Planning committee numbers to be set at a maximum of 13
The government has pushed back the implementation of its planning committee reforms by a month.
Since the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, which gave the housing secretary new powers to determine the workings of local planning committees, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has been developing a national scheme of delegation.
This scheme, which was put out for a final consultation in March this year, will introduce a clear national policy setting out which types of planning application should be delegated to officers and which can be considered by planning committees.
The policy was meant to be introduced on 30 September 2026, but during the consultation concerns were raised that this “did not allow sufficient time for local authorities to amend their constitutions and make the necessary administrative arrangements”.
As a result, the implementation date has been pushed back to 31 October 2026, in order “to allow local authorities further time to make the necessary arrangements”.
Other small changes were agreed by the government. It has changed the treatment of section 73 applications, where a planning request is used to vary or remove conditions attached to an existing planning permission, such that they will now be considered under the same category as the original application.
It also clarified the definition of ‘linked person applications’, now known in the regulations as ‘own-interest applications’. These relate to applications where the local authority, or an individual member or officer, has brought forward the application themselves.
The regulations also now include a duty on the Secretary of State to undertake and publish a review of the regulations by 31 October 2028.
The new national scheme of delegation divides planning applications into schedule 1, which are to be delegated to planning officers, and schedule 2, which can be considered by committee if certain conditions are met.
In the main, schedule 1 covers householder developments and minor commercial and residential schemes.
It also includes a number of supplementary and technical consents such as discharge of conditions, reserved matter approvals (for non-phased development), lawful development certificates, and non-material amendments.
Schedule 2, meanwhile, includes larger residential and commercial schemes, reserved matters approvals for phased development, variations of permissions, and special controls such as listed building and tree preservation order consents.
However, even for schedule 2 applications, the regulations state that the “overriding presumption” is that they will be delegated to officers.
Application can be referred to a committee or sub-committee if they meet one of the following two criteria: the application “raises an economic, social or environmental issue of significance to the local area”; the application “raises a significant planning matter having regard to the development plan and any other material considerations”.
Both the nominated officer, typically the chief planning officer, and the nominated member, typically the planning committee chair, have to agree to the referral.
It acknowledged that for ‘own-interest’ applications “there may be cases where, in the interests of transparency and public accountability” they should be referred to committee, regardless of whether they fall into schedule 1 or 2.
As well as introducing a national scheme of delegation, the new regulations also set the maximum number of planning committee members at 13.
“Local planning authorities should consider whether a smaller number of members would be more appropriate in their area to support effective decision making,” according to the guidance.
As well as the now-completed consultation, the government is laying the draft regulations for parliamentary scrutiny. It intends to make the final regulations in July.
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