The Oxford Street Development Corporation (Functions) Order 2026 was made on 14 July 2026, laid before Parliament on 16 July 2026 and comes into force on 10 August 2026. Made under sections 198(2)(c) and 235(2) of the Localism Act 2011, it gives legal effect to the Mayor of London's decision to confer specified planning functions on the Oxford Street Development Corporation. According to the Order's explanatory note, the corporation was created by the Oxford Street Development Corporation (Establishment) Order 2025 for a Mayoral development area covering Oxford Street and surrounding land in Camden and the City of Westminster. The new instrument is therefore not creating a fresh body; it is transferring planning powers to one that already exists.
The central change sits in article 3. From 10 August 2026, and subject to the transitional rules in article 6 and the Schedule, the corporation becomes the local planning authority for the whole development area for the purposes of Part 3 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. In practical terms, that moves core development management responsibility from the borough councils for the area to the corporation. Applications, permissions in principle and other Part 3 functions for land within the designated area will from that date sit with the Mayoral development corporation rather than with the previous local planning authority.
Article 4 goes further than standard planning applications. It gives the corporation the local planning authority functions listed in Part 1 of Schedule 29 to the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 and the relevant planning authority functions under Schedule 8 to the Electricity Act 1989, so far as they apply to applications for consent under section 37 of that Act. The Order also defines a broad range of related material, including notices, certificates, consultation papers and other planning documents under the 1990 Act, the Listed Buildings Act, the Land Compensation Act 1961 and associated regulations. That drafting matters because the transfer is designed to catch the administrative record as well as the power to determine cases.
Article 5 applies the Schedule 29 provisions that normally apply to urban development corporations, with a further modification so that references to an urban development corporation are to be read as references to a Mayoral development corporation. The instrument extends to England and Wales, although its operative effect is confined to the designated area in central London. The Order's note also records that, under existing legislation as amended, the corporation is to be the hazardous substances authority for the development area, again subject to the transitional arrangements. That is relevant for cases that sit outside ordinary planning permission but still require planning-related consent.
The Schedule is where the transfer is made workable. As a general rule, anything already being done by, to or in relation to a previous authority before 10 August 2026 may be continued by, to or in relation to the corporation after that date and, if continued, is treated in law as though it had been done by or in relation to the corporation. That continuity provision is qualified. The corporation is not required to continue every step already started by a borough, but the legal chain is preserved if it does. For applicants, objectors and statutory consultees, the main point is that a live case does not fall away simply because the identity of the local planning authority changes.
Pending applications are dealt with in more detail. Any undetermined application made before 10 August 2026 to a previous authority for planning permission, permission in principle, certificates, consents, approvals or determinations under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the Listed Buildings Act, the Hazardous Substances Act or the Land Compensation Act 1961 must be transmitted to the corporation for determination, provided the case relates in whole or in part to land in the development area. There is an important exception for cases that the Secretary of State directs to be referred under section 77 of the 1990 Act or section 12 of the Listed Buildings Act. In those cases the previous authority remains the local planning authority for the purpose of the referral and any Planning Inquiry Commission process. Where files do transfer, applicants must be told, representations must travel with the file, and planning documents already issued do not need to be reissued solely because responsibility has changed.
The Schedule takes a different approach to enforcement already underway. Where, before 10 August 2026, a previous authority has issued or served an enforcement notice, temporary stop notice, breach of condition notice, listed building enforcement notice, advertisement discontinuance notice or one of the other specified notices, that authority keeps local planning authority status for that instrument until the relevant compliance period or expiry date ends. That preserves responsibility for active cases with the authority that started them. It avoids a mid-case handover for time-limited enforcement action, while still requiring the previous authority to send a copy of the relevant order, notice or letter to the corporation.
Appeals follow the same approach. If an appeal is made after a decision, notice or failure by a previous authority before 10 August 2026, the previous authority continues to act as the local planning authority for the purposes of the appeal, whether the case goes to the Secretary of State, the magistrates' court or the Upper Tribunal. The authority must, however, notify the corporation and pass on any representation the corporation wishes to make. Compensation liability is also largely fixed by reference to who acted first. Where rights to compensation arise from action taken by a previous authority, or from certain Secretary of State orders linked to permissions or notices that pre-date the transfer, liability stays with that previous authority. That will matter for boroughs' legal and finance teams because the change in decision-maker does not move historic compensation exposure to the corporation.
The final operational point concerns planning obligations. Where a section 106 obligation entered into before 10 August 2026 relates to land in the development area and names a previous authority as the enforcing local planning authority, the obligation becomes enforceable by the corporation. The enforcement right therefore moves even though the agreement itself may pre-date the transfer by several years. The explanatory note states that no full regulatory impact assessment has been prepared because no significant effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. The practical effect is more targeted than that formula suggests: developers, owners, heritage applicants and utility promoters will need to confirm the correct planning authority from 10 August 2026, while Camden, Westminster and the corporation will need disciplined case-transfer arrangements so that files, representations and statutory deadlines remain intact.