In our final policy briefing of 2023, Heseltine Institute Research Associate Tom Arnold discusses the Liverpool City Region Spatial Development Strategy (SDS) in the context of broader debates about the future of ‘larger-than-local’ planning in England. With the planning system in a state of flux and a general election on the horizon in 2024, city-regions in England are grappling with their role in spatial planning. The Liverpool City Region SDS has been in development for several years and is now out for consultation, providing a welcome strategic approach to development and building on the Liverpool City Region Plan for Prosperity. Lessons from London’s experience of metropolitan area level planning suggests planning can be an opportunity for metro mayors to achieve a physically tangible legacy, not just a political hurdle to overcome. The LCR SDS is the first step in a longer process of embedding strategic planning at city-region level, and government must give city-regions the time and resource to develop institutional planning expertise.
DOI: 10.17638/03172460
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