The Government’s devolution framework in the Levelling Up White Paper sets out the powers available to institutions with different strengths of governance, which may be negotiated as part of a devolution deal. A local authority may wish to change its governance model in order to access deeper devolution (a local authority with a directly elected mayor could access a level 3 deal; a local authority with a leader and cabinet model can access level 2 deal).  However, if the council has changed its governance arrangements, either by local authority resolution or following a referendum, a moratorium may apply that prevents a further change of governance model for a specified period of time as set out in sections 9KC and 9M of the Local Government Act 2000 (the ‘2000 Act’). This provision establishes a process for a local authority to apply to the Secretary of State to change its governance model before the expiry of a moratorium and access deeper devolution in shorter timescales than would otherwise be possible.
Chapter 2: Other Provision Local authority governance Section 71: Timings for changes in governance arrangements Background