WYCA to crack on with development strategies
West Yorkshire Combined Authority is looking to get all its ducks in a row nice and early, and will vote to begin work on the Spatial Development and Infrastructure Strategies required by the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill, before it is formally passed into parliament.
At its meeting on Thursday, WYCA will discuss how the two separate but interconnected frameworks will be prepared collaboratively to make sure they are in alignment.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill should pass into law by the end of the year, and part of it will set out a statutory requirement for an SDS, which sets out the direction for local planning decisions, investment, and place-making.
Rather than replace Local Plans, the SDS will set region-wide strategic policies on cross-boundary issues such as housing, employment land, climate resilience, and major infrastructure corridors.
It will aim to provide certainty and direction for public and private sector investment on these issues, and is expected to be a 30-year plan.
WYCA has decided to star work on the plan while legislation is still going through parliament because, if passed, the P&I Bill will require combined authorities to have all strategies in place by 2028, a timeline it describes as ‘ambitious’.
The IS will be developed in parallel, and has been described as ‘a high-level assessment of infrastructure needs across West Yorkshire’ to include transport, energy, digital, the environment, and water management.
The IS is likely to be a 10-15 year plan, and will establish strategic investment priorities and look to unify funding streams and delivery bodies.
A report by WYCA describes the current infrastructure landscape as ‘fragmented’, stating that it ‘has hindered coordinated delivery across sectors and places.’
The preparatory phase of the SDS is expected to complete by Q1 of 2026, after which it will go to public consultation.
The IS will be developed over an 18-month period and hopefully published in Q1 of 2027.
