Strengthening the Bill delivering English devolution: why culture, creativity & heritage must feature
This week, we’ve taken our work on cultural devolution right into the heart of government — submitting formal evidence to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s consultation on the new English Devolution & Community Empowerment Bill, now moving through the UK Parliament.
What does the Bill do?
The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill is the UK Government’s flagship law to deliver the next phase of the “devolution revolution.” It will determine how power, money and responsibility flow from Whitehall to local leaders across England — shaping how places grow, who governs them, and how communities influence the decisions that affect their daily lives.
For government, this is a cornerstone of the national growth and renewal agenda: giving mayors and combined authorities greater control over transport, skills, housing, energy and public service reform. It also promises new rights for communities to take part directly in shaping local priorities — a fundamental shift in how decisions are made, and who gets to make them.
In short, this Bill sets the rules of the game for England’s next generation of local governance: who holds power, how public money is invested, and what outcomes matter most. That’s why it is critical that culture, creativity and heritage are written into its framework. Without explicit recognition, these sectors risk being excluded from the systems of planning, investment and accountability that will define local growth and community life for decades to come.
Despite its ambition, the creative, cultural and heritage sectors are missing from the Bill’s text — a striking omission, given that earlier government white papers explicitly recognised the importance of culture in driving regeneration, pride and belonging.
Why culture must be in the Bill
Devolution has to mean more than shifting functions and budgets. It’s about reimagining who gets to shape the story of the places we call home — and, by extension, our shared national identity.
Culture, creativity and heritage are the tools through which communities express who they are and imagine what they can become. Yet this flagship devolution Bill barely mentions them at all. That silence risks locking our sectors out of the frameworks that will shape investment, growth and social policy for a generation.
Our research shows that when cultural assets are treated as infrastructure — planned for, funded and governed alongside transport, skills and health — the benefits are profound: stronger economies, fairer access and a deeper sense of belonging.
What we’re proposing
This submission draws on more than a year of research, engagement and collaboration with over 30 core partners and more than 250 stakeholder organisations across the four nations through The Future of Cultural Devolution in the UK. Together we created a practical, proportionate blueprint for cultural devolution that can be implemented at pace as the devolution revolution widens and deepens.
The Culture Commons team have used that foundational work to draw up a set of simple, actionable steps to get culture, creativity and heritage into the DNA of the Bill — ensuring our sectors benefit from the new powers being devolved to mayors and Strategic Authorities:
Create a new ‘Cultural Competence’ within the devolution framework — giving local and combined authorities a clear duty to plan and invest in culture with the same commitment as housing or transport.
Introduce a ‘Right to Request Powers’ over culture, allowing ambitious communities to take on devolved cultural budgets through pilot programmes as capacity and confidence grow. This would enable DCMS, arm’s-length bodies and funders to test and refine multi-year settlements, stabilising the sector and maximising impact.
Accompany every Local Growth Plan with a ‘Cultural Ecosystem Plan’ mapping local assets, workforces, participation and governance — ensuring devolution supports civic life and social value, not just economic growth.
Establish permanent ‘Culture Forums’ — standing networks that bring together local government, cultural organisations, SMEs, freelancers, trade unions and residents to co-design priorities and policies collectively.
Appoint dedicated ‘Culture Commissioners’, mirroring roles that are already in the Bill for housing or transport, to coordinate policy across constituent councils, represent the cultural ecosystem and ensure accountability for each Strategic Authority’s contribution.
Pilot a locally raised ‘Overnight Accommodation Levy’ — a small charge on overnight stays, reinvested directly into the creative and civic life that attracts visitors in the first place.
Strengthen data, evidence and evaluation across all devolved tiers — ensuring decisions about culture, creativity and heritage are informed by shared standards, consistent indicators and transparent reporting. We think a National Cultural Data Observatory could be of significant benefit.
Amend the Community Right to Buy provisions to explicitly include Cultural Infrastructure — protecting studios, heritage sites and creative hubs from being lost to communities.
Each proposal is designed to ‘ratchet up’ — allowing early-stage authorities to start light and, as they progress through new tiers of devolution, gain more tools and responsibilities to lead more deeply on cultural policy.
What all this means
For the creative and cultural sectors, this is about a seat at the table on one of the most important Bills of this Parliament - with clear roles, new investment opportunities, and lasting structures for collaboration.
For local and combined authorities, we’re proposing a new toolbox with which to deliver confident cultural leadership - moving moving from short-term delivery to long-term stewardship and a more sustainable ecosystem supported by the sub-regional scale.
For national policymakers, it’s a coherent, evidence-based framework to weave culture into the machinery of governance - ensuring the Bill delivers social and cultural value, not just administrative reform.
Where we go from here
The work doesn’t end with this submission.
Culture Commons will continue to support government, parliamentarians and sector partners to keep culture, creativity and heritage visible as the Bill progresses — in its clauses, guidance and future pilots.
All evidence and insight from The Future of Cultural Devolution in the UK programme — the foundation for this submission — remain open and freely accessible through our online policy portal. Once our proposed amendments have been reviewed by the Bill Committee, we’ll publish the full set on our website.
Follow Culture Commons on social media for updates as our work on behalf of our sectors continues.
“Devolution may be moving forward, but our sectors risk being left behind unless their role is made explicit in legislation. We’re keeping culture, creativity and heritage front and centre in the devolution debate — right where they belong.
Strong cultural infrastructure gives people a voice, brings communities together and helps places tell their own stories. It builds trust, bridges difference and connects generations through shared memory and new meaning-making.
If this Bill is to deliver genuine community empowerment, culture must sit at its heart — not as an add-on or a by-product of devolution, but as the living force that turns power into participation and policy into action.”
