the Affordable Homes Programme, announced by the Chancellor in June, means greater longer term investment in infrastructure, affordable homes, regeneration and skills, providing opportunities to revitalise town centres, improving public transport and unlocking sites for housing and employment, particularly across the Northern Regions.
In Leeds and West Yorkshire in particular, transport improvements are seen to be the key to unlocking growth across the region in terms of new homes, jobs and investment opportunities. Tracy Brabin (WYCA) is at the forefront of 'Mass Transit', the large-scale public transport system that will see the delivery of an integrated network covering all of West Yorkshire. The starting phase will see the delivery of a tram system connecting Bradford to Leeds and the south of the city to the city centre. The idea is to make West Yorkshire’s public transport network more accessible and inclusive, whilst also achieving their 2038 Net Zero ambitions.
It doesn’t stop there though – in May this year the three Mayors, Tracy Brabin (West Yorkshire), Oliver Coppard (South Yorkshire) and David Skaith (York and North Yorkshire) submitted a joint bid for funding for a £14bn plan to improve Yorkshire’s rail network, including expansions of Leeds and Sheffield stations. The plans will see enhanced connectivity and improved capacity on services across Yorkshire, with improved services between Leeds, Sheffield, York, Liverpool and Manchester. The opportunities created through this investment are huge, with the works anticipated to add £20bn to Northern England’s economy, generating up to 83,000 extra jobs and seeing the delivery of 210,000 new homes over the next 10 years[1]. For us, in our role as town planners and built environment professionals, and for our clients, there is therefore a very clear opportunity to form a key part of delivering positive change in the North of England.
With climate change, health inequalities, and housing need high on the Government's agenda, the North offers a strong basis for progressive, place-based planning. The region’s diversity—from dense urban centres to market towns and rural communities—means planners are working across a rich variety of contexts. With a growing awareness of the need to reduce car dependence, build more affordable homes, and create climate-resilient infrastructure, there is an opportunity to lead on best practice in inclusive and sustainable development.
Challenges: What Needs to Change?
Town planning in the North of England faces a unique set of challenges, with Yorkshire presenting a prime example of both opportunities and difficulties associated with regional growth and impact of devolution. One of the major difficulties still lies in obtaining consistent, long-term funding, especially where local governments are still grappling with limited resource and capacity, much like the rest of the UK. Recent investments announced over the last few months do offer a glimmer of hope. The Affordable Homes Programme, for example, represents the largest investment in affordable housing in a generation, investing £39 billion over a 10 year period to invest in increasing housing stock and tackling housing stock. The assurance provided by the 10-year programme marks a pivotal change to the way in which the Government are placing a focus on longer term solutions that can create greater assurance and certainty to the benefit of decision making at local levels.
Notwithstanding the above, local authorities are still faced with balancing short-term needs against long-term planning requirements and initiatives, particularly when the majority of funding remains tied into shorter-term Government ambitions associated with fixed political cycles. The announcement of new funding focussed on devolution in the Spending Review offers promise to help resolve some of the issues, but the effectiveness of this will inevitably depend on how easy this funding is to access and utilise in practice.
Another hurdle relates to governance structure and speed of decision making, particularly regarding matters relating to town planning. Devolution has seen a reorganisation of a number of local governments across the North of England to reduce governmental ‘layers’, and funnel investment into authorities that have powers and can make decisions that up until recently could only be made by central government. Using North Yorkshire as an example, at a local level, this has prompted the amalgamation of seven local authority areas (excluding York) into one unitary authority (North Yorkshire Council), creating the largest local planning authority area in England, covering a vast 8,000 square kilometres in area. At a regional level, York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority has been created to create a partnership across the local authority areas to make strategic decisions on functions including transport, economic development and regeneration. This is seen across Yorkshire, with the West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire Combined Authorities governing other areas across the county.
Whilst this could see the potential for a more centralised, effective and efficient use of resources that could see a faster plan and decision making process across the regions, it could be argued that this benefit could be off-set by issues resulting from the reduction in local governance and accountability, with decisions being made across wider geographical areas by officers, who in many cases, will be geographically remote from the sites that they area dealing with. In an age of remote working; however, this is much the same as can be seen in local authorities across the country.
The speed of decision making still represents a hurdle faced by town planners in the North. Whilst devolution has seen greater investment, funding and powers inferred to local leaders, the process of decision making can still be slow and remains held back by bureaucratic hurdles and, in some instances, a lack of cohesive policy across different regions. Delays in planning permissions, changes in government priorities and the ever complicated nature of inter-authority agreements contribute to slowing down progress. Again, it is not to say that we’re not seeing a step forward in the right direction; however, promises can only be delivered if planning authorities are able to act quickly and efficiently. The inference of new powers and fundings being directed to local levels therefore needs to be paired with a concerted effort to streamline the planning process to reduce the chance of unnecessary delays that continue to hold up the development process. Maybe this is one saved for future reforms.
As we have seen across the UK, many local planning authorities across the North are facing capacity challenges, with dwindling numbers of planners able to deliver on increasingly complex demands. This is a feature seen at both local and regional levels, meaning that despite central government’s ambitions to deliver more housing alongside the wider promises to improve public infrastructure for example, the ability for planning authorities to cater for this demand is limited, which inevitably slows down the ability for the promises for such improvements to come to fruition.
Beyond Leeds, towns and rural districts across Yorkshire—from York and Wakefield to Harrogate and East Riding—face a different set of challenges. Some are managing the legacy of industrial decline, while others are grappling with ageing infrastructure, underperforming high streets, or development constraints due to protected landscapes.
Smaller councils are often under-resourced, and many Local Plans are delayed or out of date. This leads to uncertainty for developers and missed opportunities for coordinated growth. In some areas, land values are insufficient to attract private investment without public sector support, particularly on brownfield sites.
In addition, whilst towns and cities like Leeds benefit from strong rail and road links, many rural and semi-rural parts of North Yorkshire still face infrastructure challenges—both physical and digital. Poor connectivity can limit access to jobs, services, and investment, especially in areas already facing economic pressures.
Looking Ahead
The North of England is a place of immense opportunity. By opening our hub in Leeds, it marks an exciting new chapter that reflects our long-term commitment to working with partners, both new and old, across the region to deliver better places. Our new hub will help us maximise the opportunities set out above, helping to position DHA’s national coverage and contributing to our reputation as a leading planning practice across all areas of the country.
We’re here to support all clients, whether new or existing, with high-quality planning and development expertise. The doors are open in our Leeds Hub, so please feel free to get in touch with DHA's Rosie Dennis or Matthew Blythin, or drop in for a visit!
[1] Lord Blunkett sets out phased plan to fix Yorkshire’s broken rail network (2025) West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Available at: https://www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/all-news-and-blogs/lord-blunkett-sets-out-phased-plan-to-fix-yorkshire-s-broken-rail-network/ (Accessed: 25 June 2025).
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