A golden opportunity for meaningful change or poison pill for governance, public trust & planning?
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Local Government Reorganisation: Governance and Planning looks at the most far reaching reshaping of English local government in many years. The changes will not just alter how individual planning authorities work. They will influence how the whole system around them functions, from committee rooms and digital case handling to how Members explain decisions on the doorstep.
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The programme sits against an ambitious national push for new homes and infrastructure. In that context, the way councils make decisions on sites, plans and investment is under much closer scrutiny. Reorganisation cuts across governance, finance, digital systems, service integration and political leadership. It affects how statutory services connect with each other, how planning committees are set up, and how officer capacity is used across development management, regeneration and infrastructure delivery.
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Handled well, LGR could bring clearer accountability, less duplication and stronger decision pathways. It could also give Members and officers a cleaner line of sight between policy, evidence and outcomes. Done badly, it risks new layers of confusion, slower decisions and deeper public scepticism.
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The intention behind this Series is straightforward. It is to help authorities, advisers and developers understand the pressures and choices early, so they can prepare properly and take advantage of the opportunity rather than be caught out by it.
Recent history shows how easily the opposite can occur. Dorset and Northumberland offer reminders of how governance disruption, mismatched legacy systems, political churn and uneven organisational capacity can slow decisions and reduce transparency. In those places, the shift to new structures added pressure rather than removing it, and the development ecosystem carried that risk.
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The Series draws from those lessons. Surrey is used as a practical test case, looking at how reorganisation could reshape planning committees, officer delegations, governance pathways and political accountability. The intention is to surface the issues that authorities, advisers and developers will need to think about before changes take effect.
Will LGR create a simpler, faster planning environment, or will inherited systems, new structures and political flux introduce fresh complexity?
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Our focus is to give the sector the insight needed to make the simpler outcome more likely. The work is shaped as a practical tool for people responsible for planning, governance and organisational change, rather than a theoretical exercise.
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Thank you to everyone who contributed views during the preparation of this project and those who continue to support it.
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I hope the Series proves useful and grounded in the realities shaping planning and governance today.
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Rowan Cole
Founder and Director | COALFACE™
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PS: You can also read my open letter to the new Surrey councils, which first set out the rationale behind this Series.
Rowan Cole
This series is written and curated by Rowan Cole, the founder of Coalface Engagement. Rowan’s perspective is shaped by experience across every seat around the planning table: an elected councillor, as an adviser to local authorities on governance and strategic engagement, and as a consultant to developers and promoters on complex schemes.
This 360 view of political dynamics, organisational pressures and planning behaviour underpins the analysis in the LGR Governance Series, ensuring each insight reflects how decisions are made in practice, not only in policy.
This page is part of the LGR Governance Series from Coalface. New material is added as further articles and analysis are published.
This article is part of the LGR Governance Series from Coalface. To receive new pieces and supporting material as they are published, subscribe using the button on the right.
If you would like to discuss how these issues affect your organisation, we work with promoters, councils and programme sponsors on specific schemes and wider governance programmes. Please get in touch to talk through what you are working on.