The Government has issued the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 (Commencement No. 11 and Saving and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/333), made on 23 March 2026 and in force from 24 March 2026. The instrument corrects a defect in S.I. 2026/169 and, crucially for planning authorities and developers, extends a saving so that pre‑commencement provisions of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (PCPA 2004) continue to operate for the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) regime until 31 December 2027.
The amendment inserts a new paragraph into Schedule 1 of the Commencement No. 11 Regulations. It provides that, despite the staged commencement of Schedule 7 to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 (LURA 2023), sections 29 and 37 of the PCPA 2004, as they had effect immediately before commencement, continue to apply for the purposes of Part 11 of the Planning Act 2008 (CIL) up to and including 31 December 2027.
This targeted saving matters because CIL in Part 11 of the Planning Act 2008 cross-refers to PCPA 2004 for two foundational concepts: the meaning of “local planning authority” (via section 37) and the status of “joint committees” (via section 29). By preserving the pre‑commencement versions of these sections for CIL, government avoids definitional drift while the new plan-making framework under LURA 2023 beds in.
For local planning authorities, the immediate position is operational continuity. Charging authority and collecting authority functions, delegations and governance that rely on the pre‑LURA definitions can continue without re-engineering documentation solely to reflect the plan-making reforms. CIL charging schedules, liability notices, reliefs and enforcement processes remain unaffected by this change.
For joint working arrangements, any joint committee constituted under PCPA 2004 section 29 can continue to exercise CIL-related functions on the same legal footing through to 31 December 2027. Authorities planning governance changes should factor the end date into forward programmes and assure continuity of decision-making beyond that point.
For developers and applicants, there is no change to how CIL applies, is calculated, or is paid as a result of this instrument. Existing processes, including reliefs/exemptions and the interface with section 106 obligations, proceed on the current statutory definitions while the broader plan‑making reforms progress.
The timing is deliberate. Commencement No. 11 began the phased switch-on of LURA 2023’s plan‑making architecture. Without a saving, CIL’s embedded references could have misaligned with definitions being updated elsewhere. The amendment therefore ring‑fences CIL from unintended consequences of those reforms until a fixed backstop of 31 December 2027, providing a clear planning horizon.
The instrument is issued free of charge to all known recipients of S.I. 2026/169, reflecting its function as a correction. No standalone Regulatory Impact Assessment accompanies it; departments signpost to the impact assessment produced for LURA 2023 as the underpinning analysis for measures from which this saving derives.
Key dates for practitioners are explicit. The amendment took legal effect on Tuesday 24 March 2026 and the saving ceases at end of day on Friday 31 December 2027. Authorities should review internal guidance and any references in standing orders or schemes of delegation to ensure they reflect the preserved definitions for the duration of the saving, and plan updates ahead of the expiry date.