Street votes: an enacted densification tool with no commencement regulations

Street vote development orders were legislated in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 and consulted on in December 2023. The secondary legislation to switch them on has never been laid and no pilots exist. YIMBY Alliance and London YIMBY designed the mechanism, and the Centre for British Progress's 2026 briefing calls it the next big lever, estimating around 30,000 homes a year in high-demand areas through incremental suburban intensification.

This housing lever is already law, aligns residents' incentives with building because owners vote themselves the uplift, needs no new primary legislation, and adds supply where agglomeration returns are highest. It sits unused for want of statutory instruments and pilot funding.

Commencement regulations plus Planning Inspectorate procedures, and a funded pilot programme in three high-demand cities with template street plans and design codes, deliverable within eighteen months.

// State-led: Instrument: commencement regulations under Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 plus Planning Inspectorate procedures.

Already law and self-aligning, it needs only commencement regulations and pilot funding; moderate supply impact and no dated trigger keep the pressure below acute.