Angela Rayner has launched plans to give elected mayors more powers than local councils to direct new housing, transport and other development.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the Government's UK Decentralization White Paper will give these local leaders “the ability to lead on infrastructure and development projects across regions, housing, transport and skills”. 
He added that the bill would be a key part of the plan to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years. In the past five years, the country has built about 1 million homes.
Mr Rayner was speaking in Leeds to an audience of local mayors, local authorities and business leaders.
She added: “Our decentralization revolution will help rebuild our country to work for working people.”
The plan would allow mayors to overturn local governments that block development projects.
The government has previously said it would use its powers to pursue regional plans it believes are important to the country's economic growth.
The document proposes the creation of a strategic authority across England to devolve new powers, with the possibility of merging some smaller local councils.
Under Housing and Planning, the paper proposes:
All regions, with or without a strategic mandate, need to develop spatial development strategies that aim to build more housing. The Mayor will be given new development control powers similar to those held by the Mayor of London. This includes the ability to “invoke strategically important planning applications.” Mayors will be able to charge developers a Mayor's Tax to ensure new developments are provided with the relevant infrastructure they need. A similar fund was introduced in London in 2012 to help finance the Elizabeth Line Housing in England is set to become a more regionalized model over time to become “more responsive” to local economic planning Mayors will be able to achieve their ambitious targets by managing regeneration and housing grants that will give them the funding they need to deliver housing. An established mayoral strategic authority also has the ability to set the strategic direction of future affordable housing programs.
The government formally set out in parliament last week a total target of building 370,000 homes a year to meet the five-year housing target.
Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, said: “An infrastructure-first approach is key to delivering the homes the country desperately needs. Mandatory targets focus attention on achieving targets, but a one-size-fits-all approach to housing provision will not be enough if the UK Government is to meet its ambitious housing targets.
“More needs to be done to work with local authorities to secure the capacity, political will and buy-in from local communities to build in more areas across the country.”
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves confirmed that the Office for Budget Responsibility has been commissioned to produce economic and fiscal forecasts to be released on March 26.
The OBR is required by law to produce two forecasts for each financial year.
However, the Treasury says: “Treasury uses major annual fiscal events to give families and businesses stability and certainty about upcoming tax and spending changes, which in turn supports the government's growth mission. “We remain committed to this,” he added.
